CrimeMetric

Crime in Chesapeake, Virginia

Major crime in Chesapeake is 7% above the U.S. rate per resident: 16% higher for persons crimes and 5% higher for property crimes. Expected major crimes are up 1.7% from a year earlier.

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

Major crime
107
7% above the U.S. rate
26% above the Virginia rate
up 1.7% in a year
Persons crimes
116
16% above the U.S. rate
1.8 times the Virginia rate
up 10.6% in a year
Property crimes
105
5% above the U.S. rate
18% above the Virginia rate
about flat in a year
Social disorder
139
39% above the U.S. rate
49% above the Virginia rate
up 8.0% 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 Chesapeake

Crime by type

Simple assault stands out most, at 1.8 times the U.S. rate

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

Citywide indexWhere the middle half of residents live

IndexPer year

Property crimes

Shoplifting1701,387

How crime varies across Chesapeake

The middle half of Chesapeake residents live in neighborhoods with a major-crime index between 34 and 101; the typical (median) resident's is 56. The citywide figure (107) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.

Map of Chesapeake, 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.
  • 0–5044.1%
  • 50–10028.4%
  • 100–20015.9%
  • 200–4009.3%
  • 400+2.3%

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

When it happens

Highest in the daytime

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

Monday to Friday, 6am to 6pm110
Sunday to Thursday nights, 6pm to 6am105
Saturday and Sunday, 6am to 6pm112
Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm to 6am101
Trend and outlook

Major crime rose 1.7% in a year; across Virginia it fell 8.5%

Past yearBy 2031
Major crime+1.7%VA -8.5%-11.6%VA -12.4%
Persons crimes+10.6%VA -5.2%-0.6%VA -1.9%
Property crimes-0.3%VA -9.0%-14.2%VA -14.1%
Social disorder+8.0%VA -5.3%-4.9%VA -5.7%

Change in expected crimes, with Virginia 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

Chesapeake against U.S. places with 250,000 to 500,000 residents

38 of the 53 other places of this size have a higher major-crime index than Chesapeake; the middle of the group is 142. The 9 nearest in population:

Buffalo, NY274,693260
Toledo, OH265,130175
Glendale, AZ265,629143
Chesapeake, VA256,587107
Irving, TX258,823100
Garland, TX250,33098
Laredo, TX273,31171

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

Nearby places

Chesapeake 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, Portsmouth (7 mi), is 2.3 times Chesapeake's rate.

Portsmouth7 mi250
Norfolk10 mi234
Hampton21 mi158
Chesapeake107
Suffolk15 mi94
Smithfield24 mi56
Carrollton19 mi27

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

Questions about crime in Chesapeake

What are the most common crimes in Chesapeake?

By expected count, the most common persons and property crimes are shoplifting (about 1,387 a year), other larceny (about 1,114 a year) and theft from vehicle (about 857 a year). Compared with the U.S., simple assault stands out most: 1.8 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. Chesapeake's figures add up its 144 block groups. The index compares crimes per resident with the U.S. rate.

  • Chesapeake's published incident records inform the estimate for every neighborhood.
  • 38.2% 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: 256,587. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2

Full method and validation·Data sources

Cite this page

CrimeMetric. "Crime in Chesapeake, Virginia." Vorp Labs, model updated Oct 20, 2026. https://crimemetric.com/va/chesapeake

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Major-crime index, U.S. = 100