CrimeMetric

Crime in Salem, Massachusetts

Major crime in Salem is 36% below the U.S. rate per resident: 68% lower for persons crimes and 29% lower for property crimes. Expected major crimes are down 23.4% from a year earlier.

Modeled estimates per resident, not counts of incidents. How we calculated this

Major crime
64
36% below the U.S. rate
13% below the Massachusetts rate
down 23.4% in a year
Persons crimes
32
68% below the U.S. rate
67% below the Massachusetts rate
down 1.0% in a year
Property crimes
71
29% below the U.S. rate
about the Massachusetts rate
down 25.1% in a year
Social disorder
87
13% below the U.S. rate
32% above the Massachusetts rate
down 11.5% in a year

Index: crimes per resident compared with the U.S., where 100 is the U.S. rate and 200 is twice it.

Check an address in Salem

Crime by type

Simple assault stands out most, at 28% above the U.S. rate

Expected crimes per year in Salem for each type, and the index against the U.S. rate per resident.

Citywide indexWhere the middle half of residents live

IndexPer year

How crime varies across Salem

The middle half of Salem residents live in neighborhoods with a major-crime index between 34 and 74; the typical (median) resident's is 45. The citywide figure (64) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.

Map of Salem, with its census block groups shaded by major-crime index band
Block groups shaded by major-crime index, in the bar's bands below; pale gray where fewer than 100 people live. Tap one to compare it. Highways and boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau.
  • 0–5051.3%
  • 50–10032.3%
  • 100–20015.0%
  • 200–4001.4%
  • 400+0.0%

Share of residents by the index of their census block group, a neighborhood of roughly 600 to 3,000 people.

When it happens

Highest on weekday daytimes

Major-crime index by time of week, against the U.S. rate for the same hours.

Monday to Friday, 6am to 6pm87
Sunday to Thursday nights, 6pm to 6am43
Saturday and Sunday, 6am to 6pm72
Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm to 6am36
Trend and outlook

Major crime fell 23.4% in a year; across Massachusetts it fell 5.7%

Past yearBy 2031
Major crime-23.4%MA -5.7%-12.1%MA -11.5%
Persons crimes-1.0%MA +0.2%-1.5%MA -0.8%
Property crimes-25.1%MA -7.4%-13.1%MA -14.9%
Social disorder-11.5%MA -1.6%-2.0%MA -4.6%

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.

Similar-size places

Salem against U.S. places with 25,000 to 50,000 residents

584 of the 960 other places of this size have a higher major-crime index than Salem; the middle of the group is 77. The 9 nearest in population:

Cerritos, CA45,891229
Hobbs, NM45,867166
Lathrop, CA45,96785
Salem, MA45,87364

Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; residents in gray.

Nearby places

Salem has a higher major-crime index than 5 of its 8 nearest neighbors

The 8 nearest cities and towns we cover, by major-crime index. The closest, Marblehead (2 mi), is 52% below Salem's rate.

Lynn4 mi90
Danvers5 mi88
Saugus7 mi78
Salem64
Peabody3 mi49
Beverly4 mi32
Nahant6 mi24

Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; distances between where residents live, in miles.

Questions about crime in Salem

What are the most common crimes in Salem?

By expected count, the most common persons and property crimes are other larceny (about 236 a year), shoplifting (about 114 a year) and theft from vehicle (about 46 a year). Compared with the U.S., simple assault stands out most: 28% above 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. Salem's figures add up its 35 block groups. The index compares crimes per resident with the U.S. rate.

  • Salem has no published incident records in our data, so its estimate relies on agency totals and neighborhood characteristics.
  • 9.1% 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: 45,873. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2

Full method and validation·Data sources

Cite this page

CrimeMetric. "Crime in Salem, Massachusetts." Vorp Labs, model updated Oct 20, 2026. https://crimemetric.com/ma/salem

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Major-crime index, U.S. = 100