Photo: Brenda Riskey · Public domainProperty crime per resident is higher in Grand Forks than in 82% of U.S. towns
A Safety Grade of C− follows from crimes Grand Forks’ police reported over the years 2023 to 2025: #11 of 16 graded towns in North Dakota. The local count comes to 3.0 violent crimes and 22.8 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 3.2 and 23.2 in the rest of North Dakota. The rate the grade counts dropped 19% from 2023 to 2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of ND” is every other North Dakota 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 Grand Forks
A college town
Grand Forks is home to the University of North Dakota, with 9,298 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 20% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. 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 Grand Forks’ 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 (3.0) 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 | Grand Forks property | Rest of North Dakota property | Grand Forks violent | Rest of North Dakota violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 29.9 | 26.2 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2023 | 25.5 | 26.0 | 2.6 | 3.5 |
| 2024 | 22.8 | 23.4 | 3.6 | 3.3 |
| 2025 | 20.1 | 20.1 | 2.7 | 2.8 |
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 North Dakota.
Crime in Grand Forks 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 | Grand Forks | Rest of North Dakota | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.6 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Grand Forks’ police reported 527 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.2 in the rest of North Dakota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
1,367 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. 2025 figures come from FBI Crime Data Explorer, which publishes violent crime, homicides, robberies and property crime only.
162 violent and 1,205 property, as reported to the FBI by Grand Forks’ police.
17 people died in crashes on Grand Forks’s roads in 2019–2023
Grand Forks had 14 fatal crashes in five years, in which 17 people died; 2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 5.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for North Dakota towns of 25,000–100,000 people (3.7, 6 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.
Grand Forks and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Forks | C− | 3.0 | 22.8 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
North Dakota towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Forks | C− | 3.0 | 22.8 |
| West Fargo | B− | 1.8 | 10.9 |
| Minot | C | 3.3 | 13.4 |
| Bismarck | C− | 2.8 | 24.5 |
The five graded North Dakota towns closest to Grand Forks’ population (60,365), 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 Grand Forks. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Grand Forks’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (60,024 in 2025); our figure for Grand Forks is 60,365 (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 Grand Forks
Is Grand Forks, ND safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Grand Forks reports more crime per resident than 79% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #11 of 16 in North Dakota. Its police reported 3.0 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.2 in the rest of North Dakota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Grand Forks?
3.0 violent and 22.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of North Dakota reports 3.2 and 23.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Grand Forks in 2025?
Grand Forks’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.
Who polices Grand Forks?
Grand Forks’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Grand Forks Police Department”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Grand Forks.
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.