Crime by type
Denver Crime by Type
How each category of Denver crime stacks up against the national benchmark, one offense at a time.
Overview
What drives crime in Denver
Lumping every offense together hides the real shape of crime in Denver. Property crime carries the load by a wide margin, and stolen and broken-into vehicles sit at the center of it. Violent offenses register far less often, and when they do they tend to repeat in the same few pockets instead of dispersing. The categories below break out where Denver runs hot and where it actually beats the national norm.
By category
Rates and odds by crime type
Estimated annual rate per 100,000 residents and your everyday odds, with risk level relative to the U.S. average.
| Offense | Per 100k/yr | Annual odds | vs. U.S. | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theft / Larceny | 1,163 | 1 in 86 | -17% | Average |
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 274 | 1 in 365 | -14% | Average |
| Burglary | 195 | 1 in 513 | -28% | Low |
| Aggravated Assault | 194 | 1 in 516 | -28% | Low |
| Robbery | 59 | 1 in 1,693 | -20% | Low |
| Rape | 26 | 1 in 3,872 | -23% | Low |
| Homicide | 4 | 1 in 25,266 | -21% | Low |
Drill down
What's actually reported in Denver
The most common specific offenses behind each category, from reported incident descriptions.
Theft 22,674 reports
Assault 6,945 reports
Vandalism 6,518 reports
Other 6,047 reports
Burglary 4,002 reports
Retail Theft 3,335 reports
Detail
Crime types in Denver, explained
Motor Vehicle Theft
If Denver has a defining crime statistic, this is it: the metro spent years near the top of national auto-theft rankings, and although the count has cooled, stolen cars and ransacked vehicles — including catalytic-converter cuts — still pile up around apartment clusters, park-and-ride lots, and busy commercial blocks.
Theft / Larceny
Plain theft — lifted retail goods, swiped porch packages, and items grabbed from parked cars — is the single most frequent report in the city and a big reason the overall numbers run high, peaking in shopping districts and along the nightlife strips.
Burglary
Break-ins at homes and businesses turn up citywide, but they edge upward in mixed commercial pockets and along aging corridors where storefronts and rentals sit close together.
Aggravated Assault
Aggravated assault is the violent offense Denver logs most often, and it leans heavily toward specific bar districts and a short list of neighborhoods rather than being evenly shared across the map.
Robbery
Robberies tend to gather near transit stops, the downtown core, and commercial strips, with the East Colfax corridor and stretches of Capitol Hill showing up repeatedly.
Homicide
Homicide is uncommon next to Denver's overall volume and stays tightly clustered in a few areas; because the raw numbers are small, the yearly tally can jump or drop sharply without signaling a broad trend.