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 |