Photo: Ken Lund from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Sparks reports more crime per resident than 83% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Sparks’ police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #7 of 11 graded towns in Nevada, and #165 of 325 U.S. cities over 100,000.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of NV” is every other Nevada 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 Sparks
Sparks reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 3 Nevada towns on Sparks’ borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Reno (D). Spanish Springs and Sun Valley are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Neighbors ↓
Among Nevada towns, closer to the middle
Nevada’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Sparks’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 36% of the 11 Nevada towns we grade, against 17% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Homicides: below U.S. cities overall
Sparks’ police reported 4 homicides to the FBI in 2025. Over 2023–2025 that is 3.9 per 100,000 residents a year, below the rest of Nevada (6.1) and below all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (5.7). Violent crime ↓
Robberies: below the rest of Nevada
60.5 robberies per 100,000 residents a year over 2023–2025 (57 reported in 2025), below the rest of Nevada (70.3) 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, Sparks reports less crime per resident than 49% (#165). Places like it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Sparks’ 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.
For every 1,000 residents, about 23 property crimes reported
And about 4 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
Sparks’ police reported 4 homicides, 57 robberies and 405 violent crimes in all to the FBI in 2025. By year, against the rest of Nevada and all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables.
Show as a table
| Year | Sparks | Rest of Nevada | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.4 | 7.3 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 3.7 | 7.0 | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 4.5 | 6.5 | 5.7 |
| 2025 | 3.6 | 5.0 | 4.6 |
Homicides per 100,000 residents
Show as a table
| Year | Sparks | Rest of Nevada | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 93.2 | 96.3 | 95.5 |
| 2023 | 75.0 | 79.1 | 90.6 |
| 2024 | 56.0 | 70.1 | 81.9 |
| 2025 | 50.8 | 61.8 | 66.0 |
Robberies per 100,000 residents
Reported crime is steady
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 Nevada.
Show as a table
| Year | Sparks property | Rest of Nevada property | Sparks violent | Rest of Nevada violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 20.1 | 25.9 | 4.2 | 4.8 |
| 2023 | 22.6 | 27.4 | 3.9 | 4.3 |
| 2024 | 25.8 | 23.7 | 3.9 | 4.1 |
| 2025 | 22.5 | 21.4 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
2,930 crimes reported in 2025
405 violent and 2,525 property, as reported to the FBI by Sparks’ police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
45 people died in crashes on Sparks’s roads in 2019–2023
Sparks had 44 fatal crashes in five years, in which 45 people died; 13 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists. 8 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 8.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for Nevada towns of 100,000+ people (8.6, 9 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.
Sparks and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sparks | C− | 3.8 | 23.7 |
| Spanish Springs | — | — | — |
| Reno | D | 5.6 | 24.6 |
| Sun Valley | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Spanish Springs and Sun Valley are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
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 Sparks. 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 Sparks’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (112,191 in 2025); our figure for Sparks is 111,902 (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 Sparks
Is Sparks, NV safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Sparks reports more crime per resident than 83% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #7 of 11 in Nevada. Its police reported 3.8 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.1 in the rest of Nevada and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Sparks?
3.8 violent and 23.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Nevada reports 4.1 and 24.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Sparks?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Sparks in 2025?
Sparks’s police reported 4 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 3.6 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Sparks safer than Reno?
Reno reports more crime per resident than Sparks: Reno grades D for safety and Sparks C−. Reno’s police reported 5.6 violent and 24.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Sparks?
Sparks’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Sparks”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Sparks.
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.