Idaho: The Best and Worst Cities for Crime

The Gem State boasts the nation’s lowest property crime rate, but towns like Lewiston and Garden City are outliers with high crime rates.
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Derek Prall
July 22, 2024 Derek Prall Derek Prall , Home Security Expert | July 22, 2024
Statewide Crime Trends in Idaho  Property Crime in Idaho Violent Crime in Idaho

Although crime is relatively low in Idaho, some metropolitan areas and cities are outliers. Crime tends to be higher in more highly populated areas, and this certainly holds true in Idaho, where many of the state’s largest metro areas have higher crime rates than the state overall.

The Twin Falls and Pocatello metropolitan areas have the highest overall violent crime rates in the state. The Lewiston metro, which crosses over the border into Washington, has the highest property crime rate by far among Idaho’s major metro areas.

Idaho metro area crime rates per 100,000 people (rank among 300+ metro areas)

Boise Coeur d'Alene Idaho Falls Lewiston Pocatello Twin Falls
Violent crime (overall) 263 (221st) 211 (260th) 220 (252nd) 195 (271st) 324 (179th) 326 (176th)
Murder/nonnegligent manslaughter 2 (273rd) 3 (215th) 2 (273rd) 3 (221st) 1 (297th) 3 (239th)
Rape 64 (59th) 41 (181st) 33 (240th) 52 (101st) 36 (213th) 52 (108th)
Robbery 10 (291st) 11 (285th) 6 (307th) 5 (311th) 10 (289th) 8 (301st)
Aggravated assault 187 (225th) 156 (247th) 179 (231st) 135 (262nd) 277 (141st) 265 (145th)
Property crime (overall) 916 (302nd) 858 (306th) 1,048 (289th) 2,282 (95th) 1,401 (247th) 1,062 (287th)
Burglary 120 (294th) 137 (284th) 314 (119th) 475 (42nd) 251 (178th) 178 (253rd)
Larceny-theft 703 (299th) 656 (304th) 622 (309th) 1,638 (106th) 1,023 (247th) 761 (294th)
Motor vehicle theft 93 (267th) 65 (293rd) 111 (260th) 169 (195th) 127 (243rd) 123 (245th)

In many cases, smaller cities and towns can also have high crime rates. Salmon, for example, which has a permanent population of just under 4,000, has Idaho’s highest violent crime rate outside major metro areas.

Idaho city map

Sun Valley had the lowest rates of both property and violent crime in the state. The ski resort town is known to be a celebrity destination, with many wealthy property owners over the years including Mark Zuckerberg, Justin Timberlake, and even Bill Gates. The high level of wealth in the community is likely accompanied by high levels of security guards and technologies, contributing to the low crime rates.

Property Crime in Idaho

When determining property crime rates in Idaho, we looked at larceny-theft, burglary and motor vehicle theft incidents.

  • Idaho’s property crime rate of 927 per 100,000 people is the lowest among the 50 states and more than 50 percent lower than the overall U.S. property crime rate of 1,954 per 100,000. For comparison, the property crime rates in neighboring Washington and Oregon are more than 50 percent higher than the U.S. rate.
  • Larceny is the most common property crime in Idaho (as it is everywhere else in the country). However, with about 677 incidents per 100,000 people, Idaho's larceny rate is the lowest in the U.S.

Idaho property crime rates

Violent Crime in Idaho

Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, aggravated assault, rape and robbery.

  • Idaho’s violent crime rate is 241 per 100,000 people, which is about 37 percent lower than the overall U.S. violent crime rate of 381 per 100,000 people.
  • The state ranks 41st for its overall violent crime rate and has the second-lowest rape rate and the ninth-lowest rate of murder/nonnegligent homicide.

Idaho violent crime rates

Our data

Our data comes from comprehensive reporting compiled by the FBI and accessed via the Crime Data Explorer website. Property and violent crime state figures were drawn from Table 5 of the 2022 Crime in the U.S. Report. Metropolitan figures were found in Table 6, Crime in the U.S. by Metropolitan Statistical Area. City-level figures were drawn from Table 8, Offenses Known to Law Enforcement by State by City. The population figures in that table are U.S. Census Bureau provisional estimates as of July 1, 2020.

Limitations: According to the FBI, the data in the publication tables may differ from those released on the Explorer Pages of the CDE. These variations are due to the difference in methodologies between the publication tables and data displayed on the CDE. Please note that crime statistics are not the sole measure of a city’s safety.

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