Guides / Crime data

How to read crime data for a neighborhood

Official FBI crime statistics are a solid foundation, but they arrive a year or more late and cover a whole police department's area. Consilium Compare builds on them. Every report gives each ZIP code a 0–10 crime concern score that starts with the FBI's data for the police department serving the area, then layers on recent local crime incidents from Consilium's own monitoring, side by side for two places. $1.99 at our launch price.

How the Consilium crime concern score works

1. The foundation: FBI data. We start with the FBI's reported crime for the police department that actually serves the ZIP code, per 100,000 residents. We adjust it so a small population can't swing the score on its own, then scale it against places nationwide.
2. The current layer: recent local incidents. Consilium's monitoring pipeline captures local crime incidents, such as homicides, robberies, assaults, and burglaries, and attributes them to the ZIP where they happened, so the score reflects recent activity, not only last year's federal totals. Where recent local data is thin, the score leans more on the FBI foundation.
3. One comparable score. We combine both into a 0–10 concern score for each ZIP. Higher means more concern. The FBI rates behind it appear right next to the score, so you can see what's driving it.

For more, see how Consilium's concern scores work.

Why FBI numbers alone fall short

How to find the crime rate for a ZIP code or address

Start with the city or police department open-data portal and its crime map. Use the FBI Crime Data Explorer for agency-level totals. Those totals are not drawn on a ZIP boundary, so a ZIP-level rate is often an estimate from the agency that serves the area. Compare rates per 100,000 or per 1,000 residents, not raw counts. A larger city reports more incidents even when the rate is lower. For a wider checklist, see how to research a neighborhood before you buy.

• They're late. Annual federal figures come out well after the year ends, so you're looking at the past.
• They cover a whole department. A ZIP code can be served by a town police department, a township, or a county sheriff, and the totals cover that agency's entire area.
• They have gaps. Some agencies are missing years, especially around 2021, when the FBI changed how departments submit data.
• Counts mislead. A city of 200,000 will always report more crimes than a town of 20,000. Comparisons need rates per 100,000 residents, which our report uses.

How to read the score

• Compare the two scores, then look at what's behind them. For example, Montclair, New Jersey (4.07) scores higher than Sewell (3.19). The FBI rates point the same way: 954 vs 610 reported crimes per 100,000 residents.
• Separate violent from property crime. Two places with similar totals can feel very different. One may have mostly shoplifting at a big mall, the other more burglaries on residential streets. The report shows both rates next to the score.
• Read it as context, not a verdict. No score makes a place "safe" or "unsafe." It tells you where to look harder.

Common mistakes

• Ranking towns by one year of data. Small towns can swing a lot from year to year.
• Treating reported crime as all crime. Many crimes are never reported to police.
• Ignoring visitors. Places with malls, stadiums, or tourist areas have crime counted against a resident population much smaller than the daytime crowd.

Before you buy

Visit at different times of day, talk to neighbors, and ask the local police department about recent activity near the specific street.

FAQ

For more on our incident data, see crime and environmental incidents.