Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 3.0Brighton reports more crime per resident than 86% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Brighton’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #60 of 87 graded towns in Colorado.
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 Brighton
1 of the 2 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 4 Colorado towns on Brighton’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Fort Lupton (C), Commerce City (D). Todd Creek is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Lochbuie reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023. Neighbors ↓
Among Colorado towns, closer to the middle
Colorado’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Brighton’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 31% of the 87 Colorado towns we grade, against 14% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Brighton’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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical.
For every 1,000 residents, about 23 property crimes reported
And about 5 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Brighton’s police reported 600 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.6 in the rest of Colorado and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Brighton | Rest of Colorado | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.1 | 6.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.2 | 5.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.7 | 5.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Reported crime is steady
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Colorado.
Show as a table
| Year | Brighton property | Rest of Colorado property | Brighton violent | Rest of Colorado violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 29.3 | 39.3 | 4.1 | 6.2 |
| 2023 | 26.1 | 35.5 | 4.2 | 5.9 |
| 2024 | 25.2 | 31.8 | 4.7 | 5.8 |
| 2025 | 23.4 | 26.1 | 4.9 | 5.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
1,252 crimes reported in 2025
216 violent and 1,036 property, as reported to the FBI by Brighton’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
31 people died in crashes on Brighton’s roads in 2019–2023
Brighton had 28 fatal crashes in five years, in which 31 people died; 5 were pedestrians. 6 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 14.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Colorado towns of 25,000–100,000 people (6.6, 21 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.
Brighton and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton | D | 4.6 | 24.9 |
| Todd Creek | — | — | — |
| Commerce City | D | 7.7 | 27.3 |
| Lochbuie | — | — | — |
| Fort Lupton | C | 3.5 | 17.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Todd Creek is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Lochbuie reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023.
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 Brighton. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Brighton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (44,307 in 2025); our figure for Brighton is 45,395 (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 Brighton
Is Brighton, CO safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Brighton reports more crime per resident than 86% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #60 of 87 in Colorado. Its police reported 4.6 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 Brighton?
4.6 violent and 24.9 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 Brighton?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Brighton in 2025?
Brighton’s police reported 5 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 11.3 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Brighton safer than Commerce City?
Commerce City reports more crime per resident than Brighton: Commerce City grades D for safety and Brighton D. Commerce City’s police reported 7.7 violent and 27.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Brighton?
Brighton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Brighton”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Brighton.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.