Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5In Wahpeton, the kinds of crime the grade counts fell 57% per resident from 2023 to 2025
Wahpeton grades C+ for safety overall (#8 of 16 graded towns in North Dakota): more crime per resident than 64% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Behind the grade sit 2.1 violent crimes and 16.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 3.2 and 23.3 in the rest of North Dakota.
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 Wahpeton
Among North Dakota towns, closer to the middle
North Dakota’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Wahpeton’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 50% of the 16 North Dakota towns we grade, against 36% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Wahpeton is home to North Dakota State College of Science, with 2,715 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 22% 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 Wahpeton’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. Its property rate (16.4) 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 | Wahpeton property | Rest of North Dakota property | Wahpeton violent | Rest of North Dakota violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 22.9 | 26.7 | 1.9 | 3.6 |
| 2023 | 19.2 | 26.0 | 2.6 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 21.9 | 23.4 | 2.4 | 3.4 |
| 2025 | 8.1 | 20.3 | 1.4 | 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Wahpeton | Rest of North Dakota | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.9 | 3.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.6 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.4 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Wahpeton’s police reported 51 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.2 in the rest of North Dakota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Wahpeton 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 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
77 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.
11 violent and 66 property, as reported to the FBI by Wahpeton’s police.
One person died in crashes on Wahpeton’s roads in 2019–2023
Wahpeton had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what is typical for North Dakota towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (3.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Wahpeton’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Wahpeton’s own rate (2.5) 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.
Wahpeton and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wahpeton | C+ | 2.1 | 16.4 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
North Dakota towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wahpeton | C+ | 2.1 | 16.4 |
| Lincoln | A− | 0.6 | 4.8 |
| Valley City | B | 0.9 | 10.7 |
| Jamestown | B− | 1.4 | 14.9 |
| Watford City | C− | 3.5 | 20.9 |
The five graded North Dakota towns closest to Wahpeton’s population (8,141), 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 Wahpeton. 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 Wahpeton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (8,142 in 2025); our figure for Wahpeton is 8,141 (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 Wahpeton
Is Wahpeton, ND safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Wahpeton reports more crime per resident than 64% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #8 of 16 in North Dakota. Its police reported 2.1 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 Wahpeton?
2.1 violent and 16.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of North Dakota reports 3.2 and 23.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Wahpeton?
Wahpeton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Wahpeton”. 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 Wahpeton.
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.