Are you considering a visit to Kansas City, Missouri and wondering, is it safe?
We’re Kansas City locals who have lived in midtown and frequented downtown for over a decade, so we have our thoughts on the answer to that.
While local insight is important – and we’ll be sharing it – so are facts and statistics. So, we’re going to share with you the numbers and you can make your own conclusions from it.
Is Kansas City Safe for Tourists?
Is there crime in Kansas City?
Yes.
Just like any other large city, crime does occur here – the type of crime and frequency vary based on what part of town you are in.
Does the violent crime that occurs in Kansas City impact the tourist areas? Based on the Kansas City Police Department data from 2023, assaults are not one of the top types of incidents that happen in Kansas City’s most visited neighborhoods.
In the following sections, we share crime statistics for the parts of the city where most visitors spend their time. As you’ll read, the criminal activity is mostly petty crime involving theft.
When our out-of-town loved ones visit, we tell them that in our experience, Kansas City’s tourist neighborhoods are safe, and they are areas that we personally frequent. Our advice to them is similar to that for visiting any urban area:
- Do not leave valuables in your vehicle.
- Because theft involving automobiles is common in nightlife areas, we recommend not driving/parking there and do a rideshare service instead.
- Be aware of your surroundings, especially when out in a bar district at night.
- Be cautious walking around late at night.
Planning a visit to Kansas City and wondering where to stay? The areas we recommend for visitors to stay are the Country Club Plaza – a historic shopping district in midtown – and Crossroads Arts District – an eclectic downtown neighborhood with an artsy vibe and small local businesses.
Kansas City, Missouri Crime Statistics
To really understand what was happening with crime in Kansas City, we assessed the crime data from the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD). We took a look at their publicly available data for 2023 – you can, too, if you’re willing to analyze spreadsheets.
If that’s not your thing – we did it for you.
We are sharing it below the way the data was reported, which is in three month increments. For each time period, we have the top seven most occurring crime incidents. Included with the type of incident is the number of instances during that three month time period.
The only one we took out from the type of incident was “Tow-In Report/Authorization Not to Tow” because it’s not relevant to crime.
The Kansas City Police Department’s jurisdiction spans over 319 square miles and a population of over 500k residents.
So, when reviewing the crime data we share below, keep in mind that the statistics in this section include all of that area.
The urban core where the majority of tourists to KCMO spend time (Rivermarket to Brookside) is approximately 20 square miles.
2023 Kansas City Crime Data
The data is shown in three month increments.
January – March 2023
| Type of Incident | Number of Incidents |
|---|---|
| Stolen Auto | 2,186 |
| Property Damage | 1,430 |
| Vehicular – Non-Injury | 1,176 |
| Mental Health/Crisis Intervention Team | 1,091 |
| Theft from Auto | 991 |
| Domestic Violence Assault (Non-Aggravated) | 889 |
| Vehicular – Injury | 799 |
| Stealing – Shoplift | 756 |
April – June 2023
| Type of Incident | Number of Incidents |
|---|---|
| Stolen Auto | 2,186 |
| Property Damage | 1,430 |
| Vehicular – Non-Injury | 1,176 |
| Mental Health/Crisis Intervention Team | 1,091 |
| Theft from Auto | 991 |
| Domestic Violence Assault (Non-Aggravated) | 889 |
| Vehicular – Injury | 799 |
| Stealing – Shoplift | 756 |
July – September 2023
| Type of Incident | Number of Incidents |
|---|---|
| Stolen Auto | 2,766 |
| Property Damage | 1,867 |
| Theft from Auto | 1,249 |
| Vehicular – Non-Injury | 1,119 |
| Mental Health/Crisis Intervention Team | 928 |
| Domestic Violence Assault (Non-Aggravated) | 907 |
| Vehicular – Injury | 801 |
| Stealing – Shoplift | 772 |
October – December 2023
| Type of Incident | Number of Incidents |
|---|---|
| Stolen Auto | 2,072 |
| Property Damage | 1,466 |
| Theft from Auto | 1,230 |
| Vehicular – Non-Injury | 1,073 |
| Mental Health/Crisis Intervention Team | 960 |
| Domestic Violence Assault (Non-Aggravated) | 904 |
| Stealing – Shoplift | 891 |
| Vehicular – Injury | 696 |
Understanding the Data
In looking at all the data from 2023, the most common types of incidents are theft-related crimes and property damage, such as vandalism.
Crime in Tourist Areas
In addition to analyzing the data for all of Kansas City Police Department’s jurisdiction, we looked at the zip codes where tourists spend most of their time: downtown and midtown neighborhoods.
Below are those zip codes with the top seven types of crime incidents that occurred in them during 2023.
64108: Crossroads Arts District, Crown Center
- Stolen Auto: 777 incidents
- Stealing from Auto (Theft from Auto): 532 incidents
- Property Damage: 497 incidents
- Vehicular – Non-Injury: 216 incidents
- Assault (Non-Aggravated): 181 incidents
- Mental Health/Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Report: 156 incidents
- Trespass of Real Property: 151 incidents
64105: Downtown (Library District, Quality Hill, Garment District, West Bottoms)
- Stolen Auto: 465 incidents
- Property Damage: 294 incidents
- Stealing from Auto (Theft from Auto): 253 incidents
- Stealing from Building/Residence: 85 incidents
- Trespass of Real Property: 83 incidents
- Stealing from Auto (Auto Part or Accessory): 67 incidents
- Vehicular – Non-Injury: 62 incidents
64106: Downtown (Power & Light, Financial District, Rivermarket)
- Stolen Auto: 430 incidents
- Property Damage: 264 incidents
- Trespass of Real Property: 241 incidents
- Mental Health/Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Report: 200 incidents
- City/Municipal Warrant Arrest: 197 incidents
- Stealing from Auto (Theft from Auto): 194 incidents
- Assault (Non-Aggravated): 171 incidents
64111: Westport, Midtown
- Stolen Auto: 880 incidents
- Stealing from Auto (Theft from Auto): 614 incidents
- Property Damage: 541 incidents
- Stealing – Shoplift: 328 incidents
- Vehicular – Non-Injury: 321 incidents
- Assault (Non-Aggravated): 200 incidents
- Stealing from Building/Residence: 197 incidents
64112: Country Club Plaza
- Stolen Auto: 294 incidents
- Stealing from Auto (Theft from Auto): 238 incidents
- Property Damage: 208 incidents
- Stealing – Shoplift: 167 incidents
- Vehicular – Non-Injury: 96 incidents
- OCR – Vehicular Non-Injury: 90 incidents
- Mental Health/Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Report: 66 incidents
64116: North Kansas City
- Stolen Auto: 127 incidents
- Property Damage: 82 incidents
- Mental Health/Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Report: 76 incidents
- Stealing from Auto (Theft from Auto): 55 incidents
- Domestic Violence Assault (Non-Aggravated): 49 incidents
- Vehicular – Non-Injury: 35 incidents
- Stealing from Auto (Auto Part or Accessory): 33 incidents
64113: Brookside
- Stealing from Auto (Theft from Auto): 59 incidents
- Stolen Auto: 57 incidents
- Vehicular – Non-Injury: 50 incidents
- OCR – Vehicular Non-Injury: 38 incidents
- Property Damage: 38 incidents
- Vehicular – Injury: 24 incidents
- Stealing from Auto (Auto Part or Accessory): 22 incidents
Areas to Avoid in Kansas City
When someone asks which areas in Kansas City they should avoid, they’re usually asking which areas have the most violent crime.
From the 2023 data, the zip codes with the highest number of assaults are listed below.
64130: 841 Assaults
This area is often associated with parts of the East Kansas City region.
64127: 650 Assaults
This area covers parts of Northeast Kansas City.
64132: 644 Assaults
This area is in South Kansas City, including neighborhoods such as Marlborough East and Marlborough Heights.
64128: 567 Assaults
This area is also located in East Kansas City.
64131: 505 Assaults
This area encompasses parts of South Kansas City, including the Red Bridge neighborhoods.
So, Is Kansas City Safe?
In our personal opinion and experience, Kansas City is safe. In our 10+ years living in midtown and frequenting downtown, we have never had any safety issues.
When do we go out, especially at night, we use common sense safety measures and make sure we are aware of our surroundings.
So, that’s our take. You can make the decision for yourself based off the data we have included in this article.
