Photo: WeaponizingArchitecture · CC BY-SA 4.0Wheeling reports more crime per resident than 93% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Wheeling’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #25 of 29 graded towns in 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 Wheeling
A job center
Wheeling has 19,030 jobs based in town for 25,680 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 Wheeling’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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Wheeling’s police reported 724 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 9.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.7 in the rest of West Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Wheeling | Rest of West Virginia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.3 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 9.8 | 4.3 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 9.8 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 8.2 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Reported crime is falling
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Wheeling property | Rest of West Virginia property | Wheeling violent | Rest of West Virginia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 24.1 | 28.7 | 12.3 | 4.5 |
| 2023 | 20.3 | 26.0 | 9.8 | 4.3 |
| 2024 | 19.9 | 24.6 | 9.8 | 3.5 |
| 2025 | 16.2 | 23.9 | 8.2 | 3.2 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 16 property crimes reported
And about 8 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
631 crimes reported in 2025
212 violent and 419 property, as reported to the FBI by Wheeling’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
10 people died in crashes on Wheeling’s roads in 2019–2023
Wheeling had 9 fatal crashes in five years, in which 10 people died; 2 were pedestrians. 3 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 7.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, below 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.
Wheeling and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Bethlehem and Benwood have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
West Virginia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheeling | D | 9.3 | 18.8 |
| Morgantown | C | 2.6 | 19.5 |
| Fairmont | C− | 5.1 | 12.7 |
| Clarksburg | C− | 3.3 | 25.1 |
| Parkersburg | C− | 2.7 | 30.3 |
| Beckley | D− | 6.5 | 73.4 |
The five graded West Virginia towns closest to Wheeling’s population (25,680), by grade.
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 Wheeling. 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 Wheeling’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (25,851 in 2025); our figure for Wheeling is 25,680 (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 Wheeling
Is Wheeling, WV safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Wheeling reports more crime per resident than 93% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #25 of 29 in West Virginia. Its police reported 9.3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.7 in the rest of West Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Wheeling?
9.3 violent and 18.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of West Virginia reports 3.7 and 24.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Wheeling?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Wheeling in 2025?
Wheeling’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 3.9 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Wheeling?
Wheeling’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Wheeling”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Wheeling.
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.