Photo: Lee Coursey · CC BY 2.0Boulder reports more crime per resident than 85% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Boulder’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #59 of 87 graded towns in Colorado, and #172 of 325 U.S. cities over 100,000.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of CO” is every other Colorado city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Boulder
Among Colorado towns, closer to the middle
Colorado’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Boulder’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 32% of the 87 Colorado towns we grade, against 15% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Homicides: below U.S. cities overall
Boulder’s police reported 3 homicides to the FBI in 2025. Over 2023–2025 that is 1.9 per 100,000 residents a year, below the rest of Colorado (5.4) and below all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (5.7). Violent crime ↓
Robberies: below the rest of Colorado
43.4 robberies per 100,000 residents a year over 2023–2025 (52 reported in 2025), below the rest of Colorado (77.6) and below all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (79.4). Violent crime ↓
Against other big cities
Among the 325 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, Boulder reports less crime per resident than 47% (#172). Places like it ↓
A college town
Boulder is home to the University of Colorado Boulder, with 37,286 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 31% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
A job center
Boulder has 87,930 jobs based in town for 105,689 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Boulder’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (3.4) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Homicides and robberies
Boulder’s police reported 3 homicides, 52 robberies and 376 violent crimes in all to the FBI in 2025. By year, against the rest of Colorado and all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables.
Show as a table
| Year | Boulder | Rest of Colorado | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.8 | 7.7 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 2.9 | 6.7 | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 0.0 | 5.5 | 5.7 |
| 2025 | 2.8 | 4.0 | 4.6 |
Homicides per 100,000 residents
Show as a table
| Year | Boulder | Rest of Colorado | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 47.5 | 101 | 95.5 |
| 2023 | 36.5 | 87.5 | 90.6 |
| 2024 | 44.7 | 83.6 | 81.9 |
| 2025 | 48.9 | 61.9 | 66.0 |
Robberies per 100,000 residents
Reported crime is falling
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Colorado.
Show as a table
| Year | Boulder property | Rest of Colorado property | Boulder violent | Rest of Colorado violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 30.0 | 39.4 | 3.7 | 6.2 |
| 2023 | 30.6 | 35.5 | 3.6 | 5.9 |
| 2024 | 27.3 | 31.8 | 3.2 | 5.9 |
| 2025 | 23.9 | 26.1 | 3.5 | 5.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 24 property crimes reported
And about 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
2,915 crimes reported in 2025
376 violent and 2,539 property, as reported to the FBI by Boulder’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
15 people died in crashes on Boulder’s roads in 2019–2023
Boulder had 13 fatal crashes in five years, in which 15 people died; 3 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 2.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for Colorado towns of 100,000+ people (6.5, 13 towns).
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Boulder and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Gunbarrel and Niwot are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Colorado towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boulder | C− | 3.4 | 27.2 |
| Centennial | C+ | 1.8 | 16.5 |
| Arvada | C− | 2.7 | 24.5 |
| Westminster | D | 3.0 | 33.4 |
| Greeley | D | 6.4 | 29.2 |
| Pueblo | D− | 11.3 | 40.9 |
The five graded Colorado towns closest to Boulder’s population (105,689), by grade.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Boulder. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Boulder’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (106,426 in 2025); our figure for Boulder is 105,689 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Boulder
Is Boulder, CO safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Boulder reports more crime per resident than 85% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #59 of 87 in Colorado. Its police reported 3.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.6 in the rest of Colorado and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Boulder?
3.4 violent and 27.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Colorado reports 5.6 and 31.1; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Boulder?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Boulder in 2025?
Boulder’s police reported 3 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 2.8 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Boulder?
Boulder’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Boulder”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Boulder.
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Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.