Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.
Raw data sources:
18,000 local law enforcement agencies in the U.S.
Date(s) & Update Frequency:
Reflects 2024 calendar year; released from FBI in October 2025 (latest available). Updated annually.
Where is 2025 data?
Methodology:
Our nationwide meta-analysis overcomes the issues inherent in any crime database, including non-reporting and reporting errors. This is possible by associating the 9.4 million reported crimes in the U.S, including over 2 million geocoded point locations….
Read more about Scout's Crime Data
Cottondale has an overall crime rate of 9 per 1,000 residents, making the crime rate here near the average for all cities and towns of all sizes in America. According to our analysis of FBI crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of crime in Cottondale is 1 in 108. How does Cottondale fare compared to other communities in Alabama of all population sizes? Cottondale's crime rate is lower than approximately 58% of Alabama communities.
However, when you compare Cottondale to other communities of similar population, then Cottondale crime rate (violent and property crimes combined) is quite a bit higher than average. Regardless of how Cottondale does relative to all communities in America of all sizes, when NeighborhoodScout compared it to communities of similar population size, its crime rate per thousand residents stands out as higher than most.
Now let us turn to take a look at how Cottondale does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. This is important because the overall crime rate can be further illuminated by understanding if violent crime or property crimes (or both) are the major contributors to the general rate of crime in Cottondale.
From our analysis, we discovered that violent crime in Cottondale occurs at a rate higher than in most communities of all population sizes in America. The chance that a person will become a victim of a violent crime in Cottondale; such as armed robbery, aggravated assault, rape or murder; is 1 in 522. This equates to a rate of 2 per one thousand inhabitants.
Moreover, the rate of property crime in Cottondale; burglary, larceny ($50 or more), grand theft auto, and arson; is 7 per 1,000 residents. This is about average for all cities and towns in America of all population sizes.
Cottondale Crime
Data
FAQ on NeighborhoodScout's Crime Data
NeighborhoodScout® provides exclusive crime risk analytics for every neighborhood in America with up to 98% predictive accuracy. Crime risk indices are nationally comparable on a 1 – 100 scale, where 100 means safer than 100% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Crime risk data are updated annually. Raw crime incidents are sourced from all 18,000+ local law enforcement agencies – municipal, county, transit, park, port, university, tribal and more, assigned to localities, then built into NeighborhoodScout’s proprietary predictive models to provide a comprehensive crime risk profile for every neighborhood and address-vicinity in the U.S.
