Do you live in one of the most dangerous cities in Massachusetts?
We all watch the news and see reports on Facebook of the latest crimes that happen in our hometowns. But it can be hard to tell at a big picture level how dangerous our town actually is.
No one wants to feel unsafe, and statistically speaking, odds are that where you live is most likely relatively safe. In order to help the good people of Massachusetts — and anyone looking to move to Massachusetts — know just how close they are to danger, we took data from the annual FBI report and did some serious analysis.
Here are the 10 most dangerous cities in Massachusetts for 2019:
- Holyoke (Photos)
- North Adams (Photos)
- Springfield (Photos)
- Pittsfield (Photos)
- New Bedford (Photos)
- West Springfield
- Brockton (Photos)
- Worcester (Photos)
- Boston (Photos)
- Chicopee (Photos)
So what is the most dangerous city in Massachusetts? After analyzing 237 cities in Massachusetts, Holyoke takes the top spot as the most dangerous city in Massachusetts based on the most recent FBI data.
For a detailed explanation of the data and analysis we used in creating this ranking, read on.
Or learn more about the safest places in Massachusetts.
If you’re looking for something more national, check out the most dangerous cities in America or the most dangerous states in America.
For more Massachusetts reading, check out:
- 10 Best Places To Live In Massachusetts
- These Are The 10 Best Counties To Live In Massachusetts
- 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Massachusetts
Graphing The Most Dangerous And Safest Places In Massachusetts
How we determined the most dangerous cities in Massachusetts for 2019?
Every year the FBI release two crime datasets, a preliminary dataset limited to the biggest cities in the country, followed by a more detailed release at the end of the year.
For our analysis, we focused on the JUST released 2017 data, specifically the 2017 Crime In The United States Report. We will update the results when data becomes available in September 2019.
So what criteria did we use? Have a look:
- Violent Crimes Per Capita
- Property Crimes Per Capita
In order to make the analysis as apples to apples as possible, we only considered cities over 5,000 in population. That left us with 237 cities in Massachusetts.
We then ranked each city from 1 to 237 for the two criteria with a #1 ranking being the most dangerous for the particular criteria.
Next, we averaged the two rankings into one “Dangerous Index”.
Finally, we ranked every city on the “Dangerous Index” with the lowest index being the most dangerous in Massachusetts — Holyoke.
Read on for a detailed look at the 10 most dangerous cities in Massachusetts.
The 10 Most Dangerous Places To Live In Massachusetts For 2019
Holyoke comes in as the 1st most dangerous city in Massachusetts.
Part of the Springfield Metro area in western Mass., Holyoke experienced a small 4% rise in violent crime and 10% rise in property crime between 2015-17.
That left residents with a 1 in 20.8 chance of being the victim of theft or arson in 2017, and a greater than 1% shot of being the victim of violence.



At one time holyoke had more billionaires per capita out of the entire united states. Now it has the best h****n dealers and best h****n prices in the nation. Ok now on a serious note ive been in all these citys i live in chicopee and at a low time in my life was homeless living in holyoke and springfield with a massive drug problem. Ive been shot ive been stabbed and ive been in the worst of what these citys have. Im proud i rebuilt my life 6 years sober. Own my own buisness and have a wonderful family. But everyday is a grim reminder when i bounce from holyoke springfield each day for jobs. Thank goodness i live in chicopee.
The smallest city to make this list and the home of the largest contemporary art museum in the country, North Adams may seem out of place on a list about dangerous cities.
Yet this center for tourism in Berkshire County has experienced a wicked 37% rise in violent crime between 2016, bringing the likelihood residents face of being the victim of violence to nearly 1%.
Property crime, meanwhile, has remained stagnant at roughly a 1 in 32.5 chance of being the victim of theft or arson each year.
North Adams was also ranked as the most stoned city in Massachusetts, according to our research.
Just 8 miles south Holyoke, Springfield is the 3rd biggest city in Massachusetts, and the 3rd most dangerous overall.
Springfield is famous for being the headquarters of Smith & Wesson, the largest producer of handguns in the world, which may help explain Springfield’s violent streak.
While property crime is 44% less common in Springfield than some other cities on the list, residents still faced a 1 in 114 chance of being the victim of violence in 2017.




It was a fun experience, with some great local colleges as well. The city had a lot of life and was fun for me on the whole.
The city will welcome most people and represents a great slice of life for the North East area of the United States.
Pittsfield ranks as the 4th most dangerous in Massachusetts.
The city has not seen any improvements in its violent crime in recent years, but property crime did drop between 2015-17.
That’s good, because without this improvement, Pittsfield’s property crime rate might be the worst in Massachusetts.
One of the largest cities on the south cost of Massachusetts, New Bedford ranks as the fourth most dangerous place in the state.
In 2017, residents faced a 1 in 92 chance of being the victim of violence, reflective of a very modest 5% drop from 2011.
Meanwhile, property crime has remained pretty much stagnant.
Population: 28,635
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 1)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 607 (19th most dangerous)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 3,858 (2nd most dangerous)
More on West Springfield:
Located on the western side of the Connecticut River across from Springfield, West Springfield has its own crime problems.
While it is the least violent place on this list, and has seen another 11% drop in violence from 2015-17, the West Side is the 2nd worst place in the state in terms of property crime.
The 1 in 25.9 chance residents faced of being the victim of a property crime did not significantly change between 2015-17.
Located on the eastern part of the state, Brockton is second only to Chelsea in terms of violent cities in Massachusetts.
Yet while Chelsea has experienced an impressive drop in violent crime in recent years, Brockton’s numbers in both property and violent crime have been more or less the same from 2015-17.
And with residents facing a 1 in 81 chance of being the victim of violence each year, Brockton could easily pass out Chelsea for most violent city in Mass in just a few years.




I live in Brockton and in the summer it’s Worst out here it’s funny how Boston is not up there if you live in MA you would know how bad Boston is
The second biggest city in New England and Massachusetts (behind Boston), Worcester is among the most dangerous cities in the state.
The “Heart of the Commonwealth” (so named for its central location) has experienced no recent change in crime for better or for worse.
And that’s not a good thing for a city in the 11th most violent with the 12th most property crime in the state.



Depending on where you live in Worcester, there’s not a lot of crime. Compared to other cities bigger or the same size as Worcester, the murder rate is pretty low based on published data. As any other city that is surrounded by a major city, Worcester is pretty much swallowed up by Boston. To have a great time out, one needs to step out of Worcester. Most of the schools in worcester are bad with a couple good ones in the best areas of Worcester.
Rent and housing prices are not too high compared to Boston and Cambridge.
Boston, with a population of around 682,903 has experienced decent amount of crime in recent years.
Currently, residents have a 1 in 47.9 chance of being the victim of theft or arson in 2017 and a 1 in 149 chance of being the victim of violent crime. That’s good for a 9th overall ranking on our list of dangerous places in Massachusetts.




I lived in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston for over 20 years. It was overall a very good experience. It was convenient to downtown Boston where I worked by using public transportation. My neighbors were friendly and the street I lived on was very safe.
I liked the diverse restaurants in the area, from Italian to Vietnamese and everything in between. Also I liked living near so many colleges and universities. It was fun to be around young idealistic students, thirsty for knowledge. I am very pro education and like the college atmosphere. In addition, being in Boston is great for medical purposes. Excellent health care is available nearby. Other people travel from far away to come to the hospitals in Boston.
Chicopee is home to the 10th most dangerous population in Massachusetts.
Violent crime has been decreasing of late, but the 1 in 40.7 chance of being the victim of a property crime has been fairly consistent.

This was an extremely unwelcoming town that was difficult to navigate and had a disgusting hotel.
The hotel we stayed at was filthy, and when we called to ask for more pillows, they said they didn’t have any.
Locking It All Up In Massachusetts
The latest FBI crime data shows that Holyoke ranks as the most dangerous city in Massachusetts for 2019.
We want to point out again that there’s still safes places in Holyoke and that this isn’t a comment on the people that live there. So please don’t beat us up.
If you’re curious enough, here are the safest cities in Massachusetts:
- Boxford (Pop. 8,333)
- Wayland (Pop. 13,976)
- Norton (Pop. 19,654)
For more Massachusetts reading, check out:
- 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Massachusetts
- These Are The 10 Best Places To Retire In Massachusetts
- These Are The 10 Richest Cities In Massachusetts
- 10 Safest Places In Massachusetts
- 10 Worst Places To Live In Massachusetts
Detailed List Of The Most Dangerous Cities In Massachusetts
Rank | City | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | Holyoke | 40,451 |
2 | North Adams | 12,948 |
3 | Springfield | 154,562 |
4 | Pittsfield | 42,546 |
5 | New Bedford | 95,107 |
6 | West Springfield | 28,635 |
7 | Brockton | 96,016 |
8 | Worcester | 185,107 |
9 | Boston | 682,903 |
10 | Chicopee | 56,255 |
11 | Leominster | 41,846 |
12 | Fitchburg | 40,445 |
13 | Fall River | 89,012 |
14 | Nantucket | 11,165 |
15 | Greenfield | 17,462 |
16 | Northampton | 28,458 |
17 | Wareham | 22,743 |
18 | Dennis | 13,976 |
19 | Lynn | 93,140 |
20 | Lawrence | 80,890 |
21 | Ware | 9,907 |
22 | Revere | 53,425 |
23 | Chelsea | 40,514 |
24 | Hadley | 5,382 |
25 | Montague | 8,211 |
26 | Athol | 11,630 |
27 | Yarmouth | 23,370 |
28 | Southbridge | 16,860 |
29 | Webster | 16,883 |
30 | Gardner | 20,491 |
31 | Lowell | 111,294 |
32 | Quincy | 93,966 |
33 | Haverhill | 63,244 |
34 | Salem | 43,385 |
35 | Cambridge | 111,707 |
36 | Falmouth | 31,487 |
37 | Auburn | 16,563 |
38 | Marlborough | 39,919 |
39 | Fairhaven | 16,188 |
40 | Randolph | 33,837 |
41 | Winchendon | 10,812 |
42 | Stoughton | 28,678 |
43 | Saugus | 28,241 |
44 | Everett | 47,185 |
45 | Barnstable | 44,142 |
46 | Dartmouth | 34,802 |
47 | Agawam | 28,839 |
48 | Orange | 7,569 |
49 | Malden | 61,098 |
50 | Salisbury | 9,517 |
51 | Raynham | 14,048 |
52 | Burlington | 26,678 |
53 | Palmer | 12,136 |
54 | Holbrook | 11,064 |
55 | Mashpee | 14,272 |
56 | Adams | 8,051 |
57 | Leicester | 11,369 |
58 | Attleboro | 44,607 |
59 | Peabody | 52,721 |
60 | Westfield | 41,735 |
61 | Danvers | 28,168 |
62 | Framingham | 72,153 |
63 | West Bridgewater | 7,189 |
64 | Lunenburg | 11,477 |
65 | Sturbridge | 9,605 |
66 | Middleboro | 25,084 |
67 | Somerville | 82,326 |
68 | Tewksbury | 31,245 |
69 | Great Barrington | 6,815 |
70 | Foxborough | 17,636 |
71 | Seekonk | 15,521 |
72 | Taunton | 57,047 |
73 | Northbridge | 16,711 |
74 | Bourne | 19,867 |
75 | Lee | 5,749 |
76 | Easthampton | 16,061 |
77 | Bellingham | 17,121 |
78 | Weymouth | 56,382 |
79 | East Longmeadow | 16,288 |
80 | Acushnet | 10,547 |
81 | Ayer | 8,240 |
82 | Freetown | 9,343 |
83 | Methuen | 50,396 |
84 | Williamstown | 7,756 |
85 | Monson | 8,842 |
86 | Braintree | 37,579 |
87 | Harwich | 12,150 |
88 | Plymouth | 59,803 |
89 | Kingston | 13,615 |
90 | Milford | 28,772 |
91 | Ludlow | 21,529 |
92 | South Hadley | 17,804 |
93 | Swansea | 16,597 |
94 | Walpole | 25,312 |
95 | Brewster | 9,895 |
96 | Westminster | 7,699 |
97 | Carver | 11,671 |
98 | Millbury | 13,626 |
99 | Hull | 10,553 |
100 | Canton | 23,551 |
Springfield is horrible my girls grew up learning how to fight to defend themselves while trying to get a education drugs yes everyone has them o wait guns these kids have more firepower than the gun store it’s crazy and as my sons grow I want out before they get shot or something cause these kids don’t fight they shoot I mean I walk around here like fuck you but it’s just sad
Pittsfield and north Adams?? You obviously have never been to Massachusetts I can ten more cities that are worse than those two cities.. and Brockton should be higher on that list definitely top three worst cities in MA… where is Fall River? Chelsea? Lynn? I doubt you’ve been to MA seeing how you made this list..
“Holyoke comes in as the 1st most dangerous city in Massachusetts, losing the top position it has held in past years.”
I’m pretty sure this sentence makes zero sense.