Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Wheat Ridge than in 93% of U.S. towns
Of the 3 towns on its borders with figures, one records less crime per resident. Still, from 2023 to 2025, crimes Wheat Ridge’s police reported put it at D for safety: #71 of 87 graded towns in Colorado. Its police logs show 3.9 violent crimes and 42.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the rest of Colorado the numbers are 5.6 and 30.9. The rate the grade counts dropped 17% from 2023 to 2025.
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 Wheat Ridge
1 of the 3 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 5 Colorado towns on Wheat Ridge’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Arvada (C−), Lakewood (D−), Edgewater (D−). Fairmount and Applewood are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Neighbors ↓
A job center
Wheat Ridge has 19,751 jobs based in town for 32,081 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 Wheat Ridge’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 per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Wheat Ridge property | Rest of Colorado property | Wheat Ridge violent | Rest of Colorado violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 50.8 | 39.1 | 3.9 | 6.2 |
| 2023 | 45.4 | 35.3 | 4.4 | 5.9 |
| 2024 | 44.7 | 31.6 | 4.8 | 5.8 |
| 2025 | 38.8 | 26.0 | 2.6 | 5.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
Crime in Wheat Ridge per 1,000 residents
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.
And about 3 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Wheat Ridge | Rest of Colorado | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.9 | 6.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.4 | 5.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.8 | 5.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.6 | 5.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Wheat Ridge’s police reported 374 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.6 in the rest of Colorado and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
1,321 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
84 violent and 1,237 property, as reported to the FBI by Wheat Ridge’s police.
16 people died in crashes on Wheat Ridge’s roads in 2019–2023
Wheat Ridge had 16 fatal crashes in five years, in which 16 people died; 8 were pedestrians. 4 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 10.0 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.
Wheat Ridge and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Fairmount and Applewood are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Colorado towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheat Ridge | D | 3.9 | 42.9 |
| Erie | B+ | 0.5 | 8.6 |
| Lafayette | C− | 2.5 | 24.0 |
| Fountain | C− | 4.5 | 18.7 |
| Northglenn | D | 4.5 | 27.2 |
| Englewood | D− | 6.5 | 50.0 |
The five graded Colorado towns closest to Wheat Ridge’s population (32,081), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
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 Wheat Ridge. 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 Wheat Ridge’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (31,904 in 2025); our figure for Wheat Ridge is 32,081 (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 Wheat Ridge
Is Wheat Ridge, CO safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Wheat Ridge reports more crime per resident than 93% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #71 of 87 in Colorado. Its police reported 3.9 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 Wheat Ridge?
3.9 violent and 42.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Colorado reports 5.6 and 30.9; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Wheat Ridge in 2025?
Wheat Ridge’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Wheat Ridge safer than Arvada?
Arvada reports less crime per resident than Wheat Ridge: Arvada grades C− for safety and Wheat Ridge D. Arvada’s police reported 2.7 violent and 24.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Wheat Ridge?
Wheat Ridge’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Wheat Ridge”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Wheat Ridge.
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.