A new national study reveals that Arlington, a small town in southwest Georgia, has the highest burglary rate in the state.

What’s Happening: Arlington recorded a burglary rate of 1.87 per 100 residents in 2023, according to a SafeWise study analyzing FBI crime data across the country.

The town has a population of about 1,200 people.

What’s Important: Burglars stole an average of $6,000 per incident in 2024, about five times more than victims lost in 2000.

Only 27 percent of Americans who take steps to protect their property use a home security system.

The Big Picture: The SafeWise study found that no place is too big or too small for burglaries. Among the nation’s most burglarized cities, 37 percent have populations over 15,000, while 33 percent have fewer than 1,000 residents.

Arlington faces economic challenges that may contribute to higher crime rates. The town has a poverty rate of 28 percent and a median household income of $46,571. The population has declined by 8 percent since 2020.

Vernon, California topped the national list with 110 burglaries among 208 residents, a rate of 53 per 100 people.

The Sources: SafeWise, FBI Crime Data Explorer, U.S. Census Bureau.

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B.T. Clark is the Publisher of The Georgia Sun and author of Principles Are Like Pants… You Ought to Have Some. Over two decades in journalism, he has served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc., earning multiple awards along the way. His work has appeared in newspapers across the state, including The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal.