Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Casper is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C overall, 20th among Wyoming's 28 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is cost of living: a typical home costs about $311K, 4.3 years of the Casper metro’s $72K median household income. Its lowest everyday mark is in safety: it reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns, including 187 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. 60% of working residents work locally in Casper, where Wyoming’s towns sit at 49% and U.S. towns at 8%. Its National Register listings include Fort Caspar and South Wolcott Street Historic District. Only 1 of the 20 Wyoming towns we compare have a higher violent crime rate than Casper.
Where Casper beats most towns.
Its 24 National Register listings are more than in 95% of Wyoming towns with a listing.
Census counts: 40 in 1880, 59,038 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1903 and 4 maps from 1951 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Wyoming), ordered by how far Casper is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Casper, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Casper.
Casper gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns and is safe by national standards but not by Wyoming’s.
At 33.2 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 89% of Wyoming’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 1,654 to 1,249 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Casper’s property crime rate is 18.1 per 1,000 residents. Casper reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 77% report less.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by the Natrona County School District #1. Three of its 29 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| C Y Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 766 | B+ |
| Kelly Walsh High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,002 | B |
| Ft. Caspar AcademyTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 356 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WY on state tests and graduation
The Casper 4.3 Wsw weather station, 5 miles away, records that 82 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 95% of U.S. towns. January nights average 14.9°: colder than most of the country, but milder than 86% of Wyoming places with climate records; July afternoons average 88.5°.
Casper has cold, snowy winters and warm summers, with very little rain. The July high in Casper is 89°F.
| Casper | Wyoming towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 89°F | 87°F | 85°F |
| January low | 15°F | 13°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
21 miles of trail in 21 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is North Casper Park, at 89 acres.
| Casper | Wyoming towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.8 miles per square mile | 1.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.3% | 9.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Highland Park | 0.5 mi | 12 |
| 2. Washington Park | 0.4 mi | 22 |
| 3. Conwell Park | 0.3 mi | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The top destinations are Mills (5%), Evansville (3%) and Hartrandt (3%). Half commute less than 4 miles.
| Casper | Wyoming towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 17 minutes | 15 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 11% | 6.3% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 9.9% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The typical Casper home is worth about $311,000, up 2.1% in a year, 16% below the Wyoming typical home.
| Casper | Wyoming towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,009 a month | $925 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 70% | 70% | 73% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Casper beats the Wyoming average on 0 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 70% of adults had a checkup this year in Casper.
| Casper | Wyoming towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 70% | 68% | 79% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 31% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 21% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 32% | 36% |
| What stands out | Casper | WY |
|---|---|---|
| More adults facing food insecurity | 11.3% | 9.7% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 7.3% | 6.3% |
| More adults facing housing insecurity | 10.5% | 9.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Wyoming average. 31% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 31% across Wyoming.
| Casper | Wyoming towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 24% | 22% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 31% | 23% | 29% |
| Median age | 37.3 years | 37.2 years | 40.5 years |
50.2% women, 49.8% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±0.6 points. Across Wyoming, 48.9% of residents are women. Median age: women 38.1, men 36.5.
| Casper | WY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.7% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.6% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.2% | 9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.1% | 12.7% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.2% | 13.5% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11% | 11.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.3% | 12.7% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.4% | 11.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.6% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.9% | 5.8% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.9% | 27.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 25% | 24.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.7% | 11.6% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18.8% | 19.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.7% | 11.5% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 50% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 20 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Casper.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
1 within 15 miles of the center of Casper
About 6 of every 100 Casper residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Wyoming.
24 places in Casper on the National Register of Historic Places.
42 notable people were born in Casper.
City in Wyoming, United States
Casper is a city in and the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. It is the second-most populous city in the state after Cheyenne, with its population at 59,038 as of the 2020 census. Casper is nicknamed "The Oil City" and has a long history of oil boomtown and cowboy culture, dating back to the development of the nearby Salt Creek Oil Field. Casper is located in east central Wyoming on the North Platte River.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Casper.
| Town | WY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casper | #20 | C | B | C− | C | B |
| Mills | #21 | C | B | B+ | C | C |
| Red Butte | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Evansville | #11 | B | B+ | — | C | A− |
| Hartrandt | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Evansville reports no FBI crime data of its own. Red Butte and Hartrandt aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Casper with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Casper grades C overall, better than 27% of U.S. towns and #20 of 28 in Wyoming. It grades B for health, C− for safety and C for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
42 notable people were born here, including Lynne Cheney and Matthew Shepard.
