The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in St. Cloud, MN
St. Cloud is a city of 73,100 in Stearns County and the main city of the St. Cloud metro area, home to 202,500 · Updated November 2026
Is St. Cloud, MN safe?
Yes, crime in St. Cloud is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-. Because most US neighborhoods are safe as well, St. Cloud sits near the middle: safer than the neighborhoods where 45% of Americans live. Violent crime grades A- and property crime B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within St. Cloud run from A+ to C+, so check the map or the safest and least safe neighborhoods below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 811 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
45% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than St. Cloud as a whole, and 55% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. St. Cloud scores 811.
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 St. Cloud, MN at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in St. Cloud, 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 St. Cloud
Car thefts are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in St. Cloud runs 31% above the US rate, but car thefts run 40% below it: 1.6 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
Robberies run high for an A-graded city. St. Cloud has 0.48 robberies a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.13.
The safest and most dangerous neighborhoods in St. Cloud
Most of St. Cloud grades well: 97% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across St. Cloud run from A+ to C+; 39% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
97%
A or B 97%C 3%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
1Pantown, northwestCar thefts run about 40% lower here than in the rest of St. Cloud.A870
2Serberger Roosevelt, westAggravated assaults run about 30% lower here than in the rest of St. Cloud.A-830
3McKinley and Railroad Parks, southClose to the rest of St. Cloud on most crimes.A-796
4Northside Hester Park, northCar thefts run about 60% higher here than in the rest of St. Cloud.A-784
5Southside University, eastBurglaries run about 80% higher here than in the rest of St. Cloud.B+733
6Northeast Wilson, northeastAggravated assaults run at about double the rate in the rest of St. Cloud.B+721
7St John Cantius, centralCar thefts run at about triple the rate in the rest of St. Cloud.B644
Neighborhood areas of St. Cloud, ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Is crime going up in St. Cloud?
Reported violent crime in St. Cloud peaked in 2021 and has fallen 29% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is down 20% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.4 to 4.0 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 36 to 29 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 19% and property crime fell 16%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
St. CloudUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police agencies that serve St. Cloud. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, St. Cloud
Violent, US
Property, St. Cloud
Property, US
2016
-3%
+4%
+14%
+15%
2017
-16%
+4%
+14%
+12%
2018
-14%
+0%
+5%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-13%
+4%
+25%
-8%
2021
+29%
+6%
+2%
-10%
2022
+2%
+5%
+17%
-6%
2023
-24%
+2%
-4%
-7%
2024
-9%
-4%
-20%
-15%
Crime rates and types in St. Cloud
CrimeGrade™ estimates St. Cloud has about 49 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 31% more than the US as a whole and 61% more 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 is the most common crime in St. Cloud, about 49% of everything reported, but assault 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 St. Cloud
St. Cloud has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In St. Cloud, 55% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 63% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (55%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (39%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (63%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (35%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (36%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
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 St. Cloud compares with nearby cities
St. Cloud has the most crime of its 7 nearest cities.
One thing sets St. Cloud apart: it has 3.2 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 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.3.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 88% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.63 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 81% 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 66% 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.25% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 63% 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 St. Cloud: F (1 of 100).under 1 trip an hourUS: noneLower than for 62% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.11.3 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 62% 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 St. Cloud
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs St. Cloud about $1,167 a year per household, about the same as 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 $83 million a year, or $1,138 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.2 million
$16
Rape
$3.6 million
$49
Robbery
$1.1 million
$15
Assault
$11 million
$147
Burglary
$1.6 million
$22
Theft
$9.0 million
$123
Vehicle theft
$1.8 million
$25
Arson
$320,000
$4
Vandalism
$3.4 million
$46
Total
$33 million
$448
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 St. Cloud 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 St. Cloud, MN average a SchoolGrade of C: 34% of students test proficient, against 45% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in St. Cloud on SchoolGrade
