The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Lawrence County, SD
Lawrence County is home to 27,200 residents and includes Spearfish and Lead · Updated November 2026
Is Lawrence County, SD safe?
Yes. Crime is low across most of the US, and lower still in Lawrence County: an overall CrimeGrade™ of A+, safer than the neighborhoods where 81% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A+ here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Lawrence County run from A+ to B+, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
A+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 938 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
81% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Lawrence County as a whole, and 19% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Lawrence County scores 938.
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 Lawrence County, SD at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Lawrence County, 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 Lawrence County
Vehicle theft runs low. Lawrence County has 0.94 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, less than half the US rate of 2.7.
The safest and most dangerous places in Lawrence County
Every part of Lawrence County where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Lawrence County run from A+ to B+; 85% 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.
Cities and towns in Lawrence County with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Across the county, the southeast side has the least crime and the Spearfish area the most.
Is crime going up in Lawrence County?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Lawrence County is up 60% and property crime is down 14%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.5 to 2.4 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 13 to 12 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 20%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Lawrence CountyUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across Lawrence County. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Lawrence County
Violent, US
Property, Lawrence County
Property, US
2016
+14%
+4%
+75%
+15%
2017
+39%
+4%
+56%
+12%
2018
+11%
+0%
+44%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+52%
+4%
+24%
-8%
2021
+26%
+6%
+1%
-10%
2022
+49%
+5%
+7%
-6%
2023
+33%
+2%
-6%
-7%
2024
+60%
-4%
-14%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Lawrence County
CrimeGrade™ estimates Lawrence County has about 34 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 8% less than the US as a whole and close to 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.
Assault is the most common crime in Lawrence County, about 48% of everything reported, and it also accounts for the largest share of what crime costs here.
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 Lawrence County
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across Lawrence County, 2022 to 2024.
In Lawrence County, 49% 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 (49%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (33%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (47%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (30%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Aggravated assault
Homes (50%)
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 Lawrence County compares with nearby counties
Lawrence County has more crime than 9 of its 10 nearest counties. Crook County, WY and Harding County have the least crime nearby.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Lawrence County. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with counties of similar size and density, Lawrence County has more crime than 65% of them.
Two things set Lawrence County apart: it has 15.4 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 4% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places with many stores and restaurants tend to report more theft, yet theft runs lower here than that would suggest.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.15.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 97% of Americans
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 Lawrence County: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 86% of Americans
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. 82% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (16 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 55% of Americans
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.4% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 83% of Americans
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.63% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 76% of Americans
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.48 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 62% of Americans
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 Lawrence County
Crime costs Lawrence County about $806 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 33% 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 $25 million a year, or $935 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$850,000
$31
Rape
$960,000
$35
Robbery
$48,000
$2
Assault
$4.3 million
$159
Burglary
$270,000
$10
Theft
$1.4 million
$52
Vehicle theft
$390,000
$14
Arson
$20,000
$1
Vandalism
$930,000
$34
Total
$9.2 million
$339
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 Lawrence County 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. Lawrence County is a good example: many people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks worse than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
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 Lawrence County, SD average a SchoolGrade of B-: 49% of students test proficient, against 42% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Lawrence County on SchoolGrade
