CrimeMetric

Crime in Norfolk, Virginia

Major crime in Norfolk is 2.3 times the U.S. rate per resident: 34% higher for persons crimes and 2.6 times for property crimes. Expected major crimes are up 8.4% from a year earlier.

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

Major crime
234
2.3 times the U.S. rate
2.8 times the Virginia rate
up 8.4% in a year
Persons crimes
134
34% above the U.S. rate
2.1 times the Virginia rate
down 3.8% in a year
Property crimes
256
2.6 times the U.S. rate
2.9 times the Virginia rate
up 10.0% in a year
Social disorder
193
1.9 times the U.S. rate
2.1 times the Virginia rate
up 2.8% in a year

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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Crime by type

Theft from vehicle stands out most, at 4.0 times the U.S. rate

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

Citywide indexWhere the middle half of residents live

IndexPer year

Persons crimes

Murder30025
Robbery159157

Property crimes

Shoplifting3652,672

How crime varies across Norfolk

The middle half of Norfolk residents live in neighborhoods with a major-crime index between 87 and 241; the typical (median) resident's is 145. The citywide figure (234) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.

Map of Norfolk, 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.
  • 0–5011.2%
  • 50–10019.4%
  • 100–20038.4%
  • 200–40019.0%
  • 400+11.9%

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

When it happens

Highest at night

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

Monday to Friday, 6am to 6pm225
Sunday to Thursday nights, 6pm to 6am243
Saturday and Sunday, 6am to 6pm228
Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm to 6am247
Trend and outlook

Major crime rose 8.4% in a year; across Virginia it fell 8.5%

Past yearBy 2031
Major crime+8.4%VA -8.5%-16.6%VA -12.4%
Persons crimes-3.8%VA -5.2%-7.5%VA -1.9%
Property crimes+10.0%VA -9.0%-17.6%VA -14.1%
Social disorder+2.8%VA -5.3%-10.3%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

Norfolk against U.S. places with 100,000 to 250,000 residents

17 of the 268 other places of this size have a higher major-crime index than Norfolk; the middle of the group is 109. The 9 nearest in population:

Spokane, WA231,993279
Baton Rouge, LA229,945264
Tacoma, WA233,062249
Norfolk, VA230,318234
Fremont, CA226,519111
Hialeah, FL233,71091

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

Nearby places

Norfolk has a higher major-crime index than 7 of its 8 nearest neighbors

The 8 nearest cities and towns we cover, by major-crime index. The closest, Portsmouth (7 mi), is 7% above Norfolk's rate.

Portsmouth7 mi250
Norfolk234
Hampton12 mi158
Chesapeake10 mi107
Suffolk18 mi94
Poquoson18 mi50
Carrollton16 mi27

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

Questions about crime in Norfolk

What are the most common crimes in Norfolk?

By expected count, the most common persons and property crimes are shoplifting (about 2,672 a year), theft from vehicle (about 2,415 a year) and other larceny (about 2,194 a year). Compared with the U.S., theft from vehicle stands out most: 4.0 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. Norfolk's figures add up its 202 block groups. The index compares crimes per resident with the U.S. rate.

  • Norfolk's published incident records inform the estimate for every neighborhood.
  • 57.0% 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: 230,318. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2

Full method and validation·Data sources

Cite this page

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

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Major-crime index, U.S. = 100