Crime & Safety in Fort Myers
Fort Myers' crime picture depends on which tool you check, and the two most-cited ones genuinely disagree on direction, not just degree: CrimeGrade.org reads the city as safer than most U.S. cities, while NeighborhoodScout reads it as running above the national average. Both draw on real crime data with different methodologies and comparison sets, and this record covers the mainland city only, not the separate barrier-island municipalities of Fort Myers Beach or Sanibel.
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Learn moreCrimeGrade.org: A Comparatively Favorable Read
CrimeGrade.org puts Fort Myers' overall crime rate at about 12.94 incidents per 1,000 residents in a typical year, placing the city in roughly the 75th percentile nationally -- safer than about 75% of U.S. cities it compares against. Its component grades: a B for violent crime (rate of 2.258 per 1,000, close to but slightly better than the average U.S. city) and a B+ for property crime (rate of 8.300 per 1,000, lower than the average U.S. city). The chance of being a crime victim in a given year ranges from about 1-in-54 in the central neighborhoods to about 1-in-118 in the northeast, per CrimeGrade's block-level breakdown.
NeighborhoodScout: A Less Favorable Read
NeighborhoodScout describes Fort Myers' crime rate as considerably higher than the national average across all U.S. communities, citing about 17 crimes per 1,000 residents and a 1-in-58 chance of being a victim of violent or property crime in a given year -- while also noting the city is not among the communities with the very highest crime rates nationally. That framing (above-average, but not extreme) is a real, meaningful contrast to CrimeGrade's 75th-percentile reading, and the two shouldn't be averaged into a single number.
What the Gap Likely Reflects
As with several other Southwest Florida cities in this dataset, the disagreement likely traces to different underlying data years, weighting methodology, and comparison sets (national percentile vs. a raw per-1,000 rate framed against the national average). The honest takeaway is the disagreement itself -- CrimeGrade reads Fort Myers as safer than most U.S. cities, NeighborhoodScout reads it as above the national average -- not a single resolved verdict.
Neighborhood-Level Variance
CrimeGrade's 2026 data names the areas around Florida Gulf Coast University, Fiddlesticks Country Club, Lexington Country Club, Shell Point, and The Legends Golf and Country Club as the city's A+-graded, safest-rated neighborhoods, each also carrying comparatively high median household incomes (Florida Gulf Coast University area, about $118,701; Fiddlesticks, about $133,625; Lexington, about $105,171). Per site policy, no specific lower-graded area is named here -- block-level variance is real in any city this size, and a citywide rate from either source can mask it. Check a specific address directly with CrimeGrade.org or NeighborhoodScout before a relocation decision.
Key takeaways
- CrimeGrade.org rates Fort Myers in roughly the 75th percentile nationally for safety (overall rate about 12.94 per 1,000; B for violent crime, B+ for property crime), while NeighborhoodScout describes the city's crime rate (about 17 per 1,000, 1-in-58 chance of victimization) as considerably above the national average -- a real, unresolved disagreement between two legitimate sources, not a single verdict.
- CrimeGrade's victim-chance range spans roughly 1-in-54 (central neighborhoods) to 1-in-118 (northeast) depending on area.
- This record covers the mainland City of Fort Myers only -- Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel are separate municipalities with their own, still-recovering post-Hurricane-Ian safety and infrastructure pictures not represented by these figures.
- CrimeGrade names the areas around Florida Gulf Coast University, Fiddlesticks Country Club, Lexington Country Club, Shell Point, and The Legends Golf and Country Club as its highest-graded (A+), safest-rated neighborhoods for 2026. No specific lower-graded area is named per site policy -- check a specific address before deciding.
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