Photo: Terry Umbenhaur · CC BY-SA 3.0Las Cruces reports more crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Las Cruces’ police in 2023–2025, it grades D− for safety: #23 of 29 graded towns in New Mexico, and #283 of 325 U.S. cities over 100,000.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of NM” is every other New Mexico 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 Las Cruces
Among New Mexico towns, closer to the middle
New Mexico’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Las Cruces’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 21% of the 29 New Mexico towns we grade, against 4% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Homicides: above U.S. cities overall
Las Cruces’ police reported 14 homicides to the FBI in 2025. Over 2023–2025 that is 10.3 per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the rest of New Mexico (11.3) and 1.8 times all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (5.7). Violent crime ↓
Robberies: below the rest of New Mexico
56.1 robberies per 100,000 residents a year over 2023–2025 (52 reported in 2025), below the rest of New Mexico (91.8) and below all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (79.4). Violent crime ↓
Against other big cities
Among the 325 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, Las Cruces reports less crime per resident than 13% (#283). Places like 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 Las Cruces’ 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.
Reported crime is falling
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 New Mexico.
Show as a table
| Year | Las Cruces property | Rest of New Mexico property | Las Cruces violent | Rest of New Mexico violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 53.4 | 37.1 | 6.2 | 10.1 |
| 2023 | 54.0 | 36.4 | 5.8 | 9.7 |
| 2024 | 48.7 | 35.1 | 7.2 | 8.8 |
| 2025 | 36.4 | 28.5 | 4.9 | 7.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 36 property crimes reported
And about 5 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
Homicides and robberies
Las Cruces’ police reported 14 homicides, 52 robberies and 584 violent crimes in all to the FBI in 2025. By year, against the rest of New Mexico and all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables.
Show as a table
| Year | Las Cruces | Rest of New Mexico | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 8.8 | 13.8 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 7.0 | 13.2 | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 12.1 | 12.3 | 5.7 |
| 2025 | 11.8 | 8.4 | 4.6 |
Homicides per 100,000 residents
Show as a table
| Year | Las Cruces | Rest of New Mexico | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 52.6 | 170 | 95.5 |
| 2023 | 67.0 | 106 | 90.6 |
| 2024 | 57.8 | 97.3 | 81.9 |
| 2025 | 43.9 | 73.0 | 66.0 |
Robberies per 100,000 residents
4,898 crimes reported in 2025
584 violent and 4,314 property, as reported to the FBI by Las Cruces’ police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
48 people died in crashes on Las Cruces’s roads in 2019–2023
Las Cruces had 46 fatal crashes in five years, in which 48 people died; 20 were pedestrians and 5 were cyclists. 9 died in crashes on an Interstate.
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.
Las Cruces and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Las Cruces | D− | 6.0 | 46.3 |
| Mesilla | — | — | — |
| Picacho Hills | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Mesilla has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Picacho Hills is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
New Mexico towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Las Cruces | D− | 6.0 | 46.3 |
| Rio Rancho | C | 3.5 | 12.6 |
| Santa Fe | D− | 7.4 | 43.2 |
The five graded New Mexico towns closest to Las Cruces’ population (116,978), by grade.
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 Las Cruces. 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 Las Cruces’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (118,356 in 2025); our figure for Las Cruces is 116,978 (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 Las Cruces
Is Las Cruces, NM safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Las Cruces reports more crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #23 of 29 in New Mexico. Its police reported 6.0 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.6 in the rest of New Mexico and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Las Cruces?
6.0 violent and 46.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of New Mexico reports 8.6 and 33.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Las Cruces?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Las Cruces in 2025?
Las Cruces’s police reported 14 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 11.8 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Las Cruces?
Las Cruces’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Las Cruces”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Las Cruces.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.