The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Kirkwood, MO
Kirkwood is a city of 27,400 in St. Louis County, about 12 miles west of downtown St. Louis · Updated November 2026
Is Kirkwood, MO safe?
Yes, crime in Kirkwood is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A. Because most US neighborhoods are safe as well, Kirkwood sits near the middle: safer than the neighborhoods where 59% of Americans live. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A against A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Kirkwood run from A+ to B+, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 874 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
59% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Kirkwood as a whole, and 41% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Kirkwood scores 874.
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 Kirkwood, MO at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Kirkwood, 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 Kirkwood
Burglaries and car thefts both run low. In Kirkwood, each runs at less than half the US rate: 0.81 burglaries and 1.2 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.4 and 2.7 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Kirkwood
Every part of Kirkwood where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Kirkwood run from A+ to B+; 97% 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 Kirkwood, the northwest side has the least crime and the southeast side the most.
Is crime going up in Kirkwood?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Kirkwood is up 34% and property crime is down 12%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.6 to 2.1 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 16 to 14 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 31%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
KirkwoodUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Kirkwood. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Kirkwood
Violent, US
Property, Kirkwood
Property, US
2016
-34%
+4%
+16%
+15%
2017
-31%
+4%
-3%
+12%
2018
-31%
+0%
-12%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-5%
+4%
+9%
-8%
2021
+3%
+6%
-5%
-10%
2022
-9%
+5%
+13%
-6%
2023
+2%
+2%
-4%
-7%
2024
+34%
-4%
-12%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Kirkwood
CrimeGrade™ estimates Kirkwood has about 25 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 34% less than the US as a whole and 41% less than Missouri.
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 49% of crime reported in Kirkwood. 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 Kirkwood
Kirkwood has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Kirkwood, 65% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 39% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (65%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (32%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (39%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (30%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (52%)
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 Kirkwood compares with nearby cities
Kirkwood has more crime than 8 of its 9 nearest cities. Glendale and Warson Woods have the least crime nearby.
Night lighting, parking lots and walkability in Kirkwood
Two things set Kirkwood apart: it has 0.9 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 6% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report less theft, yet theft runs higher here than that would suggest.
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 92% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.9 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 78% 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. 72% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (22 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 64% of US city residents
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.6% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 72% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.10.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 56% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.6.1% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 53% 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 Kirkwood
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Kirkwood about $529 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 $16 million a year, or $571 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$280,000
$10
Rape
$290,000
$11
Robbery
$100,000
$4
Assault
$2.3 million
$83
Burglary
$200,000
$7
Theft
$1.7 million
$62
Vehicle theft
$490,000
$18
Arson
$29,000
$1
Vandalism
$800,000
$29
Total
$6.2 million
$225
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 Kirkwood 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 Kirkwood, MO average a SchoolGrade of A+: 62% of students test proficient, against 62% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Kirkwood on SchoolGrade
