Photo: WeaponizingArchitecture · CC BY-SA 4.0For violent crime, Fairmont trails 89% of U.S. towns per resident
The graded rate fell 21% from 2023 to 2025. By contrast, its Safety Grade, C− (#16 of 29 graded towns in West Virginia), rests on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025: more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns. Annual rates stand at 5.1 violent crimes and 12.7 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 4.0 and 25.0 in the rest of West Virginia.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of WV” is every other West Virginia 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 Fairmont
Among West Virginia towns, closer to the middle
West Virginia’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Fairmont’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 45% of the 29 West Virginia towns we grade, against 23% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Fairmont is home to Fairmont State University, with 2,637 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 9% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
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 Fairmont’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. Its property rate (12.7) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Fairmont property | Rest of West Virginia property | Fairmont violent | Rest of West Virginia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 13.9 | 29.1 | 3.9 | 5.2 |
| 2023 | 13.4 | 26.2 | 6.1 | 4.6 |
| 2024 | 13.2 | 24.8 | 5.2 | 3.8 |
| 2025 | 11.5 | 24.0 | 3.9 | 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 West Virginia.
Crime in Fairmont 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 4 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 | Fairmont | Rest of West Virginia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.9 | 5.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 6.1 | 4.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.2 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Fairmont’s police reported 275 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 5.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.0 in the rest of West Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
277 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.
71 violent and 206 property, as reported to the FBI by Fairmont’s police.
Three people died in crashes on Fairmont’s roads in 2019–2023
Fairmont had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died.
That is fewer than is typical for West Virginia towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (10.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Fairmont’s size would see about 9 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Fairmont’s own rate (3.3) 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.
Fairmont and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairmont | C− | 5.1 | 12.7 |
| Pleasant Valley | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Pleasant Valley has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
West Virginia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairmont | C− | 5.1 | 12.7 |
| Clarksburg | C− | 3.3 | 25.1 |
| Parkersburg | C− | 2.7 | 30.3 |
| Wheeling | D | 9.3 | 18.8 |
| South Charleston | D− | 5.0 | 51.8 |
| Beckley | D− | 6.5 | 73.4 |
The five graded West Virginia towns closest to Fairmont’s population (18,035), 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 Fairmont. 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 Fairmont’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (17,976 in 2025); our figure for Fairmont is 18,035 (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 Fairmont
Is Fairmont, WV safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Fairmont reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #16 of 29 in West Virginia. Its police reported 5.1 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.0 in the rest of West Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Fairmont?
5.1 violent and 12.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of West Virginia reports 4.0 and 25.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Fairmont?
Fairmont’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Fairmont”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
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 Fairmont.
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.