Colorado’s 20 Safest Cities of 2022

The SafeWise Team is pleased to release the eighth annual Safest Cities report.

See if your city made the full list.

Colorado is one of nine states that saw increases in both property crime and violent crime year over year, but two of its safest cities saw decreases in both categories. And, with the third-highest property crime in the nation, Coloradans worry about package theft more than any other crime. 

• Violent crime rates
• Property crime rates
• Interesting findings
• The Safest Cities
• Methodology
• How to make a safe home anywhere
• How other cities compare
• How other states compare

Colorado has the third-highest property crime rate in the US (28.3 per 1,000 people), which represents a 9% increase year over year. The Centennial State’s violent crime rate is slightly higher than the national average and increased by 11% compared to the previous year. Only eight other states saw increases in both categories.

According to our latest State of Safety survey, 40% of Coloradans feel concerned about safety on a daily basis. That’s seven percentage points lower than the national average. 

In terms of crime, Colorado residents feel less concerned about violent crime, property crime, and gun violence than the average American but feel more concerned about package theft (CO 49% vs. US 45%). Coloradans were also more likely to have experienced package theft in the 12 months prior to the survey (24% vs. US 20%). 

Our latest Porch Pirate report also revealed Denver as the number-one hotspot for package thefts in the nation.

Still, 54% of Coloradans feel safe in their state, just one percentage point lower than average.

We asked Colorado residents which crimes they worry may happen to them. See if Coloradans are concerned about the same crime issues as the rest of the country.

View the complete 2022 State of Safety report.

Colorado’s violent crime rate for the 2022 reporting year was 4.2, which is just 0.2 points above the national average. That’s an 11% increase compared to The Centennial State’s violent crime rate the previous year. 

Coloradans we surveyed also reported more violent crime experiences. 11% of Coloradans said they experienced violent crime in the previous year, which is five percentage points higher than our prior survey and one percentage point higher than the national average.

• Violent crime represents 13% of all crime in Colorado, which is 4 percentage points lower than the national average. 
• Rape accounts for 15% of violent crime in Colorado, which is 5 percentage points higher than the national average.
• In the 2022 reporting year, 41 people were injured and 33 people were killed in 13 mass shooting events in Colorado. 
• Colorado experienced an 18% increase in mass shootings year over year.
• 30% of Coloradans use some form of personal protection (US 34%), with pocket knives and firearms being the most popular choices at 14% each. 
• 45% of Colorado residents say their personal safety has been affected by the pandemic—1 percentage point higher than the national average.

Colorado experienced the third-highest property crime rate in the nation during the 2022 reporting year: 28.3 property crimes per 1,000 people, representing a 9% increase from the previous year. The national average property crime rate was 19.6. 

However, our Colorado survey respondents reported a year-over-year decrease in property crime experiences, falling 7 percentage points compared to the previous survey. 

• 18% of Coloradans claimed to have experienced property crime in the 12 months prior to our survey, matching the national average.
• Property crime has decreased in the Mountain region and nationwide but increased year over year in Colorado.
• Motor vehicle theft accounts for 19% of all property crime in Colorado, which is 6 percentage points higher than the national average and the second-highest percentage nationwide behind California. 
• 68% of Coloradans use some form of property protection (US 60%) with security cameras and guard dogs leading the way at 33% and 31%, respectively.
• 33% of Colorado residents say the security of their property has been affected by the pandemic—4 percentage points higher than the national sentiment.
• Compared to the previous reporting year, Colorado’s safest cities for 2022 saw an increase in property crime overall but a decrease in burglaries.

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

• 65 cities in Colorado met the criteria for ranking, including 11 cities that weren’t in the running last year. 
• This year’s safest city in Colorado—Brush—is brand new to the list, while last year’s number-one city—Frederick—dropped to second place. 
• Most of Colorado’s safest cities declined in ranking year over year, but Aspen jumped 13 positions to land at number 14. 
• Of the cities that were repeats from last year’s rankings, only 2 experienced a decline in both violent crime and property crime rates: Dacono and Fruita. 
• Aggravated assault is the most common violent crime in Colorado’s safest cities, but Milliken, Gypsum, Dacono, and Aspen reported 0. 
• Despite a much larger population, Centennial has a lower property crime rate (17.7) than Aspen, which is the highest for Colorado’s safest cities at 17.8 per 1,000 people.
• Frederick also ties for 13th place in our latest report on the 100 Safest Small Towns in America.

VC=Violent crime
PC=Property crime

Learn how we identified the safest cities on our methodology page.

Whether your city made our list or not, we encourage everyone to be proactive about home security. One of the best ways to stop a burglary before it happens is to add a home security system.

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We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, based on the state’s median population as calculated using FBI data. To request a report of the remaining cities in your state, sign up for our email newsletter (we make it easy in a quick form below!) or email info@safewise.com with the subject line: Safest Cities Full Report.

NOTE: If you don’t see your city on the list, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2020.

Click on the state image or dropdown menu below to check out the safest cities for each state.

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• Burglary Stats & Facts
• The Most Burglarized City in Every State

FBI: Crime Data Explorer, Accessed March 8, 2022.

US Census Bureau, "Data Explorer," Accessed January 24, 2022.

Best Places, “Find a Place Search Tool,” Accessed January 24, 2022.

SafeWise, “2021 State of Safety survey,” Accessed March 8, 2022.

Gun Violence Archive, “Past Summary Ledgers,” Accessed January 24, 2022.

Gun Violence Archive, “General Methodology,” Accessed March 8, 2022.

Melody Hicks, Ben Stickle, Joshua Harms, American Journal of Criminal Justice, “Assessing the Fear of Package Theft,” January 04, 2021. Accessed March 8, 2022.

For definitions and more on data sources, see our methodology page.