Crime in Salem, Virginia
Major crime in Salem is 28% below the U.S. rate per resident: 59% lower for persons crimes and 21% lower for property crimes. Expected major crimes are down 16.9% 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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Other larceny stands out most, at 41% 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
Property crimes
Social disorder
How crime varies across Salem
The middle half of Salem residents live in neighborhoods with a major-crime index between 24 and 83; the typical (median) resident's is 38. The citywide figure (72) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.
- 0–5072.8%
- 50–1004.9%
- 100–20017.7%
- 200–4002.6%
- 400+1.9%
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 16.9% in a year; across Virginia it fell 8.5%
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.
Salem against U.S. places with 25,000 to 50,000 residents
503 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:
Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; residents in gray.
Salem has a higher major-crime index than 4 of its 8 nearest neighbors
The 8 nearest cities and towns we cover, by major-crime index. The closest, Cave Spring (5 mi), is 9% below Salem's rate.
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 181 a year), theft from vehicle (about 46 a year) and aggravated assault (about 24 a year). Compared with the U.S., other larceny stands out most: 41% 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 20 block groups. The index compares crimes per resident with the U.S. rate.
- Salem's published incident records inform the estimate for every neighborhood.
- 8.5% 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: 25,835. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2
Full method and validation·Data sources
CrimeMetric. "Crime in Salem, Virginia." Vorp Labs, model updated Oct 20, 2026. https://crimemetric.com/va/salem
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Major-crime index, U.S. = 100
- Cave Spring5 mi66
- Roanoke5 mi202
- Hollins7 mi57
- Vinton9 mi136
- Blacksburg21 mi33
- Christiansburg22 mi108
- Rocky Mount22 mi122
- North Shore26 mi27