The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in West St. Paul, MN
West St. Paul is a city of 21,500 in Dakota County, about 10 miles southeast of downtown Minneapolis · Updated November 2026
Is West St. Paul, MN safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, West St. Paul has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 65% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A against C+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within West St. Paul run from A to B-, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 744 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
35% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than West St. Paul as a whole, and 65% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. West St. Paul scores 744.
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 West St. Paul, MN at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in West St. Paul, 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 West St. Paul
Aggravated assaults are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in West St. Paul runs 65% above the US rate, but aggravated assaults run at less than half that rate: 0.97 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Burglaries run high for a B-graded city. West St. Paul has 7.2 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 2.7.
The safest and least safe parts of West St. Paul
Every part of West St. Paul where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across West St. Paul run from A to B-; 6% 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.
Within West St. Paul, the southwest side has the least crime and the northeast side the most.
Is crime going up in West St. Paul?
Reported crime in West St. Paul has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 60% and property crime down 37%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.1 to 1.6 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 69 to 43 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
West St. PaulUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves West St. Paul. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, West St. Paul
Violent, US
Property, West St. Paul
Property, US
2016
-10%
+4%
-26%
+15%
2017
+10%
+4%
-29%
+12%
2018
-8%
+0%
-29%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+1%
+4%
+10%
-8%
2021
+25%
+6%
-3%
-10%
2022
-13%
+5%
-41%
-6%
2023
-52%
+2%
-37%
-7%
2024
-60%
-4%
-37%
-15%
Crime rates and types in West St. Paul
CrimeGrade™ estimates West St. Paul has about 61 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 65% more than the US as a whole and about double the rate for 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.
The largest share of crime reported in West St. Paul is theft, about 56% of the total. It also makes up 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 West St. Paul
West St. Paul has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In West St. Paul, 40% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 57% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (42%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (59%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (57%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (39%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Aggravated assault
Homes (48%)
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 West St. Paul compares with nearby cities
Of the 7 cities closest to West St. Paul, 5 have less crime. Mendota Heights and Lilydale have the least.
Night lighting, walkability and transit in West St. Paul
Two things set West St. Paul apart: it has a Walk Grade of C- (29 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole, and 6 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. Even so, 57% of residents in West St. Paul live in car-dependent areas, where most errands take a car. Places like that tend to report more theft and assault, and they run high here.
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.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 92% 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.C- (29 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 79% 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 West St. Paul: C- (30 of 100).6 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 75% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.12.3 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 72% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.0 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 63% 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.21% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 59% 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 West St. Paul
Crime costs West St. Paul about $1,140 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 5% 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 $19 million a year, or $877 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$430,000
$20
Rape
$550,000
$26
Robbery
$430,000
$20
Assault
$1.7 million
$81
Burglary
$1.4 million
$65
Theft
$3.7 million
$175
Vehicle theft
$850,000
$40
Arson
$77,000
$4
Vandalism
$1.2 million
$56
Total
$10 million
$485
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 West St. Paul 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 West St. Paul, MN average a SchoolGrade of C: 34% of students test proficient, against 41% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in West St. Paul on SchoolGrade
