Jonas and Maria Lovisa Erickson Farmstead · Photo: Dog Walking Girl · CC BY-SA 3.0Crime recorded in Rochester, and why it isn’t graded
Centralia, 8 miles away, is the nearest town with a Safety Grade (C−). Out to 25 miles, the count of graded towns reaches 9. Rochester has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in Thurston County. The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office reports to the FBI for the parts of the county without police of their own, so there are no figures for Rochester alone, and no Safety Grade.
What stands out about safety in Rochester
Policed by the county
Rochester is a census-designated place, with no town government. Crimes there are reported to the FBI inside the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office’s totals for the county. County police ↓
Counts, not rates
The FBI doesn’t publish how many people the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office covers, so its totals can’t be turned into a per-resident rate or a grade for Rochester. County police ↓
The nearest graded towns
The closest Washington towns with their own police figures are Centralia (C−, 8 mi), Chehalis (D, 12 mi), Tumwater (C, 14 mi). Nearby towns can differ a lot from Rochester. Nearest ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office reports
Reports to the FBI for the parts of Thurston County without police of their own, which include Rochester.
Property crimes
Violent crimes
2025 offenses reported by the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office
Counts, not rates: the FBI doesn’t publish how many people each agency covers. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Tables 10–11.
Crimes reported to the FBI for the whole area the department covers, by year.
The nearest Washington towns with a Safety Grade
Straight-line distance from the center of Rochester. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Rochester.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Five people died in crashes on Rochester’s roads in 2019–2023
Rochester had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died.
That is more than is typical for Washington towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (3.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Rochester’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Rochester’s own rate (17.1) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Rochester and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Mound | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Grand Mound is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- A county agency covers a wide area. Its totals mix many communities, so they say little about any one of them.
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Rochester
Is Rochester, WA safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Rochester. The nearest Washington towns with a grade are Centralia (C−, 8 mi), Chehalis (D, 12 mi), Tumwater (C, 14 mi).
Who polices Rochester?
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. Rochester is an unincorporated community, and the department reports to the FBI for the parts of Thurston County without police of their own.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Rochester.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.