Safety · Petal
Petal, MS crime & safety
Petal's reported crime rate is well below Mississippi's. Most reported incidents are property crimes. Violent crime is rare: 3 reported in 2025.
Crime reported to police, trends and how Petal compares with the towns next door, from FBI data.
TownTapestry Safety GradeNew
A
Petal’s Safety Grade: A
Petal reports less crime per resident than 86% of the U.S. towns and cities we grade.
A-Violent crimeAProperty crime→Steady since 2023
All U.S. towns we grade (6,620)Safer than 86%
More reported crimeLess reported crime
Mississippi towns we grade (47)Safer than 94%
Places of 5,000–25,000 people (2,890)Safer than 86%
Good confidence. Built on 167 incidents over 3 years. With counts this size, ordinary swings could put Petal anywhere from A- to A.
How the Safety Grade works
- One score, from FBI data. Property crimes + 4 × violent crimes reported to police, per resident, pooled over the FBI’s latest 3 years (2023–2025). Violent crime counts four times as much because it matters more to how safe a place feels. It’s the same score behind our Safest towns in MS ranking.
- Graded on a national curve. Every U.S. town and city with 1,000+ residents that reported all 3 years (6,620 places) is lined up by score: A+ top 5%A next 10%A- next 10%B B+ to B−, next 30%C C+ to C−, next 30%D D and D−, bottom 15%
- Violent and property sub-grades use the same curve on each rate alone.
- Trend compares 2025 with 2023 and only says “improving” or “rising” when the change is bigger than normal year-to-year swings.
- Not graded: towns under 1,000 people, and towns missing any of the 3 years.
- What it can’t see: unreported crime, traffic safety, or which part of town incidents happen in. Towns with a campus, highway or big shopping center count incidents involving visitors. It’s our own summary of public data, not an official rating.
Reported crime, 2025
Petal at a glance
Violent crime
0.3
per 1,000 residents · Mississippi 2.2
Property crime
4.7
per 1,000 residents · Mississippi 13.1
Incidents reported
58
3 violent · 55 property
Since 2022
▲ 12%
change in reported property crime
Violent crime per 1,000
Property crime per 1,000
Trend
Reported crime per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025
PetalMississippi
Solid lines: property crime · dashed: violent crime.
Show as a table
| Year | Petal property | Mississippi property | Petal violent | Mississippi violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.2 | 18.1 | 0.7 | 2.5 |
| 2023 | 3.8 | 16.7 | 0.5 | 2.1 |
| 2024 | 3.9 | 14.6 | 1.3 | 2.2 |
| 2025 | 4.7 | 13.1 | 0.3 | 2.2 |
What gets reported
2025, by type
Larceny / theft
18
Burglary
33
Vehicle theft
4
Aggravated assault
3
Robbery
0
Rape
0
Homicide
0
Arson
3
Offenses reported to police, not convictions.
Who keeps Petal safe
Local public safety
👮 Petal Police DepartmentReports its crime counts to the FBI — the figures on this page.
🚨 EmergenciesCall 911. For non-emergency numbers, alerts and preparedness, see the town guide.
Nearby
Petal and its neighbors
Reported crime per 1,000 residents in each town's latest year. * = a count, for towns under 1,000 people. Grade: the Safety Grade; — = not graded.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petal | A | 0.3 | 4.7 | 2025 |
| Hattiesburg | D | 2.6 | 35.8 | 2025 |
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can't tell you
- It's reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many thefts and some assaults are never reported.
- Small numbers swing. In a town of about 11,700, a handful of incidents moves the rate noticeably from year to year. The trend matters more than any one year.
- Visitors count too. Towns with a campus, highway, beach or shopping center see incidents involving people who don't live there, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn't report a full year, not that nothing happened.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. This isn't an official statement of public safety — in an emergency, call 911.