The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Inver Grove Heights, MN
Inver Grove Heights is a city of 35,800 in Dakota County, about 14 miles southeast of downtown Minneapolis · Updated November 2026
Is Inver Grove Heights, MN safe?
Yes. Crime is low across most of the US, and lower still in Inver Grove Heights: an overall CrimeGrade™ of A, safer than the neighborhoods where 64% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A here. Its neighborhoods are much alike, from A+ to A-; see the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 891 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
64% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Inver Grove Heights as a whole, and 36% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Inver Grove Heights scores 891.
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 Inver Grove Heights, MN at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Inver Grove Heights, 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 Inver Grove Heights
One weak spot: reported rape. It grades B in Inver Grove Heights, worse than in the neighborhoods where 80% of Americans live, against A for violent crime as a whole.
Car thefts and aggravated assaults both run low. In Inver Grove Heights, each runs at less than half the US rate: 0.93 car thefts and 1.0 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 and 2.6 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Inver Grove Heights
Every part of Inver Grove Heights where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Inver Grove Heights run from A+ to A-; 95% 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 Inver Grove Heights, the southwest side has the least crime and the northeast side the most.
Is crime going up in Inver Grove Heights?
Reported crime in Inver Grove Heights has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 28% and property crime down 24%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.3 to 1.7 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 18 to 14 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 22%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Inver Grove HeightsUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Inver Grove Heights. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Inver Grove Heights
Violent, US
Property, Inver Grove Heights
Property, US
2016
+4%
+4%
+24%
+15%
2017
-9%
+4%
+5%
+12%
2018
+10%
+0%
-14%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+4%
+4%
+18%
-8%
2021
+32%
+6%
+32%
-10%
2022
-16%
+5%
+14%
-6%
2023
-23%
+2%
-3%
-7%
2024
-28%
-4%
-24%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Inver Grove Heights
CrimeGrade™ estimates Inver Grove Heights has about 24 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 36% less than the US as a whole and 21% less than Minnesota.
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 48% of crime reported in Inver Grove Heights. 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 Inver Grove Heights
Inver Grove Heights has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Inver Grove Heights, 62% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 47% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (62%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Homes (31%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (47%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (34%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Aggravated assault
Homes (61%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Inver Grove Heights compares with nearby cities
Inver Grove Heights has more crime than 6 of its 9 nearest cities. Cottage Grove and Mendota Heights have the least crime nearby.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Inver Grove Heights. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Inver Grove Heights is safer than 74% of them.
Empty homes, parking lots and walkability in Inver Grove Heights
Two things set Inver Grove Heights apart: it has 2.1% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 3.8 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places with few empty homes tend to report less burglary, vandalism and arson; here burglary and vandalism sit near the national middle.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.2.1% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 95% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.8 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 93% 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. 93% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (10 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 76% 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.5.1 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 92% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.29 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower 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 Inver Grove Heights: D+ (20 of 100).4 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 63% 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 Inver Grove Heights
Crime costs Inver Grove Heights about $552 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 54% 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 $20 million a year, or $572 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$370,000
$10
Rape
$1.1 million
$31
Robbery
$110,000
$3
Assault
$2.3 million
$63
Burglary
$560,000
$16
Theft
$2.1 million
$59
Vehicle theft
$510,000
$14
Arson
$23,000
$1
Vandalism
$870,000
$24
Total
$7.9 million
$221
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 Inver Grove Heights 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 Inver Grove Heights, MN average a SchoolGrade of C+: 39% of students test proficient, against 49% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Inver Grove Heights on SchoolGrade
