Crime in New Bedford, Massachusetts
Major crime in New Bedford is about the U.S. rate per resident: 8% higher for persons crimes and about the same for property crimes. Expected major crimes are down 11.8% from a year earlier.
Modeled estimates per resident, not counts of incidents. How we calculated this
Index: crimes per resident compared with the U.S., where 100 is the U.S. rate and 200 is twice it.
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Simple assault stands out most, at 2.7 times the U.S. rate
Expected crimes per year in New Bedford for each type, and the index against the U.S. rate per resident.
Citywide indexWhere the middle half of residents live
Property crimes
Social disorder
How crime varies across New Bedford
The middle half of New Bedford residents live in neighborhoods with a major-crime index between 57 and 114; the typical (median) resident's is 81. The citywide figure (99) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.
- 0–5016.5%
- 50–10048.3%
- 100–20028.6%
- 200–4006.4%
- 400+0.2%
Share of residents by the index of their census block group, a neighborhood of roughly 600 to 3,000 people.
Highest on weekday daytimes
Major-crime index by time of week, against the U.S. rate for the same hours.
Major crime fell 11.8% in a year; across Massachusetts it fell 5.7%
Change in expected crimes, with Massachusetts as a whole in gray. The past year uses the reporting agencies' year-to-date FBI data; 2031 is the model's projection.
New Bedford against U.S. places with 100,000 to 250,000 residents
157 of the 268 other places of this size have a higher major-crime index than New Bedford; the middle of the group is 109. The 9 nearest in population:
Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; residents in gray.
New Bedford has a higher major-crime index than 6 of its 8 nearest neighbors
The 8 nearest cities and towns we cover, by major-crime index. The closest, Smith Mills (3 mi), is 3.6 times New Bedford's rate.
Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; distances between where residents live, in miles.
Questions about crime in New Bedford
What are the most common crimes in New Bedford?
By expected count, the most common persons and property crimes are other larceny (about 562 a year), theft from vehicle (about 290 a year) and aggravated assault (about 219 a year). Compared with the U.S., simple assault stands out most: 2.7 times the U.S. rate per resident.
How we calculated this
Each police agency's crimes, as reported to the FBI, are spread across the census block groups it serves using population, jobs, points of interest and, where available, local incident records. New Bedford's figures add up its 87 block groups. The index compares crimes per resident with the U.S. rate.
- New Bedford has no published incident records in our data, so its estimate relies on agency totals and neighborhood characteristics.
- 86.8% of residents live in block groups whose estimate has high confidence (80% interval within about 5x).
- Rates are per resident, so places where many people work or visit but few live, such as downtowns, airports and stadiums, can read high.
- Disorderly conduct and trespassing are modeled, because the FBI records them only through arrests.
- Residents: 102,220. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2
Full method and validation·Data sources
CrimeMetric. "Crime in New Bedford, Massachusetts." Vorp Labs, model updated Oct 20, 2026. https://crimemetric.com/ma/new-bedford
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Get a free API keyNearest cities we publish
Major-crime index, U.S. = 100
- Smith Mills3 mi360
- Bliss Corner3 mi79
- Mattapoisett Center7 mi53
- Fall River12 mi133
- Wareham Center13 mi95
- Somerset13 mi36
- Tiverton, RI13 mi37
- North Falmouth16 mi47