Raw data sources: 18,000 local law enforcement agencies in the U.S.
Date(s) & Update Frequency: Reflects 2022 calendar year; released from FBI in Oct. 2023 (latest available). Updated annually. Where is 2023 data?
Methodology: Our nationwide meta-analysis overcomes the issues inherent in any crime database, including non-reporting and reporting errors. This is possible by associating the 9.4 million reported crimes in the U.S, including over 2 million geocoded point locations…. Read more about Scout's Crime Data
With a crime rate of 44 per one thousand residents, Indianapolis has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes - from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 23. Within Indiana, more than 99% of the communities have a lower crime rate than Indianapolis. In fact, after researching dangerous places to live, NeighborhoodScout found Indianapolis to be one of the top 100 most dangerous cities in the U.S.A.
How does the crime rate in Indianapolis compare to similar sized communities across America? When NeighborhoodScout compared Indianapolis with other communities its size, we found that the crime rate was near the average for all other communities of similar size. So, whether Indianapolis's crime rate is high or low compared to all places in the US, when we control for population size and compare it to places that are similar in size, it is near the middle of the pack in crime rate; not much more or less dangerous, and about what we would expect from the statistics.
Now let us turn to take a look at how Indianapolis does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. This is important because the overall crime rate can be further illuminated by understanding if violent crime or property crimes (or both) are the major contributors to the general rate of crime in Indianapolis.
For Indianapolis, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to NeighborhoodScout's analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Indianapolis is one in 100.
In addition, NeighborhoodScout found that a lot of the crime that takes place in Indianapolis is property crime. Property crimes that are tracked for this analysis are burglary, larceny over fifty dollars, motor vehicle theft, and arson. In Indianapolis, your chance of becoming a victim of a property crime is one in 30, which is a rate of 34 per one thousand population.
Importantly, we found that Indianapolis has one of the highest rates of motor vehicle theft in the nation according to our analysis of FBI crime data. This is compared to communities of all sizes, from the smallest to the largest. In fact, your chance of getting your car stolen if you live in Indianapolis is one in 182.