McMechen Lockmaster Houses on the Ohio River · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainCrime recorded in McMechen, and why it isn’t graded
Glen Dale, 3 miles away, is the nearest town with a Safety Grade (B). The FBI holds no crime figures for McMechen alone for 2023–2025, so it can’t be graded. Drive 10 miles in any direction and you reach 3 towns with grades of their own.
The nearest West Virginia towns with a Safety Grade
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glen Dale | B | 3 mi | 1.2 | 9.0 |
| Moundsville | C | 4 mi | 2.4 | 20.1 |
| Wheeling | D | 6 mi | 9.3 | 18.8 |
| Follansbee | B+ | 25 mi | 0.4 | 8.9 |
| Westover | C− | 46 mi | 1.9 | 25.3 |
| Fairmont | C− | 47 mi | 5.1 | 12.7 |
Straight-line distance from the center of McMechen. Nearby towns can differ a lot from McMechen.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
One person died in crashes on McMechen’s roads in 2019–2023
McMechen had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person 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 McMechen’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so McMechen’s own rate (11.0) 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.
McMechen and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benwood | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Benwood has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
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 McMechen
Is McMechen, WV safe?
There is no Safety Grade for McMechen. McMechen has no FBI crime figures of its own for 2023–2025, so there is nothing to grade it on. The nearest West Virginia towns with a grade are Glen Dale (B, 3 mi), Moundsville (C, 4 mi), Wheeling (D, 6 mi).
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 McMechen.
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.