Photo: DanNowicki · CC BY-SA 4.0More crimes per resident are recorded in West St. Paul than in 90% of U.S. towns
A Safety Grade of D follows from crimes West St. Paul’s police reported over the years 2023 to 2025: #159 of 166 graded towns in Minnesota. What’s more, among its 3 neighbors with figures, 2 record less crime per resident. Out of every 1,000 residents, 2.1 violent crimes and 40.9 incidents of property crime are reported annually, against 3.0 and 20.1 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 West St. Paul
2 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 3 Minnesota towns on West St. Paul’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Inver Grove Heights (C+), South St. Paul (C+), St. Paul (D). Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind West St. Paul’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. Its violent rate (2.1) 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.
Crime in West St. Paul 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 | West St. Paul | Rest of Minnesota | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.0 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.6 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
West St. Paul’s police reported 140 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Minnesota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | West St. Paul property | Rest of Minnesota property | West St. Paul violent | Rest of Minnesota violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 41.5 | 24.7 | 3.7 | 3.4 |
| 2023 | 42.0 | 21.7 | 2.0 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 43.0 | 20.5 | 1.6 | 3.1 |
| 2025 | 37.6 | 18.1 | 2.6 | 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.
897 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.
59 violent and 838 property, as reported to the FBI by West St. Paul’s police.
One person died in crashes on West St. Paul’s roads in 2019–2023
West St. Paul 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 West St. Paul’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so West St. Paul’s own rate (0.9) 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.
West St. Paul and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| West St. Paul | D | 2.1 | 40.9 |
| Inver Grove Heights | C+ | 1.7 | 14.2 |
| South St. Paul | C+ | 2.5 | 14.0 |
| St. Paul | D | 5.8 | 29.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Minnesota towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| West St. Paul | D | 2.1 | 40.9 |
| New Brighton | B | 1.0 | 11.7 |
| Northfield | B− | 1.5 | 10.8 |
| Columbia Heights | C | 2.9 | 17.7 |
| Willmar | C | 4.0 | 13.5 |
| Crystal | C− | 2.9 | 21.9 |
The five graded Minnesota towns closest to West St. Paul’s population (21,950), 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 West St. Paul. 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 West St. Paul’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (22,278 in 2025); our figure for West St. Paul is 21,950 (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 West St. Paul
Is West St. Paul, MN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, West St. Paul reports more crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #159 of 166 in Minnesota. Its police reported 2.1 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 West St. Paul?
2.1 violent and 40.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Minnesota reports 3.0 and 20.1; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is West St. Paul safer than Inver Grove Heights?
Inver Grove Heights reports less crime per resident than West St. Paul: Inver Grove Heights grades C+ for safety and West St. Paul D. Inver Grove Heights’s police reported 1.7 violent and 14.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices West St. Paul?
West St. Paul’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “West St. Paul”. 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 West St. Paul.
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.