Kentucky Crime Rates & City Safety Scores
Population-adjusted FBI reporting rates; see the city profiles below.
Key facts
- 01
Kentucky displays a 9.79-point adjusted-score range in its 2025 source-year cohort: Bowling Green, Kentucky at 48.1 points out of 100 versus Owensboro, Kentucky at 38.31.
- 02
Kentucky displays 3 jurisdiction profiles from a scoring run containing 351 reportable jurisdictions in its 2025 source-year directory; 3 displayed profiles have scores.
- 03
Kentucky has 1 displayed jurisdictions with decreasing reported trajectories versus 0 increasing and 2 stable, comparing weighted 2024 reporting with 2025.
- 04
Bowling Green, Kentucky has a reporting population of 73,638 residents versus 40,902 in Covington, Kentucky, in the 2025 source-year displayed cohort.
Quick answer
In the Safety Atlas 2026 public safety index, the highest-scoring city in Kentucky is Bowling Green with an adjusted safety score of 48.1 out of 100, ranked across 3 tracked jurisdictions using 2025 FBI reporting.
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Kentucky city safety rankings
Ranked by adjusted Safety Atlas score. The table lists the 3 most populous jurisdictions in this directory; each rank is calculated within this displayed 3-jurisdiction cohort.
| City / Jurisdiction | Cohort Rank | Population | Safety Score | Overall Trend | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowling Green | #1 of 3 | 73,638 | 48.1 | ↓ Decreasing | View Report → |
| Covington | #2 of 3 | 40,902 | 42.76 | → Stable | View Report → |
| Owensboro | #3 of 3 | 60,112 | 38.31 | → Stable | View Report → |
* Trajectory trends compare weighted year-over-year reporting from 2024 to 2025. Scores describe relative reported rates, not personal risk. Cohort rank covers only the 3 jurisdictions listed above.
Kentucky in 7 numbers
- Every major offense fell in 2025. Homicide -58% (532 to 225), robbery -18%, motor vehicle theft -17%, burglary -15%, larceny-theft -4%, aggravated assault 0%.
- Almost half of all reports are property crime. 124,587 of 289,961 reports (43.0%); larceny-theft alone is 76,065 (26.2%).
- Clearances skew toward violent crime. 90% of homicides cleared vs 12% of motor vehicle thefts and 16% of larcenies (2025, reports cleared divided by reports received, reporting agencies only).
- Homicides fell by nearly a fifth. 225 reports in 2025 vs 532 in 2024 (-58%) across reporting agencies.
- The biggest volume is not violent. Simple assault (38,591) alone outweighs the entire personal-safety total (19,855, 6.8% of reports).
- Watch the monthly shape. Larceny-theft peaked in Aug (6,948) and troughed in Feb (5,145), a 1.4× swing inside a single year.
- These are reporting-agency sums. 352 of 360 agencies reported homicide in December 2025 (vs 358 in January); totals reflect who reported, not a census of crime.
Takeaways are computed from summed FBI CDE reported counts (source year 2025, 360 agencies in file). They describe reported data, not forecasts; check the methodology and coverage notes before reuse.
Every number on this page ships in the Kentucky workbook.
Kentucky monthly trend: reporting-agency sums through December 2025
Annual totals hide timing. The bars below show 2025 reported counts per month summed across reporting agencies for three indicator offenses. Counts only; there is no honest monthly denominator at this grain, so no rates are shown.
Larceny-theft, month by month
→ Stable, 76065 reports vs 78967 in 2024 (about level in reported data).
| Month | Count | Agencies | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | 5,452 | 217 | Full |
| Feb 2025 | 5,145 | 217 | Full |
| Mar 2025 | 6,151 | 217 | Full |
| Apr 2025 | 6,336 | 217 | Full |
| May 2025 | 6,749 | 217 | Full |
| Jun 2025 | 6,570 | 217 | Full |
| Jul 2025 | 6,770 | 217 | Full |
| Aug 2025 | 6,948 | 217 | Full |
| Sep 2025 | 6,561 | 217 | Full |
| Oct 2025 | 6,644 | 217 | Full |
| Nov 2025 | 6,634 | 216 | Full |
| Dec 2025 | 6,105 | 215 | Full |
Simple assault, month by month
→ Stable, 38591 reports vs 38464 in 2024 (about level in reported data).
| Month | Count | Agencies | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | 2,800 | 210 | Full |
| Feb 2025 | 2,625 | 210 | Full |
| Mar 2025 | 3,466 | 210 | Full |
| Apr 2025 | 3,127 | 210 | Full |
| May 2025 | 3,631 | 210 | Full |
| Jun 2025 | 3,244 | 210 | Full |
| Jul 2025 | 3,220 | 210 | Full |
| Aug 2025 | 3,425 | 210 | Full |
| Sep 2025 | 3,636 | 210 | Full |
| Oct 2025 | 3,150 | 210 | Full |
| Nov 2025 | 3,182 | 209 | Full |
| Dec 2025 | 3,085 | 208 | Full |
Drug/Narcotic Violations, month by month
→ Stable, 35759 reports vs 38572 in 2024 (about level in reported data).
| Month | Count | Agencies | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | 2,705 | 231 | Full |
| Feb 2025 | 2,871 | 231 | Full |
| Mar 2025 | 3,348 | 231 | Full |
| Apr 2025 | 3,059 | 231 | Full |
| May 2025 | 3,148 | 231 | Full |
| Jun 2025 | 2,774 | 231 | Full |
| Jul 2025 | 3,048 | 231 | Full |
| Aug 2025 | 3,322 | 231 | Full |
| Sep 2025 | 2,990 | 231 | Full |
| Oct 2025 | 2,976 | 231 | Full |
| Nov 2025 | 2,907 | 230 | Full |
| Dec 2025 | 2,611 | 229 | Full |
Clearances: what got cleared in 2025
90% of homicides cleared vs 12% of motor vehicle thefts, clearance follows violent crime, not volume.
| Offense | Reported | Cleared | Clearance rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 225 | 202 | 89.8% |
| Aggravated Assault | 12,267 | 6,561 | 53.5% |
| Robbery | 2,565 | 891 | 34.7% |
| Burglary | 13,995 | 3,251 | 23.2% |
| Larceny-theft | 76,065 | 12,133 | 16.0% |
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 16,331 | 1,997 | 12.2% |
Clearances ÷ reports received; clearances may concern earlier reports, so this is not a solve rate.
Monthly counts summed over reporting agencies, FBI CDE source year 2025. A hyphen (-) means not reported, not zero. Totals reflect who reported, not a census of crime.
Downloads: Kentucky monthly series (JSON) · same data (CSV) · build manifest
Kentucky city reports
- Bowling Green safety report: #1 of 3, population 73,638, score 48.1, and the displayed trajectory is ↓ Decreasing.
- Covington safety report: #2 of 3, population 40,902, score 42.76, and the displayed trajectory is → Stable.
- Owensboro safety report: #3 of 3, population 60,112, score 38.31, and the displayed trajectory is → Stable.
Reading the comparison
Scores compare reported rates; they do not predict personal risk. Methodology · Coverage
Monthly count comparisons
Kentucky reporting agencies recorded 6,948 larceny-theft offenses in Aug 2025 versus 5,145 in Feb 2025, a difference of 1,803 reports; 217 agencies reported in the peak-count month compared with 217 in the minimum-count month, within 12 displayed months totaling 76,065 reports (FBI CDE reporting-agency sums, not statewide population rates).
Kentucky reporting agencies recorded 3,636 simple assault offenses in Sep 2025 versus 2,625 in Feb 2025, a difference of 1,011 reports; 210 agencies reported in the peak-count month compared with 210 in the minimum-count month, within 12 displayed months totaling 38,591 reports (FBI CDE reporting-agency sums, not statewide population rates).
Kentucky reporting agencies recorded 3,348 drug/narcotic violations offenses in Mar 2025 versus 2,611 in Dec 2025, a difference of 737 reports; 231 agencies reported in the peak-count month compared with 229 in the minimum-count month, within 12 displayed months totaling 35,759 reports (FBI CDE reporting-agency sums, not statewide population rates).
Kentucky reporting agencies recorded 202 cleared homicide offenses against 225 reports received in 2025 (89.8%), compared with 1,997 cleared motor vehicle theft offenses against 16,331 reports (12.2%), a 77.6-percentage-point difference between the displayed clearance ratios; clearances can concern earlier reports.
Bowling Green, Kentucky records 48.1 adjusted score points out of 100 in the 2025 source-year directory, 5.04 points above the displayed scored-cohort mean of 43.06; its reporting population of 73,638 residents accounts for 42.2% of the 174,652 residents summed across the 3 displayed jurisdiction populations.
Owensboro, Kentucky records 38.31 adjusted score points out of 100 in the 2025 source-year directory, 4.75 points below the displayed scored-cohort mean of 43.06; its reporting population of 60,112 residents accounts for 34.4% of the 174,652 residents summed across the 3 displayed jurisdiction populations.
Covington, Kentucky records 42.76 adjusted score points out of 100 in the 2025 source-year directory, 0.30 points below the displayed scored-cohort mean of 43.06; its reporting population of 40,902 residents accounts for 23.4% of the 174,652 residents summed across the 3 displayed jurisdiction populations.
Kentucky reporting-agency sums contain 76,065 larceny-theft reports in 2025 versus 78,967 in 2024, 2,902 reports (3.7%) fewer across the two complete twelve-month source series; monthly reporting participation ranges from 215 to 217 agencies across those years, so the count change includes differences in participation and is not a population-adjusted rate change.
Kentucky reporting-agency sums contain 38,591 simple assault reports in 2025 versus 38,464 in 2024, 127 reports (0.3%) more across the two complete twelve-month source series; monthly reporting participation ranges from 208 to 210 agencies across those years, so the count change includes differences in participation and is not a population-adjusted rate change.
Kentucky reporting-agency sums contain 31,276 vandalism reports in 2025 versus 34,268 in 2024, 2,992 reports (8.7%) fewer across the two complete twelve-month source series; monthly reporting participation ranges from 223 to 225 agencies across those years, so the count change includes differences in participation and is not a population-adjusted rate change.
How to read the Kentucky directory
The scoring run contains 351 reportable jurisdictions in Kentucky. This public directory displays the 3 most populous jurisdictions in the current scored comparison set, and each displayed city's rank is calculated within this displayed 3-jurisdiction cohort.
Within the displayed cohort, Bowling Green has the highest adjusted score at 48.1, and Owensboro has the lowest at 38.31. The public-cohort range is 9.79 points; use the offense-rate tables on each city profile to understand that spread.
Current trajectories in the displayed cohort: 1 decreasing, 2 stable, and 0 increasing. Trends compare weighted 2024 and 2025 reporting and do not forecast future incidents.
Review the scoring method, coverage report, and buyer checklist before citing or purchasing data.
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