The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Brookings, SD
Brookings is the fourth-largest city in South Dakota, with 25,100 residents in Brookings County, about 50 miles north of downtown Sioux Falls · Updated November 2026
Is Brookings, SD safe?
Yes. Most US neighborhoods have little crime, and Brookings has less than most of them: its overall CrimeGrade™ is A+, safer than the neighborhoods where 78% of Americans live. Violent crime grades A+ and property crime A. Its neighborhoods are much alike, from A+ to A; see the map below.
A+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 931 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
78% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Brookings as a whole, and 22% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Brookings scores 931.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Brookings, SD at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Brookings, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Brookings
Thefts from cars happen in the morning more often than nationally. In Brookings, 40% of reported thefts from cars happen in the morning (6 am to noon), against 23% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Brookings
Every part of Brookings where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Brookings run from A+ to A; every part of Brookings has less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Brookings, the northeast side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Brookings?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Brookings is down 61%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.2 to 0.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 13 to 12 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
BrookingsUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Brookings. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Brookings
Violent, US
Property, Brookings
Property, US
2016
-33%
+4%
+22%
+15%
2017
-32%
+4%
+1%
+12%
2018
-14%
+0%
+3%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-26%
+4%
-22%
-8%
2021
-22%
+6%
-0%
-10%
2022
-20%
+5%
+1%
-6%
2023
-53%
+2%
-8%
-7%
2024
-61%
-4%
-8%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Brookings
CrimeGrade™ estimates Brookings has about 23 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 37% less than the US as a whole and 39% less than South Dakota.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Theft makes up about 45% of crime reported in Brookings. Assault is less common but costs more, because each one does more harm.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Brookings
Brookings has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Brookings, 69% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (69%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (47%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (43%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Aggravated assault
Homes (68%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Brookings compares with nearby cities
Brookings has the most crime of its 3 nearest cities.
Parking lots, transit and walkability in Brookings
Two things set Brookings apart: it has 4.8 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 66 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report more theft, yet theft runs lower here than that would suggest.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.4.8 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 97% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Brookings: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault. 82% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (16 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 56% of US city residents
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.66 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 83% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.7% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 68% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.11.6 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 65% of US city residents
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Brookings
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Brookings about $526 a year per household, 56% less than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $11 million a year, or $433 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$370,000
$15
Rape
$270,000
$11
Robbery
$8,300
under $1
Assault
$1.6 million
$64
Burglary
$150,000
$6
Theft
$1.3 million
$54
Vehicle theft
$290,000
$12
Arson
$7,000
under $1
Vandalism
$810,000
$32
Total
$4.9 million
$194
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Brookings means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Brookings, SD average a SchoolGrade of C: 43% of students test proficient, against 46% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Brookings on SchoolGrade
