Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0Reported crime per resident in Box Elder fell 19% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Box Elder grades C for safety (#15 of 23 graded towns in South Dakota): more crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of SD” is every other South 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 Box Elder
Box Elder reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 3 South Dakota towns on Box Elder’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Rapid City (D−). Ashland Heights and Rapid Valley are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Neighbors ↓
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 Box Elder’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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its property rate (14.0) 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 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 South Dakota.
Show as a table
| Year | Box Elder property | Rest of South Dakota property | Box Elder violent | Rest of South Dakota violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 14.5 | 25.8 | 4.0 | 4.6 |
| 2023 | 16.6 | 23.3 | 4.4 | 4.2 |
| 2024 | 11.9 | 23.2 | 3.5 | 4.2 |
| 2025 | 13.8 | 19.3 | 3.1 | 3.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 14 property crimes reported
And about 3 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Box Elder’s police reported 153 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.0 in the rest of South Dakota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Box Elder | Rest of South Dakota | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.0 | 4.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.5 | 4.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.1 | 3.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
244 crimes reported in 2025
45 violent and 199 property, as reported to the FBI by Box Elder’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Two people died in crashes on Box Elder’s roads in 2019–2023
Box Elder had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what is typical for South Dakota towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (3.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Box Elder’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Box Elder’s own rate (3.1) 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.
Box Elder and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Box Elder | C | 3.6 | 14.0 |
| Rapid City | D− | 7.4 | 37.8 |
| Ashland Heights | — | — | — |
| Rapid Valley | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Ashland Heights and Rapid 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 Box Elder. 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 Box Elder’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (14,429 in 2025); our figure for Box Elder is 13,936 (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 Box Elder
Is Box Elder, SD safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Box Elder reports more crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #15 of 23 in South Dakota. Its police reported 3.6 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.0 in the rest of South Dakota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Box Elder?
3.6 violent and 14.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of South Dakota reports 4.0 and 21.9; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Box Elder?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Box Elder safer than Rapid City?
Rapid City reports more crime per resident than Box Elder: Rapid City grades D− for safety and Box Elder C. Rapid City’s police reported 7.4 violent and 37.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Box Elder?
Box Elder’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Box Elder”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Box Elder.
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.