Owings Mills, MD: Crime Rate and Safe Areas to Live

Ask five people who live in Owings Mills how safe the Owings Mills area feels and you’ll get five answers. Some swear it’s a safe area compared with Baltimore City, others point to break-ins near Metro Centre and say the crime rate is climbing.

The truth: mixed but manageable. According to AreaVibes, overall Owings Mills crime rates are 19 percent above the national average, and violent offenses run 27 percent higher. 

NeighborhoodScout pegs total incidents at about 29 per 1,000 residents—meaning the chance of being a victim of any reportable offense is roughly 1 in 34 each year.

Those raw numbers come from FBI NIBRS feeds, which the county packages into its Public Safety Dashboard; that live panel lets you slice the crime data by neighborhood, time, and offense type so detailed crime rates update every month.

Crime Rates in Owings Mills, MD

Property Crime

In most suburbs, front-porch package theft inflates the property crime column; Owings Mills is no exception. 

NeighborhoodScout records 25.76 property incidents per 1,000 people—burglary, larceny, motor-vehicle theft, arson—making the crime rate in Owings Mills for stuff-that-gets-stolen higher than you’ll see in Carroll County, yet lower than retail-heavy White Marsh. 

CrimeGrade’s heat map colors the mall district red while New Town stays mostly green. Analysts estimate the cost of crime in Owings Mills at about $17 million a year, an ugly line item but far below what similar retail hubs pay.

Violent Crime

Violent offenses are rarer. NeighborhoodScout counts 3.0 violent incidents per 1,000 residents—assaults, robberies, rape, murder—so your odds of becoming a victim of violent crime are 1 in 302. 

CrimeGrade’s violent-crime page grades the town C-, noting the west side is safest, while blocks around Reisterstown Road push the average up. That’s safer than Windsor Mill but still higher crime than five miles north in Glyndon.

Other Ownings Mills, MD Crime

“Other” categories—drug possession, vandalism, disorderly conduct—nudge the rate of crime in Owings Mills a tad past the Maryland state average, but seldom affect daily life unless you’re next to a 24-hour convenience store.

The county dashboard shows these quality-of-life calls leveling off since mid-2024, a trend officials credit to license-plate readers and better lighting grants.

Safety and Living in Owings Mills

Safest Neighborhoods in Owings Mills

Owings Mills residents generally consider Lyons Mill Road subdivisions—Ballard Green, Tollgate, Worthington Park—the quietest. The Owings Mills crime map displays deep-green shading there, while oranges and reds hug commuter corridors. 

Remember, crime in Owings Mills varies by neighborhood; even within New Town, parts of Owings Mills closer to the light-rail stop log more thefts.

Factors Influencing Low Crime Rates in Owings Mills

Why do some sections enjoy low crime rates? HOAs spring for cameras, private patrols, and brighter LEDs. Quick I-795 access shortens police response. And because malls stay busy into the night, officers cruise the lots, which—counter-intuitively—keeps adjacent condos calmer, meaning it is safer to walk the dog after 10 p.m. than raw stats imply.

Crime Per Capita in Owings Mills

Because 40,000 commuters flood in daily, crime per capita in Owings Mills looks worse than it feels. 

Adjust for visitors and you’ll find Owings Mills is higher than farm towns but lower than heavy-traffic retail nodes when you compare crime on a per capita basis.

Comparing Owings Mills with Nearby Cities

Look at any crime map and you’ll see Owings Mills sitting between calmer exurbs and rough-and-tumble retail hubs. 

The town clocks about 29 crimes per 1,000 residents—roughly 3 violent and 26 property. That puts the crime per capita in Owings Mills a shade higher than Maryland’s statewide norm but nowhere near the red-zone numbers just down I-795.

Immediate Neighbors

Drive ten minutes south and you hit Pikesville, where violent crime edges up to 3.45 per 1,000 and property dips to 22, leaving a total of 25.7—slightly safer on the whole, but not by a mile. 

Swing west to Randallstown and the math flips: totals fall to 22.9, yet burglary complaints ride just under Owings Mills levels. 

Cross the Beltway into Windsor Mill, though, and you’ll feel the spike; crime rates rocket to 56.3 per 1,000, driven by porch-pirate thefts and a violent figure (6.4) that doubles ours.

College-Town Comparator

Towson’s campus police and crowds of students tilt the ledger in interesting ways. The latest Towson data peg violent crime at about 2.5 per 1,000—lower than here—while property sits at 23, keeping its total (≈25 per 1,000) comfortably below the crime rate in Owings Mills even though both towns see similar daytime traffic.

What it Means When You Compare Crime in the Owings Mills Area

Stack those columns and Owings Mills ranks in the middle: safer than Windsor Mill or Baltimore City, a hair riskier than Pikesville or Towson, and miles behind Columbia’s polished stats. Retail density and a busy Metro stop inflate package-theft totals, but the crime rates for Owings Mills still outperform many suburbs with comparable foot traffic.

If you’re weighing homes for sale in Owings Mills, MD against listings in neighboring ZIPs, know that the town trades a few extra porch-pirate stories for quick commutes, new construction, and a police presence scaled for shoppers as well as residents—a balance plenty of locals find worth the numbers.

Conclusion: Chances of Being a Victim & Assessing Safety in Owings Mills

Resources for Residents and Potential Movers

If you’re scrolling through homes for sale in Owings Mills, MD, keep a browser tab open to AreaVibes, NeighborhoodScout, and the county’s live dashboard. 

Because those crime maps and rates refresh monthly, crime rates are shown faster than newspaper summaries, helping buyers understand crime trends before locking in a mortgage.

Summary of Crime Rates and Safety

Bottom line: Owings Mills sits in the statistical middle—above the crime statistics for Hampstead, below anything inside the beltway. 

Patrol visibility is good, lighting is solid, and most neighbors say they feel safe at night once porch lights pop on. Factor in HOAs that write big security checks, and the town looks like a reasonable choice versus other cities with comparable retail gravity.

Owings Mills Safety FAQs

Is the crime rate for Owings Mills rising or falling?

Dashboard graphs show burglaries down 6 percent since 2022, while catalytic-converter thefts ticked up 4 percent, so the crime rates for Owings Mills have stayed roughly flat overall.

Which parts of Owings Mills have the safest records?

Lyons Mill Road, Soldiers Delight, and Tollgate push the lowest numbers; crime rates in that area hover 40 percent below townwide averages.

Does Owings Mills feel safe after dark?

Most locals think so. Patrol cars linger near retail lots, foot-traffic neighborhoods stay lit, and many people visit restaurants past midnight without issues—though everyone still locks their cars, just like they would in Baltimore County at large.