Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Denver reports more crime per resident than 98% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Denver’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D− for safety: #81 of 87 graded towns in Colorado, and #310 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 Denver
5 of the 6 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 8 Colorado towns on Denver’s borders, 6 have a Safety Grade: Littleton (C−), Commerce City (D), Aurora (D−), Lakewood (D−), Englewood (D−), Sheridan (D−). Four Square Mile and Berkley are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Neighbors ↓
Homicides: above U.S. cities overall
Denver’s police reported 42 homicides to the FBI in 2025. Over 2023–2025 that is 9.1 per 100,000 residents a year, 2.0 times the rest of Colorado (4.5) and 1.6 times all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (5.7). Violent crime ↓
Robberies: 2.8 times the rest of Colorado
163 robberies per 100,000 residents a year over 2023–2025 (1,015 reported in 2025), 2.8 times the rest of Colorado (58.9) and 2.1 times 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, Denver reports less crime per resident than 5% (#310). Places like it ↓
A job center
Denver has 523,496 jobs based in town for 740,613 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 Denver’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.
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 | Denver property | Rest of Colorado property | Denver violent | Rest of Colorado violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 64.3 | 34.0 | 10.7 | 5.2 |
| 2023 | 57.5 | 30.9 | 10.2 | 5.0 |
| 2024 | 47.6 | 28.4 | 9.9 | 5.0 |
| 2025 | 41.0 | 23.0 | 8.8 | 4.2 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Homicides and robberies
Denver’s police reported 42 homicides, 1,015 robberies and 6,421 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 | Denver | Rest of Colorado | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.8 | 6.6 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 11.9 | 5.5 | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 9.8 | 4.4 | 5.7 |
| 2025 | 5.7 | 3.7 | 4.6 |
Homicides per 100,000 residents
Show as a table
| Year | Denver | Rest of Colorado | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 184 | 81.8 | 95.5 |
| 2023 | 176 | 67.8 | 90.6 |
| 2024 | 176 | 63.5 | 81.9 |
| 2025 | 138 | 45.5 | 66.0 |
Robberies per 100,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 41 property crimes reported
And about 9 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.
36,508 crimes reported in 2025
6,421 violent and 30,087 property, as reported to the FBI by Denver’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
97 of the 335 people who died in crashes on Denver’s roads in 2019–2023 were pedestrians
Denver had 318 fatal crashes in five years, in which 335 people died. 10 of those killed were cyclists. 51 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 9.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Colorado towns of 100,000+ people (6.5, 13 towns).
Among the 39 U.S. cities of 500,000 or more, Denver has the 15th lowest rate.
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.
Denver and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denver | D− | 9.6 | 48.6 |
| Lakewood | D− | 7.3 | 47.2 |
| Aurora | D− | 8.9 | 30.9 |
| Four Square Mile | — | — | — |
| Englewood | D− | 6.5 | 50.0 |
| Commerce City | D | 7.7 | 27.3 |
| Berkley | — | — | — |
| Littleton | C− | 2.2 | 24.6 |
| Sheridan | D− | 7.8 | 67.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Four Square Mile and Berkley are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Colorado towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denver | D− | 9.6 | 48.6 |
| Colorado Springs | D | 7.0 | 33.8 |
The five graded Colorado towns closest to Denver’s population (740,613), 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 Denver. 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 Denver’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (733,212 in 2025); our figure for Denver is 740,613 (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 Denver
Is Denver, CO safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Denver reports more crime per resident than 98% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #81 of 87 in Colorado. Its police reported 9.6 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.7 in the rest of Colorado and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Denver?
9.6 violent and 48.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Colorado reports 4.7 and 27.4; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Denver?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Denver in 2025?
Denver’s police reported 42 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 5.7 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Denver safer than Lakewood?
Lakewood reports less crime per resident than Denver: Lakewood grades D− for safety and Denver D−. Lakewood’s police reported 7.3 violent and 47.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Denver?
Denver’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Denver”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Denver.
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.