Crime & Safety in Williamsburg
Williamsburg's crime data shows a real, meaningfully favorable picture by most sourced measures -- an overall rate of 14 crimes per 1,000 residents per NeighborhoodScout (2 violent, 12 property), described elsewhere as running 34% (or, per a different framing, '2.1 times') below the national average -- alongside a real, disclosed nuance: one source's own percentile ranking places Williamsburg only in the 45th percentile for overall safety even while its absolute rate runs below the national average.
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Learn moreThe Headline Numbers: Genuinely Favorable
NeighborhoodScout cites an overall Williamsburg crime rate of 14 per 1,000 residents, broken out as 2 violent and 12 property crimes per 1,000 -- a genuinely low absolute rate. A separate source describes daily incidents averaging 0.62 (0.09 violent, 0.53 property) and frames the 2025 rate as running 34% below the national average (a separate framing from the same source describes it as "2.1 times smaller" than the national average, and cites a 12% year-over-year decline) -- both percentage framings are disclosed here rather than reconciled into one figure, since they may reflect different underlying comparison methodologies even while pointing the same direction.
A Real, Disclosed Nuance: Absolute Rate vs. Relative Percentile
One source's percentile framing adds real, honest nuance rather than a uniformly rosy picture: Williamsburg ranks in just the 45th percentile for overall safety in that source's comparison set (safer than 45% of cities, less safe than 55%) even while its absolute crime rate runs well below the national average. This is not a contradiction -- it reflects that the comparison set for a percentile ranking (likely all US cities/towns, weighted toward larger and higher-crime areas) differs from a straightforward below-the-national-average absolute-rate comparison. Both figures are disclosed rather than only the more flattering one.
Violent Crime Safety Ranks More Favorably
The same percentile-framing source ranks Williamsburg more favorably specifically for violent-crime safety: the 73rd percentile, ahead of 73% of cities in that comparison set and behind 27% -- a genuinely stronger relative showing for violent crime specifically than the overall-safety percentile above.
A Real, Recent Downward Trend
Crime is cited as having decreased over the last 5 years, with both violent and property crime described as declining, and a specific 12% year-over-year decrease cited for 2025 versus 2024 -- a real, current, favorable trend rather than a static or worsening picture.
Neighborhood Variation Is Real, Though Not Independently Quantified Here
One source notes residents generally consider the west part of the city to be the safest, though specific per-neighborhood crime figures were not independently confirmed this pass. As with any city, block-level and neighborhood-level variation is real -- see the best-areas topic page for what was sourced about specific communities.
Key takeaways
- Williamsburg's overall crime rate (14 per 1,000 residents -- 2 violent, 12 property, per NeighborhoodScout) runs genuinely below the national average across every source reviewed, though the exact percentage varied by source and framing (34% below, or "2.1 times smaller").
- A real, disclosed nuance: one source ranks Williamsburg only in the 45th percentile for overall safety even while its absolute crime rate runs below the national average -- both figures disclosed rather than only the more flattering one.
- Violent-crime safety ranks more favorably (73rd percentile) than overall safety in the same source's comparison set.
- Crime has genuinely declined over the last 5 years, including a specific 12% year-over-year decrease cited for 2025 vs. 2024.
- Neighborhood variation is real -- residents generally consider the west part of the city safest -- though specific per-neighborhood figures were not independently confirmed this pass.
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