Westwood is a neighborhood of 15,100 residents in Denver, about 4 miles southwest of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Westwood in Denver safe?
Westwood is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of F, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 95% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade F here. Denver as a whole grades C-. Its neighborhoods are much alike, from D to F; see the map below.
F
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 0 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
5% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Westwood as a whole, and 95% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Westwood scores 0.
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 Westwood, Denver, CO at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Westwood in Denver, 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 Westwood
Vehicle theft at more than triple the US rate. Westwood has 10.7 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
How Westwood compares within Denver
Every part of Westwood grades D or F on the national scale. Grades across Westwood run from D to F; every part of Westwood has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
D or F 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Westwood has less crime than 9 of the 53 neighborhoods in Denver. It covers much of the Southwestern Denver, Westwood, and Mar Lee areas.
Is crime going up in Denver?
Reported crime in Denver as a whole has risen since 2019: violent crime is up 29% and property crime up 25%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 7.6 to 9.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 38 to 47 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 17%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
DenverUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Denver. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Denver
Violent, US
Property, Denver
Property, US
2016
-13%
+4%
-4%
+15%
2017
-10%
+4%
-2%
+12%
2018
-2%
+0%
-1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+17%
+4%
+27%
-8%
2021
+28%
+6%
+60%
-10%
2022
+40%
+5%
+68%
-6%
2023
+33%
+2%
+51%
-7%
2024
+29%
-4%
+25%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Westwood
CrimeGrade™ estimates Westwood has about 58 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 55% more than the US as a whole and 28% less than Denver as a whole.
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.
Assault is the most common crime in Westwood, about 30% of everything reported, and it also accounts for 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 Denver
The Denver Police Department polices Westwood; these figures cover Denver as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Denver as a whole, 42% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 45% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (42%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (47%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (45%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (29%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (36%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (44%)
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 Westwood compares with nearby neighborhoods
Westwood has more crime than 8 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods. Lasley and South Alameda have the least crime nearby.
Two things set Westwood apart: it has 11 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 3.5% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places like that tend to report less theft and robbery, yet theft and robbery run higher here than that would suggest.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.11 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 88% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 83% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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+ (46 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 61% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 82% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Westwood
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Westwood about $3,280 a year per household, more than double 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 $63 million a year, or $4,204 per resident.
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 Westwood 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. Westwood is the other kind of example: few people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks lower than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
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
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 Westwood, Denver, CO average a SchoolGrade of F: 16% of students test proficient, against 13% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Westwood on SchoolGrade
