Photo: Aaronazzarito · CC BY-SA 4.0Garden City records more violent crime per head than 92% of U.S. towns
Weighing it all, Garden City earns C− for safety, with more crime per resident than 83% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported over 2023 to 2025. On top of that, each year brought 6.2 violent crimes and 13.7 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (2.5 and 8.9 in the rest of Idaho). The rate the grade counts dropped 30% from 2023 to 2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of ID” is every other Idaho 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 Garden City
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 1 Idaho towns on Garden City’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Boise City (C+). Neighbors ↓
Among Idaho towns, lower
Idaho’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Garden City’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 0% of the 41 Idaho towns we grade, against 17% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Garden City has 9,986 jobs based in town for 13,047 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 Garden City’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. Its property rate (13.7) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Garden City property | Rest of Idaho property | Garden City violent | Rest of Idaho violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 19.5 | 11.5 | 7.0 | 2.7 |
| 2023 | 16.2 | 10.0 | 6.6 | 2.6 |
| 2024 | 14.4 | 9.3 | 6.6 | 2.6 |
| 2025 | 10.6 | 7.5 | 5.4 | 2.5 |
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 Idaho.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Garden City | Rest of Idaho | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.0 | 2.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 6.6 | 2.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 6.6 | 2.6 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 5.4 | 2.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Garden City’s police reported 244 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 6.2 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.5 in the rest of Idaho and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Garden City 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 5 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
210 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.
71 violent and 139 property, as reported to the FBI by Garden City’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Garden City’s roads in 2019–2023
Garden City had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died; 2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is more than is typical for Idaho towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (1.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Garden City’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Garden City’s own rate (7.9) is context, not a ranking.
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.
Garden City and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garden City | C− | 6.2 | 13.7 |
| Boise City | C+ | 2.8 | 10.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Idaho towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garden City | C− | 6.2 | 13.7 |
| Rathdrum | B+ | 0.9 | 8.1 |
| Middleton | B+ | 1.6 | 5.9 |
| Sandpoint | B | 0.7 | 11.7 |
| Jerome | B | 2.3 | 5.8 |
| Blackfoot | C+ | 3.2 | 8.6 |
The five graded Idaho towns closest to Garden City’s population (13,047), 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 Garden City. 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 Garden City’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (13,104 in 2025); our figure for Garden City is 13,047 (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 Garden City
Is Garden City, ID safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Garden City reports more crime per resident than 83% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade. Its police reported 6.2 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.5 in the rest of Idaho and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Garden City?
6.2 violent and 13.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Idaho reports 2.5 and 8.9; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Garden City safer than Boise City?
Boise City reports less crime per resident than Garden City: Boise City grades C+ for safety and Garden City C−. Boise City’s police reported 2.8 violent and 10.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Garden City?
Garden City’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Garden City”. 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 Garden City.
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.