Photo: WeaponizingArchitecture · CC BY-SA 4.0Rapid City records more crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns
Graded on crimes Rapid City’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores D− for safety. Add to that, it has more violent crime than 95% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 95%. Per 1,000 residents a year, 7.4 violent crimes and 37.8 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 3.4 and 18.9 in the rest of South Dakota.
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 Rapid City
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 3 South Dakota towns on Rapid City’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Box Elder (C). Colonial Pine Hills and Rapid Valley are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Neighbors ↓
A job center
Rapid City has 48,910 jobs based in town for 80,589 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Rapid City’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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Rapid City | Rest of South Dakota | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.8 | 4.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 7.4 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 7.2 | 3.7 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 7.7 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Rapid City’s police reported 1,805 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 7.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.4 in the rest of South Dakota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Rapid City 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 8 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Rapid City property | Rest of South Dakota property | Rapid City violent | Rest of South Dakota violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 35.9 | 23.6 | 6.8 | 4.2 |
| 2023 | 39.0 | 20.3 | 7.4 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 37.9 | 20.3 | 7.2 | 3.7 |
| 2025 | 36.4 | 16.2 | 7.7 | 3.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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 South Dakota.
3,575 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.
623 violent and 2,952 property, as reported to the FBI by Rapid City’s police.
32 people died in crashes on Rapid City’s roads in 2019–2023
Rapid City had 31 fatal crashes in five years, in which 32 people died; 8 were pedestrians. 2 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.
Rapid City and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rapid City | D− | 7.4 | 37.8 |
| Colonial Pine Hills | — | — | — |
| Rapid Valley | — | — | — |
| Box Elder | C | 3.6 | 14.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Colonial Pine Hills and Rapid Valley are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
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 Rapid City. 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 Rapid City’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (81,185 in 2025); our figure for Rapid City is 80,589 (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 Rapid City
Is Rapid City, SD safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Rapid City reports more crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade. Its police reported 7.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.4 in the rest of South Dakota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Rapid City?
7.4 violent and 37.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of South Dakota reports 3.4 and 18.9; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Rapid City in 2025?
Rapid City’s police reported 8 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 9.9 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Rapid City safer than Box Elder?
Box Elder reports less crime per resident than Rapid City: Box Elder grades C for safety and Rapid City D−. Box Elder’s police reported 3.6 violent and 14.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Rapid City?
Rapid City’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Rapid City”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Rapid City.
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.