A Look At The Latest Property Crime Statistics In Massachusetts.

Property Crime Rates by Massachusetts City & Town

In connection with our Market Share Reports on both the Homeowner’s Multi-Peril and the Burglary & Theft lines of insurance in Massachusetts, Agency Checklists now takes a look at the rate of Property Crime in the Commonwealth. Similar to the Massachusetts Division of Insurance, each year the FBI issues a report outlining the overall trends in property crime within certain areas of the U.S. as well as nationally.

According to the FBI’s definition, crimes that would be categorized as “Property Crime” for the purposes of the FBI reporting guidelines, include Burglary, Larceny-theft, and Motor Vehicle Theft and Arson. “The object of the theft-type offenses is the taking of money or property, but there is no force or threat of force against the victims.”

Contrary to popular belief, property crime is decreasing

In 2017, it is estimated that there were 7,694,086 property crime offenses which occurred throughout the U.S. Based on a two trend, the data shows that property crime throughout the U.S. declines by 3% in 2017 as compared to the same data from 2016. Even more encouraging, in comparing 2017 data with 2008, the 10-year trend displayed a 21.3% decrease in property crime offenses during this time period. Calculating the rate of property crime offenses per person, as of 2017 the estimated rate was at 2,362.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, equaling a 3.6% decreased as compared to 2016.

Larceny-theft accounted for the vast majority of all property crimes in 2017, comprising approximately 71.7%. Burglaries accounted 18.2% of all property crimes while motor vehicle theft comprised the remaining 10%. In total, property crimes occurring during 2017 accounted for approximately $15.3 billion in estimated losses.

Property crime statistics in the Commonwealth

The following is a list of the top twenty cities and towns by population in Massachusetts along with their corresponding property crime statistics for 2017.

	City	Population	Property crime	Burglary	Larceny- theft	Motor vehicle theft	Crime per Resident
1	Boston	682,903	14,266	2,109	10,952	1,205	47.9
2	Worcester	185,107	4,047	866	2,784	397	45.7
3	Springfield	154,562	4,594	1,183	2,902	509	33.6
4	Cambridge	111,707	2,031	252	1,685	94	55.0
5	Lowell	111,294	2,198	474	1,370	354	50.6
6	Brockton	96,016	1,961	327	1,250	384	49.0
7	New Bedford	95,107	2,717	570	1,971	176	35.0
8	Quincy	93,966	1,564	322	1,154	88	60.08
9	Lynn	93,140	1,631	299	1,101	231	57.1
10	Newton	89,736	576	87	471	18	155.79
11	Fall River	89,012	1,564	426	909	229	56.9
12	Somerville	82,326	1,071	174	808	89	76.86
13	Lawrence	80,890	1,391	224	759	408	58.2
14	Framingham	72,153	748	132	549	67	96.46
15	Waltham	63,413	609	118	447	44	104.12
16	Haverhill	63,244	917	201	597	119	68.96
17	Malden	61,098	780	119	588	73	78.33
18	Plymouth	59,803	591	81	486	24	101.19
19	Brookline	59,233	665	91	563	11	87.73
20	Medford	57,418	663	115	485	63	86.60

The 2017 Property Crime Statistics by Massachusetts cities & towns

The following is a list of the twenty towns and cities with the most crimes per resident.

Again, a breakdown of how many of the total number of Property Crimes involved Burglary, Larceny-theft and Motor Vehicle theft are in separate columns, followed by the ratio of crime to population in the last column.

To obtain a complete list of all the Massachusetts towns and cities featured in this report, please contact us here.

Rank	City	Population	All property crimes	Burglary	Larceny-Theft	Motor Vehicle Theft	Crime per resident
1	Holyoke	40,451	2,013	318	1,566	129	20.8
2	Provincetown	2,993	1,206	134	1,002	70	23.6
3	West Springfield	28,635	1,105	121	111	4	25.9
4	North Adams	12,948	399	115	280	4	32.5
5	Springfield	154,562	4,594	1,183	2,902	509	33.6
6	New Bedford	95,107	2,717	570	1,971	176	35.0
7	Pittsfield	42,546	1,092	399	656	37	39.0
8	Hadley	5,382	134	11	117	6	40.2
9	Chicopee	56,255	1,.381	325	928	128	40.7
10	Nantucket	11,165	264	34	213	17	42.3
11	Leominster	41,846	940	121	770	49	44.5
12	Salem	43,385	951	113	787	51	45.6
13	Worcester	185,107	4,047	866	2,784	397	45.7
14	Auburn	16,563	347	33	301	13	47.7
15	Boston	682,903	14,266	2,109	10,952	1,205	47.9
16	Fairhaven	16,188	338	44	276	18	47.9
17	Dennis	13,976	291	86	191	14	48.0
18	Brockton	96,016	1,961	327	1,250	384	49.0
19	Dartmouth	34,802	707	87	581	39	49.2
20	Stockbridge	1,919	38	12	25	1	50.5