Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainOn violent crime, Grafton has a lower rate per resident than 89% of U.S. towns
Taking everything together, Grafton scores A− (#2 of 29 graded towns in West Virginia): less crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns, measured on crimes its police reported between 2023 and 2025. Violence and property crime split as 0.4 violent crime and 7.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 4.1 and 24.6 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 Grafton
Among West Virginia towns, higher
West Virginia’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Grafton’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 93% of the 29 West Virginia towns we grade, against 78% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Grafton’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Grafton | Rest of West Virginia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.0 | 5.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.4 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.0 | 3.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.7 | 3.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Grafton’s police reported 5 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.1 in the rest of West Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Grafton 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 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Grafton property | Rest of West Virginia property | Grafton violent | Rest of West Virginia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.8 | 28.6 | 0.0 | 5.2 |
| 2023 | 5.3 | 25.8 | 0.4 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 9.2 | 24.5 | 0.0 | 3.9 |
| 2025 | 8.4 | 23.6 | 0.7 | 3.6 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of West Virginia.
41 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.
3 violent and 38 property, as reported to the FBI by Grafton’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Grafton’s roads in 2019–2023
Grafton had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died.
That is about what is typical for West Virginia towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (6.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Grafton’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Grafton’s own rate (8.7) 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.
Grafton and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grafton | A− | 0.4 | 7.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
West Virginia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grafton | A− | 0.4 | 7.6 |
| Weston | B+ | 1.4 | 7.5 |
| Buckhannon | B− | 1.8 | 12.0 |
| Summersville | C+ | 1.4 | 17.3 |
| Barboursville | C | 0.9 | 28.0 |
| Westover | C− | 1.9 | 25.3 |
The five graded West Virginia towns closest to Grafton’s population (4,529), 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 Grafton. 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 Grafton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,542 in 2025); our figure for Grafton is 4,529 (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 Grafton
Is Grafton, WV safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Grafton reports less crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #2 of 29 in West Virginia. Its police reported 0.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.1 in the rest of West Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Grafton?
0.4 violent and 7.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of West Virginia reports 4.1 and 24.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Grafton?
Grafton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Grafton”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Grafton.
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.