When most Americans think of crime, they think of violence or property theft. Those are the two most common crimes and the ones that receive a lot of attention in the media. However, there is much more going on at the local level that affects people in very different ways. Researchers and policymakers typically track aggregate trends in overall crime levels at the county, city or state level using data from national collections like the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting.

This new Pew Research Center study takes a closer look at local crime. It finds that nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults at least occasionally get news and information about local crime, and 34% do so often. It also finds that people who consume a lot of local crime news tend to be more concerned about the impact of crime on their community.

Most of the people who frequently see crime news are concerned about local drug-related or violent crime, with smaller shares worried about sex crimes and white-collar crimes (like financial fraud and political corruption). But there are important differences among groups. For example, Black Americans are more likely to follow local crime news and report feeling very or extremely concerned about how this crime impacts their community.

Those who see a lot of local crime news are more likely to have confidence in the accuracy of that information when it comes from local law enforcement or local news outlets than when they hear it from friends, family and neighbors or social media sites. This finding underscores the importance of communities collaborating with police to address local problems.