Photo: Ian Poellet · CC BY-SA 3.0Violent crime per resident is higher in Shelton than in 90% of U.S. towns
The crimes the grade counts fell 20% per resident from 2023 to 2025. Measured on crimes Shelton’s police reported between 2023 and 2025, it earns a Safety Grade of D: #104 of 130 graded towns in Washington. Add to that, recorded violent crimes ran at 5.5 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 24.4, against 4.0 and 32.0 in the rest of Washington.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of WA” is every other Washington city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Shelton
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Shelton’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Shelton property | Rest of Washington property | Shelton violent | Rest of Washington violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 34.0 | 43.7 | 5.9 | 4.8 |
| 2023 | 26.7 | 37.6 | 7.1 | 4.4 |
| 2024 | 24.0 | 32.9 | 4.8 | 4.1 |
| 2025 | 22.5 | 25.8 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Washington.
Crime in Shelton per 1,000 residents
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
And about 5 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Shelton | Rest of Washington | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.9 | 4.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 7.1 | 4.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.8 | 4.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Shelton’s police reported 179 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 5.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.0 in the rest of Washington and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
292 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
49 violent and 243 property, as reported to the FBI by Shelton’s police.
Eight people died in crashes on Shelton’s roads in 2019–2023
Shelton had 8 fatal crashes in five years, in which eight people died; 4 were pedestrians.
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 Shelton’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Shelton’s own rate (15.1) 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.
Shelton and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shelton | D | 5.5 | 24.4 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Washington towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shelton | D | 5.5 | 24.4 |
| Port Townsend | C+ | 2.9 | 13.5 |
| Snohomish | C+ | 1.7 | 18.6 |
| Sumner | D | 3.3 | 34.3 |
| Burlington | D | 1.6 | 58.7 |
| Fife | D− | 11.7 | 64.6 |
The five graded Washington towns closest to Shelton’s population (10,921), by grade.
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.
- One number for all of Shelton. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Shelton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (10,814 in 2025); our figure for Shelton is 10,921 (2025 Census estimate).
- 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 Shelton
Is Shelton, WA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Shelton reports more crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #104 of 130 in Washington. Its police reported 5.5 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.0 in the rest of Washington and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Shelton?
5.5 violent and 24.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Washington reports 4.0 and 32.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Shelton?
Shelton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Shelton”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Shelton.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, 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.