The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Rapid City, SD
Rapid City is the second-largest city in South Dakota, with 86,700 residents in Pennington County · Updated November 2026
Is Rapid City, SD safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, Rapid City has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 68% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, B+ against B. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Rapid City run from A+ to F, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 714 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
32% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Rapid City as a whole, and 68% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Rapid City scores 714.
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 Rapid City, SD at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Rapid City, 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 Rapid City
Reported rape stands out among B-graded cities. For the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 0.42 reported rapes a year per 1,000 residents; Rapid City has 1.4.
Thefts and simple assaults both run high. In Rapid City, each runs at about double the US rate: 27.6 thefts and 18.9 simple assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 13.1 and 9.7 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Rapid City
Low crime is the norm across Rapid City: 77% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 7% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Rapid City run from A+ to F; 35% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
77%16%
A or B 77%C 16%D or F 7%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Rapid City, the southwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Rapid City?
Reported violent crime in Rapid City peaked in 2020 and has fallen 18% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is up 22% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 7.0 to 7.3 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 32 to 38 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Rapid CityUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Rapid City. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Rapid City
Violent, US
Property, Rapid City
Property, US
2016
+6%
+4%
+27%
+15%
2017
-9%
+4%
+21%
+12%
2018
-7%
+0%
-9%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+29%
+4%
+33%
-8%
2021
+1%
+6%
+6%
-10%
2022
+7%
+5%
+22%
-6%
2023
+9%
+2%
+26%
-7%
2024
+5%
-4%
+22%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Rapid City
CrimeGrade™ estimates Rapid City has about 68 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 83% more than the US as a whole and 79% more than 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.
Theft makes up about 41% of crime reported in Rapid City. 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 Rapid City
Rapid City has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Rapid City, 50% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 41% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (50%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (41%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (36%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (23%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (51%)
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 Rapid City compares with nearby cities
Rapid City has the most crime of its 7 nearest cities.
Two things set Rapid City apart: it has 5.4 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 15.3 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft, and it runs high here.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.5.4 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 98% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.15.3 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 88% 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. 84% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (15 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 60% of US city residents
Show all 6
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 Rapid City: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.62 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 79% of US city residents
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.80% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 71% 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 Rapid City
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Rapid City about $1,863 a year per household, 55% 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 $195 million a year, or $2,252 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$7.3 million
$85
Rape
$7.1 million
$82
Robbery
$2.6 million
$30
Assault
$23 million
$265
Burglary
$3.1 million
$36
Theft
$12 million
$142
Vehicle theft
$4.7 million
$54
Arson
$57,000
$1
Vandalism
$4.4 million
$51
Total
$64 million
$744
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 Rapid City 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 Rapid City, SD average a SchoolGrade of C-: 42% of students test proficient, against 40% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Rapid City on SchoolGrade
