Fort Lauderdale, FL Crime Map

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions About Fort Lauderdale Crime

Is Fort Lauderdale safe to live in or visit?

By the numbers, Fort Lauderdale leans toward safe. Of the 161 neighborhoods analyzed, 88% earned a combined A or B safety grade — meaning 142 out of 161 neighborhoods fall into the lower-crime tier. A full 73.9% (119 neighborhoods) received an A grade, and another 14.3% (23 neighborhoods) earned a B. The city-wide safety rating lands at Safe (B), even though the overall crime grade is a C- — a distinction that reflects how a small cluster of high-crime areas pulls down the city average while most residents live in genuinely low-crime zones. Neighborhoods like Cooper City (A+), Friendly Acres (A+), and Martha Bright Farms (A+) consistently rank among the region's safest, while areas such as Westwood Park and Roosevelt Gardens carry F grades and account for a disproportionate share of reported incidents.

What percentage of Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods have high crime?

Only 6% of Fort Lauderdale's 161 analyzed neighborhoods — roughly 9 communities — received a D or F grade. The F-rated areas include Westwood Park, Lake Aire Palm View, Durrs, Roosevelt Gardens, and Dorsey-Riverbend. Grade D neighborhoods represent just 1.9% (3 neighborhoods). In practical terms, that means 94% of neighborhoods sit at a C grade or better, and the overwhelming majority — 88% — are solidly in the safe A-or-B tier. This concentration of crime in a limited number of areas is a pattern common to mid-size Florida cities, where geography and income inequality can create sharp contrasts block by block.

What are the safest neighborhoods in Fort Lauderdale in 2026?

Ten neighborhoods earned the top A+ safety grade in the 2026 analysis. Leading the list are Cooper City (population 7,551; median income $95,143), Cooper's Place (median income $133,250), and Westport (median income $125,540). Smaller but equally high-scoring communities include Kapok Estates — the highest-income neighborhood on the list at a median of $221,140 — and Friendly Acres ($171,821 median income). El Dorado Estates, Sawgrass Estates North, Country Corners, Martha Bright Farms, and Cooper Village round out the A+ tier. A consistent pattern across all ten: median household incomes range from roughly $95,000 to over $221,000, well above the city-wide median of $64,313, reinforcing the well-documented link between economic stability and neighborhood safety.

Which Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods have the highest crime rates?

Six neighborhoods received an F grade in the 2026 analysis, representing 3.7% of all neighborhoods studied. These are Westwood Park, Lake Aire Palm View, Durrs, Roosevelt Gardens, and Dorsey-Riverbend. An additional three neighborhoods (1.9%) earned a D grade. Together, these higher-crime pockets account for the bulk of incidents that drag the city's overall crime grade down to a C-, even as the majority of Fort Lauderdale remains in the safe range. If you are evaluating a specific address in or near these neighborhoods, cross-referencing the interactive crime map with recent incident data is strongly recommended before making housing or travel decisions.

How does Fort Lauderdale's crime compare to other Florida cities?

Fort Lauderdale's overall crime grade of C- places it in the middle tier among Florida's larger cities. Its city-wide safety rating of Safe (B), however, reflects that most residents — those living in the 88% of neighborhoods graded A or B — experience crime rates well below what the city-wide average suggests. With a population of 181,818, a population density of 2,029 people per square mile, and a poverty rate of 15.8%, Fort Lauderdale faces the same structural pressures as comparable coastal metros. The concentration of F-grade neighborhoods in specific corridors, rather than crime being evenly spread, means neighborhood selection matters enormously when assessing personal safety in Fort Lauderdale.

Does income level predict neighborhood safety in Fort Lauderdale?

The data strongly suggests it does. Every neighborhood in the A+ tier carries a median household income well above the city median of $64,313 — ranging from $95,143 in Cooper City to $221,140 in Kapok Estates. By contrast, the F-rated neighborhoods of Westwood Park, Durrs, and Roosevelt Gardens sit in some of the city's lower-income corridors. This pattern holds across the full grade distribution: 73.9% of neighborhoods earned an A, and those areas skew toward higher incomes and lower unemployment, while the 6% rated D or F correlate with greater economic stress. Fort Lauderdale's city-wide unemployment rate of 6.2% and poverty rate of 15.8% provide the macro backdrop, but neighborhood-level income data is a more precise predictor of where crime concentrates.

Is Fort Lauderdale a good place to buy a home in 2026?

From a safety standpoint, 88% of Fort Lauderdale's neighborhoods are rated A or B, which gives homebuyers a wide range of lower-crime options. The median home value sits at $350,886, and the median household income is $64,313 — a ratio that reflects the broader South Florida affordability squeeze. Neighborhoods like Cooper City, Westport, and Martha Bright Farms combine A+ safety grades with strong median incomes, making them attractive targets for families prioritizing security. Buyers considering properties near F-rated areas such as Westwood Park or Lake Aire Palm View should weigh the crime data carefully alongside price. The Fort Lauderdale crime map on this page lets you filter by neighborhood grade so you can compare safety profiles side by side before committing to a purchase.