Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0On violent crime, Columbia Heights has a higher rate per resident than 72% of U.S. towns
The crimes the grade counts fell 19% per resident from 2023 to 2025. From 2023 to 2025, crimes Columbia Heights’ police reported put it at C for safety: #137 of 166 graded towns in Minnesota. Per 1,000 residents a year, 2.9 violent crimes and 17.7 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 3.0 and 20.2 in the rest of Minnesota.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of MN” is every other Minnesota 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 Columbia Heights
Columbia Heights reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 1 Minnesota towns on Columbia Heights’ borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Fridley (D). Neighbors ↓
Among Minnesota towns, lower
Minnesota’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Columbia Heights’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 17% of the 166 Minnesota towns we grade, against 29% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Columbia Heights’ 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 (2.9) 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Columbia Heights property | Rest of Minnesota property | Columbia Heights violent | Rest of Minnesota violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 22.0 | 24.8 | 4.1 | 3.4 |
| 2023 | 17.2 | 21.8 | 3.2 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 21.8 | 20.6 | 3.2 | 3.1 |
| 2025 | 14.0 | 18.3 | 2.4 | 2.7 |
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 Minnesota.
Crime in Columbia Heights 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 2 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 | Columbia Heights | Rest of Minnesota | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Columbia Heights’ police reported 206 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Minnesota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
385 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.
57 violent and 328 property, as reported to the FBI by Columbia Heights’ police.
Five people died in crashes on Columbia Heights’s roads in 2019–2023
Columbia Heights had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died; 5 were pedestrians.
That is about what is typical for Minnesota towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (3.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Columbia Heights’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Columbia Heights’s own rate (4.5) 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.
Columbia Heights and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia Heights | C | 2.9 | 17.7 |
| Fridley | D | 2.7 | 31.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Minnesota towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia Heights | C | 2.9 | 17.7 |
| Hastings | B | 1.2 | 10.0 |
| New Brighton | B | 1.0 | 11.7 |
| Northfield | B− | 1.5 | 10.8 |
| Willmar | C | 4.0 | 13.5 |
| Crystal | C− | 2.9 | 21.9 |
The five graded Minnesota towns closest to Columbia Heights’ population (22,482), 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 Columbia Heights. 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 Columbia Heights’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (23,420 in 2025); our figure for Columbia Heights is 22,482 (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 Columbia Heights
Is Columbia Heights, MN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Columbia Heights reports more crime per resident than 71% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #137 of 166 in Minnesota. Its police reported 2.9 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Minnesota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Columbia Heights?
2.9 violent and 17.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Minnesota reports 3.0 and 20.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Columbia Heights safer than Fridley?
Fridley reports more crime per resident than Columbia Heights: Fridley grades D for safety and Columbia Heights C. Fridley’s police reported 2.7 violent and 31.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Columbia Heights?
Columbia Heights’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Columbia Heights”. 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 Columbia Heights.
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.