The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Thornton, CO
Thornton is a city of 90,300 in Adams County, about 11 miles north of downtown Denver · Updated November 2026
Is Thornton, CO safe?
Crime in Thornton is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B-. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 76% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Thornton. Violent crime grades B+ and property crime C. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Thornton run from A+ to F, so check the map below.
B-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 607 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
24% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Thornton as a whole, and 76% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Thornton scores 607.
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 Thornton, CO at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Thornton, 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 Thornton
Aggravated assaults are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Thornton runs 47% above the US rate, but aggravated assaults run 33% below it: 1.8 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Vehicle theft stands out among B-graded cities. For the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 2.9 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; Thornton has 6.1.
The safest and least safe parts of Thornton
In Thornton, 49% of residents live in areas graded A or B, 36% in areas graded C and 15% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Thornton run from A+ to F; 8% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
49%36%15%
A or B 49%C 36%D or F 15%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Thornton, the northeast side has the least crime and the west side the most.
Is crime going up in Thornton?
Reported violent crime in Thornton peaked in 2021 and has fallen 16% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is down 4% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.9 to 2.7 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 30 to 28 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
ThorntonUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Thornton. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Thornton
Violent, US
Property, Thornton
Property, US
2016
+20%
+4%
+6%
+15%
2017
+22%
+4%
+10%
+12%
2018
+1%
+0%
+11%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+10%
+4%
+9%
-8%
2021
+14%
+6%
+19%
-10%
2022
+2%
+5%
+18%
-6%
2023
-2%
+2%
+1%
-7%
2024
-5%
-4%
-4%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Thornton
CrimeGrade™ estimates Thornton has about 55 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 47% more than the US as a whole and 15% more than Colorado.
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 Thornton, about 37% 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 Thornton
Thornton has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Thornton, 49% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 52% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (49%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (49%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (52%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (33%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (56%)
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 Thornton compares with nearby cities
Thornton has less crime than 6 of its 9 nearest cities.
Two things set Thornton apart: it has 4.7 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 3.5% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places like that tend to report less theft, yet theft runs higher here than that would suggest.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.4.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 93% 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.3.5% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 80% 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. 91% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (13 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 65% of US city residents
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.26 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 77% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.41% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 77% 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 Thornton: D+ (19 of 100).5 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 69% 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 Thornton
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Thornton about $1,625 a year per household, 35% 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 $115 million a year, or $1,278 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$3.6 million
$40
Rape
$4.6 million
$51
Robbery
$1.5 million
$16
Assault
$13 million
$142
Burglary
$2.3 million
$25
Theft
$9.3 million
$103
Vehicle theft
$8.4 million
$93
Arson
$490,000
$5
Vandalism
$6.2 million
$68
Total
$49 million
$545
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 Thornton 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 Thornton, CO average a SchoolGrade of D-: 25% of students test proficient, against 25% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Thornton on SchoolGrade
