Aberdeen, SD has a B safety grade (61/100) with a violent crime rate of 268 per 100,000, 24% below the national average.

FBI UCR 2024 · per-capita rates · mid-size city

Aberdeen, SD Crime Rate & Safety

Aberdeen (28,004 people) sits in the mid-size municipal band. This page opens with per-100,000 FBI UCR rates, then SD and national benchmarks.

Data updated 2026-08-24

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B
Safety grade
1,410.5
Property / 100K
267.8
Violent / 100K
28K
Population

Aberdeen, SD carries a PlainCrime B safety grade with violent crime 24% below the U.S. average

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Aberdeen, SD shows violent crime at 267.8 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,410.5 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 24% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade B from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.

  • B safety grade
  • 267.8/100K violent
  • 1410.5/100K property
  • -24% vs U.S.

What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Aberdeen, SD

Comparable rate records

Aberdeen's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the South Dakota cohort

The nearest comparable 2024 records to Aberdeen's 267.8 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Spearfish (263.6), Mitchell (262.7), Yankton (273.9), Mobridge (279.8). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.

2020–2024 direction

The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower

Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 533.4 per 100,000 in 2020 to 267.8 in 2024 (-49.8%). The highest observed value was 533.4 in 2020 and the lowest 267.8 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.

Position in the state cohort

Aberdeen sits mid-pack among comparable South Dakota cities

At 267.8 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Aberdeen ranks 14 of 39 — above 25 of the 38 other South Dakota cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +37.6% against the cohort median of 194.6. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.

Property counts dominate Aberdeen's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.

Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.

Aberdeen's 2024 municipal footprint

Across 16.6 Census sq mi, Aberdeen logged 23.8 property and 4.5 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.

Aberdeen's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (63% of 470 offenses; mix index 4,404).

Violent offenses are 16% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.

Aberdeen offense mix (2024)

Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (16.6 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.

Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)

Violent Crime Rate
-46.6%
501.8 → 267.8/100K
Property Crime Rate
-17.1%
1701.1 → 1410.5/100K

Property offenses lead Aberdeen's 2024 record

Offense Count Rate /100K
Property Crime 395 1410.5
Larceny-Theft 296 1057
Burglary 70 250
Motor Vehicle Theft 29 103.6
Arson 0 0
Violent Crime 75 267.8
Aggravated Assault 61 217.8
Rape 14 50
Murder 0 0
Robbery 0 0

Aberdeen Crime Trend (2020-2024)

Aberdeen property crime rate trend

Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR

Property crime rate (2024)
1,410.5/100K 17.1% vs 2023
1,2001,4001,6001,8002,0002,2002,400 20202021202220232024 1,411

Aberdeen violent crime rate trend

Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR

Violent crime rate (2024)
267.8/100K 46.6% vs 2023
200300400500600 20202021202220232024 268
Year Coverage Population Violent Rate Property Rate
2020 Comparable 28,494 533.4 1460
2021 Comparable 28,385 429.8 2198.3
2022 Comparable 28,206 368.7 1591.9
2023 Comparable 28,100 501.8 1701.1
2024 Comparable 28,004 267.8 1410.5

How Aberdeen sits among SD peers

POP-MIDCOHORT-SIZEVIOL-LOWPROP-LOWQUAD-LLGRADE-BNIBRSUCR-2024
Aberdeen vs. similar-size SD cities, violent vs. property crime. X axis violent crime per 100K, Y axis property crime per 100K, split by the national averages. 9 cities; the anchor is ringed. Aberdeen vs. similar-size SD cities, violent vs. property crime 77 547 Violent crime per 100K → 922 2,149 Property crime per 100K → Aberdeen SAFEST HIGHEST CRIME Safety grade A / B C D / F
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages

Aberdeen Police Department

Reporting agency for Aberdeen NIBRS-participating

Aberdeen Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Aberdeen's 470 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).

This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.

Similar-Size Cities in South Dakota

Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the South Dakota cities closest to Aberdeen in population. Their populations run from 13,657 to 24,638, against 28,004 here. Or use our side-by-side compare tool to benchmark two cities directly.

Aberdeen's closest SD violent-rate matches

Aberdeen sits at 267.8/100K violent (grade B); the South Dakota cities below are the nearest matches after size peers are removed.

Out-of-state peers for Aberdeen

Aberdeen at 267.8/100K violent and 1,410.5/100K property - matched below outside South Dakota (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).

More about Aberdeen's 2024 record

How many crimes were reported in Aberdeen?

In 2024, Aberdeen reported 75 violent crimes and 395 property crimes, for a total of 470 reported offenses.

Is crime increasing or decreasing in Aberdeen?

From 2023 to 2024, Aberdeen's violent crime rate decreased by 46.6%, and the property crime rate decreased by 17.1%.

What is the most common crime in Aberdeen?

The most common crime type in Aberdeen is larceny-theft, accounting for 63.0% of all reported crimes (296 incidents in 2024).

Mid-size read: Aberdeen figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.

Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.

Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.

Federal sources for this mid-size row
Cite, share, or save this city record

Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Aberdeen, SD rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.

Bulk download: city crime dataset (CSV/JSON)

Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Aberdeen is scored in the mid-size municipal band (28,004 on the row). See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.