The Crime Survey for England and Wales found 4.2% of separated adults had been victims in the year ending March 2015.
The figure for those married or in civil partnerships was 1%.
New detailed data also showed students were more likely than other groups to be victims of violent crime.
Responding to the survey, 3.4% of full-time students said they had been victims at least once in the last year, compared to 1.9% of people in "routine and manual" jobs, 1.8% of the long-term unemployed and 1.5% of people in "managerial and professional" work.
Among those surveyed were 1,067 separated people, 15,014 who were married or in civil partnerships and 1,027 full-time students.
Based on reporting their own experiences of violent crime in the year up to the end of March 2015, higher-risk groups included men, people aged 16-24, those of a "mixed or multiple ethnic background" and "adults in low-income households".
People separated from their partners are more than four times more likely to be victims of violent crime than those who are married or in civil partnerships, figures suggest.