How Safe Is Westchester County? Crime Data and Trends (2026 Guide)

A Data-First Look at Crime and Public Safety in Westchester

People moving to Westchester ask me about crime and public safety all the time.

Usually the question is some version of, "How safe is Westchester?" or "What does the crime data look like in the towns I'm considering?"

I'm John Buoninfante, your Westchester Realtor, and I move people in and out of Westchester.

I don't think the useful answer is for me to label a town safe or unsafe. I'd rather show you what the reported crime data says, where it comes from and what you should understand before using it to compare different places.

For this guide, I'm using government sources including the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, or DCJS, the FBI Crime Data Explorer, Westchester County Department of Public Safety and official local law-enforcement reporting when available.

This guide doesn't rank Westchester communities by crime or tell you where you should or shouldn't live. A community being included or left out isn't a statement about its safety, desirability or suitability. I'm also building separate crime-data reports for individual Westchester communities, which I'll link later in this guide as they're published.

What Does the Latest Westchester County Crime Data Show?

The most recent countywide numbers show a substantial decline in reported index crime in 2025 compared with 2024.

According to New York State DCJS data, total reported index crimes in Westchester County fell from 11,231 in 2024 to 9,337 in 2025. That's a 17% decrease.

Reported violent index crime, which includes murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, declined 25%, from 1,888 incidents to 1,422.

Reported property index crime, which includes burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft, declined 15%, from 9,343 incidents to 7,915.

Those are countywide numbers, and that's an important distinction.

They tell us what happened across Westchester County as a whole. They don't tell you what the reported crime pattern looked like in White Plains, Scarsdale, Tarrytown or another individual community.

That's why I wouldn't take a countywide percentage and use it to characterize every place within Westchester.

There's some useful historical context too. Westchester County Department of Public Safety figures citing the DCJS Uniform Crime Reporting File showed that from 2017 through 2021, reported index crime declined 4%, violent crime declined 9% and property crime declined 7%.

I'm keeping that period separate from the 2024–2025 comparison. The older figures give us historical context, but they shouldn't be presented as though they prove one continuous crime trend from 2017 through 2025.

How I Would Research Crime Data for a Westchester Community

If crime or public safety is important to your move, I wouldn't start with a website that gives a town a single safety score.

I'd start with the underlying government information.

Local Police and Municipal Reports

For an individual community, an official local police or municipal report can be one of the most useful sources when it fully covers the place and time period you're researching.

Local reporting can also provide context that isn't always obvious in broader county or federal datasets.

New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services

DCJS publishes New York crime and criminal-justice data, including county and law-enforcement-agency information.

For Westchester research, this is an important source because it provides New York-specific government data and can sometimes offer more current or standardized information than what's available elsewhere.

FBI Crime Data Explorer

The FBI Crime Data Explorer provides reported crime information that can be searched by law-enforcement agencies and year.

If you're using FBI data, check which agency is represented, the reporting year and whether the available data provide sufficient coverage for the comparison you're trying to make.

Third-party websites can still be another source of information, but their scores may be based on proprietary formulas. Two websites can take underlying crime information and turn it into different ratings.

That's why I prefer looking at the government data first and understanding what the numbers actually measure.

Crime Numbers Need Context

A crime statistic by itself doesn't tell you everything you need to know.

Take raw incident totals. A community with a larger population may naturally have more incidents than a much smaller community, so rates per 1,000 or 100,000 residents can sometimes provide additional context.

But the rates aren't perfect either.

If a smaller community has relatively few incidents, a change of only a handful of cases can create what looks like a very large percentage increase or decrease.

You also need to know who's reporting the information and what period the data covers.

Crime statistics reflect incidents reported to and recorded by participating law-enforcement agencies under the applicable reporting system. Agency participation, reporting coverage, offense definitions and classification practices can affect what appears in a dataset.

The FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program, for example, uses data voluntarily submitted by participating law-enforcement agencies. The FBI has also moved toward the National Incident-Based Reporting System, known as NIBRS, which provides more detailed incident-level reporting and differs from older reporting systems.

That doesn't make crime statistics unhelpful. It means we should understand what we're looking at before using one number to characterize an entire community.

Individual Westchester Community Crime Reports

I'm also building more detailed crime-data reports for individual Westchester communities.

The purpose is to make the available government information easier to find and understand without turning the series into a ranking of Westchester towns.

When the data are available, each community report will identify the government source, reporting year, agency or geography represented, crime category or metric being discussed and any important reporting limitations.

I'll also make clear whether a number is a raw incident total, rate or percentage change.

Communities will be added based on consumer search demand, the availability of sufficiently complete government data and my overall Westchester content plan. A community's inclusion in the series doesn't mean its reported crime is particularly high or low.

If I haven't published a report for the community you're researching yet, you can still go directly to DCJS, the FBI Crime Data Explorer or the applicable local police or municipal source.

So, What Does the Crime Data Tell Us About Westchester?

The clearest countywide finding in the current data is that reported index crime declined substantially in 2025 compared with 2024.

Total reported index crime declined 17%. Reported violent index crime declined 25%, and reported property index crime declined 15%.

That's useful information, but I wouldn't stretch it beyond what the data actually says.

It's a countywide comparison covering a specific period. Individual municipalities and law-enforcement jurisdictions can have different reported crime patterns.

If you're researching a particular Westchester community, look at the available information for that community and pay attention to the source, reporting period and coverage.

That's a much better way to use crime statistics than trying to reduce an entire town to one word or one rating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Westchester County safe?

I don't think one statistic can answer that question for every person or every community in Westchester.

What I can tell you is what the government-reported countywide data shows. According to New York State DCJS figures cited in this guide, reported index crime in Westchester County declined 17% in 2025 compared with 2024. Reported violent index crime declined 25%, while reported property index crime declined 15%.

If you're researching a particular community, I recommend looking at the available government data for that municipality or the law-enforcement agency serving it rather than applying the countywide numbers to every place in Westchester.

Where does Westchester County crime data come from?

The figures in this guide come from government sources.

New York State DCJS publishes crime and criminal-justice data for New York. The FBI makes data submitted through its Uniform Crime Reporting program available through the Crime Data Explorer. Westchester County and individual police departments or municipalities may publish additional official information.

The important thing is to check the reporting period, geography and coverage before comparing numbers from different sources.

How do I find reported crime data for a specific Westchester community?

For a specific community, I would first look for sufficiently complete official reporting from the local police department or municipality. New York State DCJS is another important source for New York agency and county data, and the FBI Crime Data Explorer provides available federal agency-level reporting.

Whichever source you're using, make sure you're looking at the correct agency, reporting period and crime metric before comparing it with another community or year.

Can I compare crime rates between Westchester towns?

You can compare reported crime data when the underlying information is sufficiently compatible, but you need to be careful about how you do it.

Check that you're comparing similar reporting periods, offense categories, geographic areas and metrics. You should also make sure the agencies have sufficient reporting coverage. Missing or unavailable data should never be treated as zero crime.

Who should I contact for help relocating to or from Westchester County?

I'm John Buoninfante, a Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker with Real Broker NY LLC, and I help people move into, out of and within Westchester County.

I can help you work through objective factors including housing, property taxes, commuting, transportation, municipal and school-district boundaries and current real estate conditions.

When you ask me about crime or public safety, I'm going to point you toward government information like the sources used in this guide so you can review the data yourself rather than having me decide whether a community is safe or unsafe for you.

You can reach me at 646-391-1093 or John@JohnWestchesterRealtor.com.

Planning a Move to Westchester County?

Crime data may be one part of your research, but it's probably not the only thing you'll be considering.

Budget, housing options, property taxes, commuting, transportation, school-district boundaries, access to downtowns and the individual house can all affect your decision.

That's why I don't start a relocation conversation by handing someone a generic ranking of Westchester towns. I want to understand what you're trying to accomplish and help you compare the objective information that matters to your move.

If you're still researching, download my Moving to Westchester County Guide. It covers communities, commuting, housing and some of the other things you'll want to understand before buying here.

https://johnbuoninfante137.lpages.co/westchester-guide/

If you're further along and want to talk through your move, reach out. We can start with what you're looking for and work from there.