Colorado’s 20 Safest Cities of 2021

1. ​Frederick
2. Milliken
3. Severance
4. Lamar
5. Firestone
6. Eaton
7. Cherry Hills Village
8. Castle Rock
9. Erie
10. Dacono

See if your city made the full list.

Colorado residents reported a lower concern about their safety than the rest of the country. And 54% of Coloradans said they feel safe and at home in The Centennial State. Package theft is the biggest concern in Colorado, and it makes sense considering 24% of residents have experienced it in the last year.

Overall, Coloradans are less concerned about safety in all categories than the rest of the nation. But package theft remained the highest concern for the state with 49% of Coloradans worrying about porch pirates.

Coloradans show less concern with their safety than the rest of the country. Statewide percentages reveal that those who’ve experienced gun violence, property crime, and violent crime in the last year align closely with the national average.

We saw a significant drop in those who experienced property crime in the last year which follows the state trend of property crimes decreasing year over year since 2019.

We asked Coloradans which crimes they worry may happen to them. See if Colorado residents are concerned about the same crime issues as the rest of the country.

View the complete 2021 State of Safety report.

While violent crime in Colorado spiked in 2020, it dropped again this year to land near the US average. Violent crime rates in all 20 of the safest cities landed below the state, regional, and national crime rates.

• Six of the 20 safest cities reported under five violent crimes. Frederick, the safest city in the state, reported 0 violent crimes all year.
• There were more rapes than robberies statewide, accounting for 18% of all violent crime in Colorado. This could be due to changes in how rapes are reported.
• Aggravated assault made up 64.7% of violent crime in Colorado.
• 30% of Coloradans use some form of personal protection.
• 45% of Coloradans say their personal safety has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• While 35% of Colorado residents said they worry about a gun violence incident happening to them, 51% said overall gun violence was a general concern.
• There were 11 mass shooting incidents in Colorado in 2020—more than double the 4 incidents in 2019.
• 38% of Coloradans worry about police violence daily, but 50% of our respondents said they have confidence in law enforcement.

While 39% of Coloradans worry about property crime, rates have dropped year over year across the state and the region since 2019. Colorado still sees higher property crime rates than the national average, but all but one of the safest cities have rates below the national average.

• Littleton was the only safest city with a property crime rate above the national and state average, but its low violent crime rate kept it on our radar.
• Severance had the second-lowest property crime rate on our list with just one more incident than our top pick, Frederick.
• 11 of the safest cities had less than 100 property crimes reported in the last year.
• 71.7% of property crime in Colorado was larceny-theft, making it the most common type of property theft in the state. Of our safest cities, Castle Rock had the most of these cases at 806.
• 68% of Colorado residents say they use some form of property protection. Of our survey respondents, security cameras and guard dogs were the most popular methods.
• 33% of Coloradans said the safety of their property has been affected by the pandemic.

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

• 8 of the safest cities on our list are newcomers this year, including the safest city in Colorado: Frederick.
• Avon jumped an impressive 25 spots this year to land in the number 17 spot this year. Over the last year, the city’s violent crime rates dropped from 6.4 to 1.5. The property crime rates dropped from 18.3 to 14.3.
• Milliken holds its title from last year as the second safest city in Colorado.
• Johnstown saw the most significant drop in ranking this year, from 5 to 18.
• Frederick, Milliken, Severance, and Eaton reported under 50 property crimes and under 5 violent crimes.

Learn how we identified the safest cities on our methodology page.

Whether your city made our list or not, we encourage everyone to be proactive about home security. 

We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, based on the state’s median population. See how the remaining cities ranked in the list below.

NOTE: If you don’t see your city on the list, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2019.

Click on the state image or dropdown menu below to check out the safest cities for each state.

• Best Home Security Systems
• Best Home Security Cameras
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• Burglary Stats & Facts
• The Most Burglarized City in Every State

FBI: Uniform Crime Reporting Program, “2019 Crime in the United States,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

US Census Bureau, "Data Explorer," Accessed November 18, 2020.

Best Places, “Find a Place Search Tool,” Accessed January 6, 2021.

SafeWise, “2021 State of Safety survey,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

Gun Violence Archive, “Past Summary Ledgers,” Accessed January 6, 2021.

Gun Violence Archive, “General Methodology,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

Melody Hicks, Ben Stickle, Joshua Harms, American Journal of Criminal Justice, “Assessing the Fear of Package Theft,” January 04, 2021. Accessed March 15, 2021.

For definitions and more on data sources, see our methodology page.