Sulphur is a city of 1,000 in Pennington County, about 3 miles north of downtown Rapid City · Updated November 2026
Is Sulphur, SD safe?
Crime in Sulphur is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 67% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Sulphur. Violent and property crime both grade B+ here.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 724 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
33% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Sulphur as a whole, and 67% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Sulphur scores 724.
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 Sulphur, SD at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Sulphur, 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 Sulphur
Thefts run high. Sulphur has thefts at about triple the US rate: 45.2 a year per 1,000 residents, against 13.1 nationally.
Crime rates and types in Sulphur
CrimeGrade™ estimates Sulphur has about 93 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than double the rate for the US as a whole and more than double the rate for 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 is the most common crime in Sulphur, about 48% 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 Sulphur
The Rapid City Police Department polices Sulphur; these figures cover Rapid City as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Rapid City as a whole, 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 Sulphur compares with nearby cities
Of the 7 cities closest to Sulphur, 6 have less crime. Piedmont and Black Hawk have the least.
Crime costs Sulphur about $2,005 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 66% 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 $2.7 million a year, or $2,690 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$110,000
$113
Rape
$81,000
$81
Robbery
$34,000
$34
Assault
$310,000
$311
Burglary
$46,000
$46
Theft
$230,000
$232
Vehicle theft
$65,000
$65
Arson
$930
$1
Vandalism
$58,000
$58
Total
$940,000
$940
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 Sulphur 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 Sulphur, SD average a SchoolGrade of D-: 35% of students test proficient, against 36% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Sulphur on SchoolGrade
