Impact Essex County

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Community Life

Drug-Related Arrests

What does this measure?

The number of felony and misdemeanor drug arrests per 1,000 residents.

Why is this important?

Drug use, sale and other illegal drug-related activity can have immediate as well as long-term negative health, social and economic consequences, both for individuals and for neighborhoods and communities.

How is our county doing?

In Essex County, almost 740 people were arrested for drug-related crimes in 2024 - a rate of about 0.9 arrests per 1,000 residents. This is slightly higher than the statewide figure of 0.8. Haverhill (1.9), Lynn (1.7), and Lawrence (1.6) had the highest rates in Essex County in 2024. In general, the rate of arrests for drug-related crimes in the County has declined over time from 1.6 in 2015.

How do we compare to similar counties?

Essex County had a higher rate compared to Middlesex, MA at 0.5 and a lower rate than Westchester, NY at 1.2 and Lake County, IL 1.1.

Notes about the data

Comparable national data was not available. The City of Lawrence did not report data prior to 2020. Differences in rates may reflect a variety of factors, including differences in laws and law enforcement priorities, in addition the severity of drug activity in an area.

Drug-Related Arrests

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Essex County, MA	1.6	1.4	1.3	1.3	0.8	1.0	1.1	0.9	0.9	0.9
Amesbury	1.8	1.7	1.1	0.6	0.2	0.5	0.4	0.2	0.3	0.4
Beverly	1.3	0.7	0.7	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.2	0.5
Gloucester	1.6	1.2	0.8	1.4	1.0	0.5	1.4	0.8	1.8	1.0
Haverhill	3.2	2.8	2.6	3.7	2.0	2.0	2.4	2.5	2.9	1.9
Lawrence						5.0	3.7	2.0	1.7	1.6
Lynn	2.6	2.5	1.9	1.4	1.3	1.0	0.7	0.7	0.8	1.7
Methuen	4.9	4.1	4.3	5.1	1.8	0.6	0.4	1.3	0.8
Newburyport	1.1	0.8	0.3	0.7	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Peabody	1.0	1.0	0.9	1.1	0.6	0.2	0.1	0.3	0.2	0.6
Salem	2.6	1.8	2.5	2.2	2.3	1.1	1.6	0.8	0.8	0.9
Andover	4.0	2.4	2.1	1.3	0.7	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.3
Danvers	0.4	0.9	0.9	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.3	0.5	0.1
Essex						0.3	0.5	0.3		0.3
Georgetown	0.2	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.7		0.2			0.4
Groveland	0.6				0.3	0.2	0.1
Hamilton	0.6	0.1	0.5				0.1	0.1		0.1
Ipswich	0.5	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.3	0.2		0.1	0.3
Lynnfield	0.4		0.2	0.1	0.2	0.1		0.1	0.1
Manchester	0.2	1.3	1.3	0.4	0.2	0.9	0.4	0.9	0.8
Marblehead	0.1	0.1		0.1	0.1	0.1
Merrimac	0.4	0.6	0.1	0.6			0.1	0.5	0.5
Middleton	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1			0.1
Nahant			0.3
Newbury	1.7	1.0	0.4	0.4	0.3		0.1	0.5	0.2	0.2
North Andover	0.2	1.0	2.0	1.3	0.7	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1
Rockport				0.1
Rowley	1.0	0.3	0.3	0.2		0.2	0.3		0.2
Salisbury	3.6	4.5	4.4	3.0	2.3	1.0	1.2	1.4	0.7	0.4
Saugus	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.2	0.4	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.2
Swampscott	0.4	0.4		0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Topsfield	0.3	0.9	0.5	0.9	0.6	0.3				0.5
Wenham	0.2
West Newbury		0.9	0.2	0.4		0.2	1.4	0.2		0.2
Middlesex County, MA	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.5
Lake County, IL	6.2	5.3	3.6	2.7	1.9	1.1	0.6	0.8	1.0	1.1
Westchester County, NY	2.6	2.5	2.4	2.9	2.3	1.3	0.9	0.8	1.0	1.2
Massachusetts	1.1	1.2	1.1	1.0	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.7	0.8	0.8

Source: Massachusetts State Police, Illinois State Police and New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services

Number of Drug-Related Arrests

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Essex County, MA	1,253	1,079	1,042	1,031	645	814	896	703	745	736
Amesbury	32	29	20	10	4	9	7	3	5	7
Beverly	53	29	27	13	13	7	13	16	10	21
Gloucester	47	36	24	41	30	14	42	23	53	30
Haverhill	199	175	162	239	126	130	155	166	195	124
Lawrence						397	302	180	151	144
Lynn	241	228	175	128	127	98	64	67	84	171
Methuen	244	206	218	260	92	28	23	66	43
Newburyport	19	14	6	12	4	3	1	1	2	1
Peabody	52	51	49	58	33	12	7	15	12	30
Salem	112	76	109	96	98	47	70	37	36	40
Andover	140	84	74	46	26	7	12	14	9	12
Danvers	10	24	26	16	17	17	15	8	13	4
Essex						1	2	1		1
Georgetown	2	5	5	4	6		2			3
Groveland	4				2	1	1
Hamilton	5	1	4				1	1		1
Ipswich	7	2	3	2	4	3		1	4
Lynnfield	5		3	1	2	1		1	1
Manchester	1	7	7	2	1	5	2	5	4
Marblehead	2	2		1	1	1
Merrimac	3	4	1	4			1	3	3
Middleton	2	1	2	1	1	1			1
Nahant			1
Newbury	12	7	3	3	2		1	3	1	1
North Andover	6	31	63	42	22	5	6	2	3	4
Rockport				1
Rowley	6	2	2	1		1	2		1
Salisbury	33	42	42	29	22	10	12	13	6	4
Saugus	5	7	11	10	6	12	5	3	3	5
Swampscott	6	6		2	2	1	2	2	2	2
Topsfield	2	6	3	6	4	2				3
Wenham	1
West Newbury		4	1	2		1	7	1		1
Middlesex County, MA	1,168	1,040	957	967	903	652	644	604	721	724
Lake County, IL	4,399	3,789	2,572	1,884	1,367	769	433	548	719	788
Westchester County, NY	2,535	2,386	2,307	2,818	2,267	1,327	935	797	1,003	1,193
Massachusetts	7,649	7,822	7,297	6,613	6,315	5,245	5,509	4,704	5,433	5,544

Source: Massachusetts State Police, Illinois State Police and New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services

Community Life Indicators

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INDICATORS	TREND \| ESSEX COUNTY
People 65 or Older Living Alone	Decreasing
Early Prenatal Care by Mother's Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Prevalence of Overweight Adults	Not Applicable
Preterm Births	Maintaining
Infant Mortality Rate	Maintaining
Children with Elevated Blood Lead Levels	Decreasing
Children Living in Poverty	Decreasing
Children Living in Poverty by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Disengaged Youth	Increasing
Live Births to Teen Mothers	Decreasing
Youth Arrests	Decreasing
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation Establishments	Maintaining
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation Employment	Maintaining
Tourism Spending	Increasing
Voter Participation Rate	Increasing
Charitable Contributions	Maintaining
Protected Land	Not Applicable
Days with Good Air Quality	Increasing
Beach Contamination	Increasing
Daily Water Use per Resident	Maintaining
Crimes Against People	Maintaining
Crimes Against Property	Decreasing
Drug-Related Arrests	Maintaining
Reports of Domestic Violence	Maintaining
Incarceration Rates	Decreasing
Recidivism	Decreasing
Households Without Vehicles	Decreasing
Means of Transportation to Work	Not Applicable
Traffic Injuries and Fatalities	Maintaining
Households With Internet Access	Increasing
Change in Total Population	Increasing
Change in Population by Age/Sex	Not Applicable
People with Disabilities	Maintaining
Households by Type	Not Applicable
Single-Parent Families by Sex	Not Applicable
Single-Parent Families by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Change in Population by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Foreign-Born Population	Increasing
Language Diversity	Increasing
Change in Total Jobs	Increasing
Change in Jobs by Sector	Not Applicable
Change in Average Salary	Increasing
Change in Average Salary by Sector	Not Applicable
Average Salary by Sector	Not Applicable
Median Earnings by Occupation by Gender	Not Applicable
People Entering/Leaving County for Work	Not Applicable
Employer Size	Not Applicable
Self-Employment Revenue	Increasing
Business Ownership by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Unemployment Rate	Increasing
Unemployment Rate by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Prekindergarten Participation	Not Applicable
Female Enrollment in School	Not Applicable
Chronically Absent Students	Increasing
Per-Student Spending	Increasing
Bullying	Maintaining
Student Performance on Grade 3 Reading	Not Applicable
Student Performance on Grade 8 Math by Student Group	Not Applicable
Student Performance on Grade 10 English Language Arts	Not Applicable
Student Performance on Grade 10 Math	Not Applicable
High School Cohort Graduation Rate	Increasing
High School Cohort Graduation Rate by Student Group	Not Applicable
Education Levels of Adults	Not Applicable
Bachelor's Degree or Higher by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Income in Relation to Poverty Level	Not Applicable
People Living in Poverty by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Median Household Income	Increasing
Median Household Income by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Median Household Income by Household Type	Not Applicable
Living Wage Rate by Household Type	Not Applicable
Access to Financial Services, by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Households Receiving Temporary Assistance	Increasing
Households Receiving Federal Food Assistance	Increasing
Participation in Food Assistance by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Earned Income Tax Credit Participation	Decreasing
Economically Disadvantaged Students	Increasing
Median Home Value	Increasing
Cost of Homeownership	Increasing
Cost of Renting	Increasing
Homeownership Rates	Maintaining
Homeownership Rates by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Homeless Persons	Not Applicable
People Without Health Insurance	Decreasing
Medical Care Expenses	Increasing
Prevalence of Children with Asthma	Maintaining
Prevalence of Overweight Children	Maintaining
Diabetes Incidence	Decreasing
Chronic Disease Among Older Adults	Increasing
Cancer Incidence	Decreasing
Cancer Mortality Rate	Decreasing
Heart Disease Mortality Rate	Decreasing
Mortality Rate	Decreasing
People who Smoke	Not Applicable
Use of Illegal Drugs	Not Applicable
Youth Use of Illegal Drugs	Not Applicable
Substance Abuse Treatment Admissions	Not Applicable
Drug Overdose Mortality Rate	Increasing
Prevalence of Mental Illness	Maintaining
Suicide Rate	Maintaining
Children Living in Poverty by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Single-Parent Families by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Change in Population by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Unemployment Rate by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Student Performance on Grade 3 Reading	Not Applicable
Student Performance on Grade 8 Math by Student Group	Not Applicable
Student Performance on Grade 10 English Language Arts	Not Applicable
Student Performance on Grade 10 Math	Not Applicable
High School Cohort Graduation Rate by Student Group	Not Applicable
Bachelor's Degree or Higher by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
People Living in Poverty by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Median Household Income by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Participation in Food Assistance by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Homeownership Rates by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable