How Does Watertown's Crime Rate Compare to Neighboring Communities?

Property crimes remain the most common crimes reported in Watertown, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. 

See a full break down of Watertown's numbers here.

How does Watertown compare to neighboring communities? 

Three neighboring towns with data on the FBI site did not have any murders in 2012, and Cambridge had one.

Here’s how the communities stack up:

Population – To give a fairer gauge, let’s first rank the communities by population – Cambridge, 106,981; Newton, 86,710; Waltham, 61,725; Watertown, 32,535; Belmont, 25,209. Watertown's population has dropped by more than 200 people since 2010, according to the FBI figures.

Note: Other factors can play into a community’s crime rate, such as number of retail businesses. Having many retailers, for instance, can lead to more car thefts and thefts out of vehicles.

Violent crimes – Cambridge, 431; Waltham, 146; Newton, 76; Watertown, 56; Belmont, 19. 

Robberies – Cambridge, 135; Waltham, 24; Newton, 17; Watertown, 6; Belmont, 4.

Aggregated assault – Cambridge, 275; Waltham, 110; Newton, 59; Watertown 47; Belmont, 12.

Property crime – Cambridge, 3,091; Newton, 894; Waltham, 849; Watertown, 528; Belmont, 291.

Burglary – Cambridge, 502; Waltham, 191; Newton, 185; Belmont 114; Watertown, 66.

Larceny-theft – Cambridge, 2,482; Newton, 693; Waltham, 610; Watertown, 442; Belmont, 168.

Motor vehicle thefts – Cambridge, 107; Waltham, 48; Watertown, 20; Newton, 16; Belmont, 9.