Leonard Robinson House · Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Sauk Rapids records less violent crime than 61% of U.S. towns
Sauk Rapids grades B− for safety overall (#89 of 166 graded towns in Minnesota): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. What’s more, in a usual year, 1.3 violent crimes and 12.7 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of Minnesota, 3.0 and 20.2.
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 Sauk Rapids
1 of the 2 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 4 Minnesota towns on Sauk Rapids’ borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Sartell (B), St. Cloud (D). Minden Township and Le Sauk Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Sauk Rapids’ grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Sauk Rapids’ grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (12.7) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Sauk Rapids | Rest of Minnesota | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.8 | 3.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.3 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.6 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Sauk Rapids’ police reported 52 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Minnesota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Sauk Rapids 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.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Sauk Rapids property | Rest of Minnesota property | Sauk Rapids violent | Rest of Minnesota violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 17.2 | 24.9 | 0.8 | 3.4 |
| 2023 | 15.2 | 21.8 | 1.3 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 12.9 | 20.7 | 0.9 | 3.1 |
| 2025 | 10.1 | 18.3 | 1.6 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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 Minnesota.
162 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.
22 violent and 140 property, as reported to the FBI by Sauk Rapids’ police.
One person died in crashes on Sauk Rapids’s roads in 2019–2023
Sauk Rapids had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died; 1 was a pedestrian.
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 Sauk Rapids’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Sauk Rapids’s own rate (1.4) 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.
Sauk Rapids and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sauk Rapids | B− | 1.3 | 12.7 |
| Minden Township | — | — | — |
| Sartell | B | 0.6 | 13.8 |
| St. Cloud | D | 3.7 | 29.5 |
| Le Sauk Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Minden Township and Le Sauk Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Minnesota towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sauk Rapids | B− | 1.3 | 12.7 |
| New Ulm | A− | 0.4 | 7.8 |
| North Mankato | B | 1.7 | 8.9 |
| Marshall | B | 2.5 | 6.3 |
| Worthington | C+ | 3.2 | 9.2 |
| Robbinsdale | C | 3.6 | 16.7 |
The five graded Minnesota towns closest to Sauk Rapids’ population (13,768), 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 Sauk Rapids. 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 Sauk Rapids’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (13,816 in 2025); our figure for Sauk Rapids is 13,768 (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 Sauk Rapids
Is Sauk Rapids, MN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Sauk Rapids reports less crime per resident than 52% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #89 of 166 in Minnesota. Its police reported 1.3 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 Sauk Rapids?
1.3 violent and 12.7 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 Sauk Rapids safer than Sartell?
Sartell reports less crime per resident than Sauk Rapids: Sartell grades B for safety and Sauk Rapids B−. Sartell’s police reported 0.6 violent and 13.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Sauk Rapids?
Sauk Rapids’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Sauk Rapids”. 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 Sauk Rapids.
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.