Highland is a neighborhood of 12,100 residents in Denver, about 2 miles northwest of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Highland in Denver safe?
Highland is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of D+, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 89% of Americans live. Violent crime grades B- and property crime F. Denver as a whole grades C-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Highland run from C to F, so check the map below.
D+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 256 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
11% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Highland as a whole, and 89% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Highland scores 256.
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 Highland, Denver, CO at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Highland in Denver, 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 Highland
Car thefts and burglaries both run high. In Highland, each runs at more than triple the US rate: 12.1 car thefts and 8.6 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 and 2.4 nationally.
How Highland compares within Denver
High crime is widespread across Highland: 85% of residents live in areas graded D or F, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Highland run from C to F; every part of Highland has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
15%85%
C 15%D or F 85%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Highland has less crime than 29 of the 53 neighborhoods in Denver. It covers much of the Highland, Sunnyside, and West Highland areas.
Is crime going up in Denver?
Reported crime in Denver as a whole has risen since 2019: violent crime is up 29% and property crime up 25%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 7.6 to 9.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 38 to 47 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 17%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
DenverUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Denver. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Denver
Violent, US
Property, Denver
Property, US
2016
-13%
+4%
-4%
+15%
2017
-10%
+4%
-2%
+12%
2018
-2%
+0%
-1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+17%
+4%
+27%
-8%
2021
+28%
+6%
+60%
-10%
2022
+40%
+5%
+68%
-6%
2023
+33%
+2%
+51%
-7%
2024
+29%
-4%
+25%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Highland
CrimeGrade™ estimates Highland has about 90 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than double the rate for the US as a whole and close to Denver as a whole.
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 40% of crime reported in Highland. 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 Denver
The Denver Police Department polices Highland; these figures cover Denver as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Denver as a whole, 42% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 45% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (42%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (47%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (45%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (29%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (36%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (44%)
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 Highland compares with nearby neighborhoods
Of the 10 neighborhoods closest to Highland, 6 have less crime. Berkeley and Chaffee Park have the least.
Two things set Highland apart: it has 3.7 bars and nightlife spots for every 1,000 residents, against 0.6 nationally, and 25.1 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places like that tend to report more assault and robbery, and they run high here.
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.3.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 97% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft and car theft.25.1 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 93% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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. 75% of residents here live in walkable areas.A- (76 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 81% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.96 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 87% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Highland
Crime costs Highland about $1,827 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 52% more 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 $39 million a year, or $3,248 per resident.
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 Highland 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
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 Highland, Denver, CO average a SchoolGrade of D: 29% of students test proficient, against 24% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Highland on SchoolGrade
