The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Grand Forks, ND
Grand Forks is the third-largest city in North Dakota, with 60,700 residents in Grand Forks County · Updated November 2026
Is Grand Forks, ND safe?
Yes, crime in Grand Forks is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-. Because most US neighborhoods are safe as well, Grand Forks sits near the middle: safer than the neighborhoods where 45% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A- here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Grand Forks run from A+ to B-, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 810 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
45% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Grand Forks as a whole, and 55% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Grand Forks scores 810.
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 Grand Forks, ND at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Grand Forks, 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 Grand Forks
Robberies are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Grand Forks runs 31% above the US rate, but robberies run at less than half that rate: 0.24 a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 nationally.
Reported rape stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.25 reported rapes a year per 1,000 residents; Grand Forks has 0.69.
The safest and least safe parts of Grand Forks
Every part of Grand Forks where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Grand Forks run from A+ to B-; 26% of residents live in areas with 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 Grand Forks, the northwest side has the least crime and the northeast side the most.
Is crime going up in Grand Forks?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Grand Forks is up 18% and property crime is down 12%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.0 to 3.5 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 26 to 22 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 36% and property crime fell 11%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Grand ForksUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Grand Forks. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Grand Forks
Violent, US
Property, Grand Forks
Property, US
2016
+4%
+4%
+23%
+15%
2017
+8%
+4%
+18%
+12%
2018
-12%
+0%
-2%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-8%
+4%
-12%
-8%
2021
+1%
+6%
-4%
-10%
2022
-0%
+5%
+18%
-6%
2023
-13%
+2%
-1%
-7%
2024
+18%
-4%
-12%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Grand Forks
CrimeGrade™ estimates Grand Forks has about 49 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 31% more than the US as a whole and 27% more than North 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 is the most common crime in Grand Forks, about 37% of everything reported, but assault 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 Grand Forks
Grand Forks has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Grand Forks, 73% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 52% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (73%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (52%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (55%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (67%)
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 Grand Forks compares with nearby cities
Grand Forks has the most crime of its 4 nearest cities.
Two things set Grand Forks apart: it has 5.5 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 5 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. It also combines many jobs with busy transit: places with both tend to report more theft and robbery than places with only one of them, yet robbery 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.5.5 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 98% 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. 62% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (28 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 79% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.58 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 74% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.12.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 73% 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 Grand Forks: D+ (18 of 100).5 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 71% 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.21% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 59% 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 Grand Forks
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Grand Forks about $1,100 a year per household, 9% 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 $78 million a year, or $1,280 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.9 million
$47
Rape
$2.5 million
$41
Robbery
$460,000
$8
Assault
$11 million
$184
Burglary
$1.4 million
$23
Theft
$5.7 million
$93
Vehicle theft
$1.4 million
$23
Arson
$36,000
$1
Vandalism
$3.2 million
$53
Total
$29 million
$473
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 Grand Forks 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 Grand Forks, ND average a SchoolGrade of C+: 44% of students test proficient, against 41% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Grand Forks on SchoolGrade
