Lafayette, CO is higher-crime than most U.S. cities, and earns a C PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 23% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Lafayette, CO shows violent crime at 272.6 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,680.5 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 23% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade C from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
C safety grade
272.6/100K violent
2680.5/100K property
-23% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Lafayette, CO
Comparable rate records
Lafayette's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Colorado cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Lafayette's 272.6 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Fort Collins (272.7), Thornton (273.6), Vail (271.1), Fort Lupton (270.4). 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 higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 197.1 per 100,000 in 2020 to 272.6 in 2024 (+38.3%). The highest observed value was 310.1 in 2021 and the lowest 197.1 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Lafayette sits mid-pack among comparable Colorado cities
At 272.6 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Lafayette ranks 57 of 134 — above 77 of the 133 other Colorado cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +39.9% against the cohort median of 194.9. 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 Lafayette'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.
Lafayette's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 9.3 Census sq mi, Lafayette logged 88.2 property and 9 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Lafayette's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (66% of 899 offenses; mix index 4,753).
Violent offenses are only 9% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (9.3 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
+37.8%
197.8 → 272.6/100K
Property Crime Rate
-10.1%
2983.2 → 2680.5/100K
Property offenses lead Lafayette's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
816
2680.5
1711
Larceny-Theft
594
1951.3
-
Burglary
149
489.5
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
73
239.8
-
Arson
3
9.9
-
Violent Crime
83
272.6
352
Aggravated Assault
58
190.5
-
Rape
19
62.4
-
Robbery
6
19.7
-
Murder
0
0
-
Lafayette Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Lafayette property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Lafayette Police Department
Reporting agency for Lafayette NIBRS-participating
Lafayette Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Lafayette's 899 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 Colorado
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Colorado cities closest to Lafayette in population. Their populations run from 20,284 to 38,210, against 30,442 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Lafayette reported 83 violent crimes and 816 property crimes, for a total of 899 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Lafayette?
From 2023 to 2024, Lafayette's violent crime rate increased by 37.8%, and the property crime rate decreased by 10.1%.
What is the most common crime in Lafayette?
The most common crime type in Lafayette is larceny-theft, accounting for 66.1% of all reported crimes (594 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Lafayette 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.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Lafayette, CO rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.