Photo: Mgoudy85 · Public domainMore property crime is recorded per resident in Parkersburg than in 91% of U.S. towns
The graded rate fell 31% from 2023 to 2025. Its letter overall is C− (#22 of 29 graded towns in West Virginia): more crime per resident than 85% of U.S. towns, from crimes its police reported through 2023 to 2025. The local count comes to 2.7 violent crimes and 30.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 4.1 and 24.0 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 Parkersburg
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 1 West Virginia towns on Parkersburg’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Vienna (C−). Neighbors ↓
A job center
Parkersburg has 19,087 jobs based in town for 28,593 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. 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 Parkersburg’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; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.7) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) 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 | Parkersburg property | Rest of West Virginia property | Parkersburg violent | Rest of West Virginia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 34.6 | 27.7 | 4.4 | 5.2 |
| 2023 | 35.1 | 24.9 | 2.7 | 4.8 |
| 2024 | 32.2 | 23.8 | 2.6 | 4.0 |
| 2025 | 23.5 | 23.4 | 2.7 | 3.6 |
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 Parkersburg 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 3 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 | Parkersburg | Rest of West Virginia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.4 | 5.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.7 | 4.8 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.6 | 4.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.7 | 3.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Parkersburg’s police reported 229 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.7 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.1 in the rest of West Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
749 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.
77 violent and 672 property, as reported to the FBI by Parkersburg’s police.
14 people died in crashes on Parkersburg’s roads in 2019–2023
Parkersburg had 13 fatal crashes in five years, in which 14 people died; 3 were pedestrians.
That is 9.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for West Virginia towns of 25,000–100,000 people (9.6, 5 towns).
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.
Parkersburg and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parkersburg | C− | 2.7 | 30.3 |
| Vienna | C− | 1.4 | 34.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
West Virginia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parkersburg | C− | 2.7 | 30.3 |
| Morgantown | C | 2.6 | 19.5 |
| Fairmont | C− | 5.1 | 12.7 |
| Wheeling | D | 9.3 | 18.8 |
| Charleston | D | 5.7 | 34.6 |
| Huntington | D | 7.5 | 34.1 |
The five graded West Virginia towns closest to Parkersburg’s population (28,593), 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 Parkersburg. 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 Parkersburg’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (28,628 in 2025); our figure for Parkersburg is 28,593 (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 Parkersburg
Is Parkersburg, WV safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Parkersburg reports more crime per resident than 85% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #22 of 29 in West Virginia. Its police reported 2.7 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 Parkersburg?
2.7 violent and 30.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of West Virginia reports 4.1 and 24.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Parkersburg in 2025?
Parkersburg’s police reported 3 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 10.5 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Parkersburg safer than Vienna?
Vienna reports less crime per resident than Parkersburg: Vienna grades C− for safety and Parkersburg C−. Vienna’s police reported 1.4 violent and 34.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Parkersburg?
Parkersburg’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Parkersburg”. 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 Parkersburg.
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.