Utah has its fair share of dangerous places.
We’re not talking about snowboarding in Park City without a helmet kind of danger. The type of danger we’re talking about gets people on Salt Lake City’s KUTV at six.
And because we believe it’s essential to provide crime information to the public, we created a list of the most dangerous places in Utah for 2026.
We used Saturday Night Science to compare the FBI’s latest crime report for violent and property crime rates for every place with over 5,000 residents. Utah’s overall violent and property crime numbers, while better than the national average, are significantly higher in the state’s most dangerous places.
767 violent crimes /100k · 5,874 property crimes /100k · #2 most violent in Utah
Located in
Salt Lake County, Utah
South Salt Lake is Utah’s most dangerous city, beating out the capital for the top spot once again. The property crime rate in South Salt Lake hasn’t changed much over the last year, but the violent crime rate dropped by a solid amount.
Even with that impressive drop, South Salt Lake remains the second most violent place in Utah, with residents facing a 1 in 130 shot of being assaulted, robbed, raped, or murdered over 2024. All the more reason to buddy up and get home before dark if you’re at one of South Salt Lake’s parks.
South Salt Lake is also the place with the most property crime in the state. That includes the highest burglary rate in Utah, with about five burglaries going down each week.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
864 violent crimes /100k · 5,200 property crimes /100k · #1 most violent in Utah
Located in
Salt Lake County, Utah
The capital and most populous city in Utah, Salt Lake City is, unfortunately, the second most crime-ridden spot in the state. Sure, you can get away to Big Cottonwood Canyon and forget about crime for a while, but the streets of Salt Lake City will be waiting for you.
Salt Lake City had the highest violent crime rate over 2024, recording 1,838 such crimes. That includes a murder a month and a robbery every day, on average.
You don’t want to leave your doors unlocked here because Salt Lake City had the second highest burglary rate statewide. You should also make sure your car alarm works, or you may join the 987 residents who had their cars stolen over the year.
Still, if you steer clear of Salt Lake City’s worst neighborhoods, you should be plenty safe.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers | Compare
385 violent crimes /100k · 4,489 property crimes /100k · #7 most violent in Utah
Located in
Weber County, Utah
We’re heading back to the Ogden area to reach Utah’s third least safe place to live, Riverdale. While Riverdale occupies the #3 spot on this list, it actually had the third highest overall crime rate in Utah, with a crime rate more than twice as high as the national average.
How’d that happen? Well, Riverdale has the third highest property crime rate statewide, with residents up against a 1 in 22 chance of having their valuables stolen or vandalized over 2024.
On the bright side, there were only two violent crimes committed per month in Riverdale, on average. And if you need to take your mind off the high property crime rate, you can play a round of golf.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
415 violent crimes /100k · 1,963 property crimes /100k · #6 most violent in Utah
Located in
Wasatch County, Utah
Just 30 miles southeast of downtown Salt Lake City, Park City is a lovely, artsy community that’s one of the main sites of the Sundance Film Festival.
But that charm hasn’t protected Park City from seeing a massive spike in crime over the past few years. Folks had a 1 in 241 shot of being violently attacked over 2024, which is about three times more likely than it was a few years back.
Property crime jumped up after falling a bit last year. However, the vast majority of those crimes are just larcenies, so keep an eye on your wallet and phone, and you should be all right.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
505 violent crimes /100k · 1,925 property crimes /100k · #4 most violent in Utah
Located in
Weber County, Utah
Back in 2010, Forbes named Ogden the 6th best place to raise a family in America.
That’s awfully surprising considering Ogden’s abysmal crime rate. Ogden had the seventh highest burglary rate in Utah for 2024, and there was a car theft nearly every day of the year. We just hope criminals don’t put those two crimes together and steal a plane from the Hill Aerospace Museum.
Still, there’s 83% less violent crime and 100% less property crime in Ogden than South Salt Lake, so that’s decent news for Ogden’s families.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
470 violent crimes /100k · 1,842 property crimes /100k · #5 most violent in Utah
Utah’s second most populous city, West Valley comes in as the sixth most dangerous place to call home in the state.
West Valley residents have to contend with the fifth highest violent crime rate in Utah. That includes the 14th highest rate of rape cases and the ninth highest murder rate in the state — that’s about one murder a month.
West Valley might benefit from staging a production of “Crime and Punishment” at the local Hale Centre Theatre, to teach residents that crime doesn’t pay.
At least property crime in West Valley dropped slightly from last year, so that’s a start.
280 violent crimes /100k · 3,042 property crimes /100k · #15 most violent in Utah
Located in
Uintah County, Utah
Vernal, the county seat and largest city in Uintah County is in northeastern Utah, United States, about 175 miles east of Salt Lake City and 20 miles west of the Colorado border. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 9,089. The population has since grown to 10,844 as of the 2014 population estimate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
278 violent crimes /100k · 3,319 property crimes /100k · #16 most violent in Utah
Located in
Salt Lake County, Utah
Located just south of Salt Lake City, Murray ranks as the eighth least safe place to live in Utah for 2026. Murray had the fourth highest property crime rate statewide, with residents facing a whopping 1 in 30 chance of having their stuff stolen or damaged over 2024 — the last reporting year.
Which means it may be a good idea to start padlocking your picnic baskets before a visit to Murray City Park. Oh, and make sure you lock your doors — more than one burglary and one car theft a day go down in Murray, on average.
It’s not like you don’t have to worry about violent crime here, either — Murray had the 18th highest rate of rape cases in Utah.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
313 violent crimes /100k · 1,878 property crimes /100k · #11 most violent in Utah
Located in
Sevier County, Utah
Richfield is a city in and the county seat of Sevier County, Utah, in the United States, and is the largest city in southern-central Utah.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
349 violent crimes /100k · 1,356 property crimes /100k · #9 most violent in Utah
Located in
Tooele County, Utah
Tooele might mean “tumbleweed” in the language of the local Ute people. Or maybe not. People aren’t quite sure. What’s more clear: the amazing views of the mountains you get from this community in north-central Utah, located about 45 minutes outside of Salt Lake City.
The potential tumbleweed connection points to a Wild West past. Some of that might carry through to modern crime statistics. The area has a problem with violent crime, with the state’s number 9 highest pace of such violations. There are also a large number of arsons and burglaries, given the population of 40,402.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Utah’s statewide median.
On the map
Where crime hits hardest in Utah
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the most dangerous cities in Utah for 2026?
Every year the FBI release two crime datasets on cities in Utah. First a preliminary dataset limited to the biggest cities in Utah, followed by a more detailed release at the end of the year.
For our analysis, we focused on the 2024 data, specifically the 2024 Crime In The United States Report for Utah.
So what criteria did we use? Have a look:
- Violent Crimes Per Capita
- Property Crimes Per Capita
In order to make the analysis as apples to apples as possible, we only considered Utah cities over 5,000 in population. That left us with 67 cities in Utah.
We then ranked each city from 1 to 67 for the two criteria with a #1 ranking being the most dangerous for the particular criteria.
Next, we averaged the two rankings into one “Dangerous Index”.
Finally, we ranked every city on the “Dangerous Index” with the lowest index being the most dangerous in Utah — South Salt Lake. Any ties went to the smaller city.
This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. It is our eleventh time ranking the most dangerous places to live in Utah and is updated for 2026.
The full plate
Crime By City In Utah
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Dangerous Index | Population | Total Crimes Per 100K | Violent Crimes Per 100K | Property Crimes Per 100K | Murders |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Salt Lake | 1.50 | 25,930 | 6,641 | 767 | 5,874 | 2 |
| 2 | Salt Lake City | 1.50 | 212,675 | 6,064 | 864 | 5,200 | 11 |
| 3 | Riverdale | 5.00 | 9,088 | 4,875 | 385 | 4,489 | 0 |
| 4 | Park City | 6.50 | 8,201 | 2,378 | 415 | 1,963 | 1 |
| 5 | Ogden | 6.50 | 87,258 | 2,431 | 505 | 1,925 | 2 |
| 6 | West Valley | 8.50 | 132,686 | 2,311 | 470 | 1,842 | 9 |
| 7 | Vernal | 10.00 | 10,718 | 3,322 | 280 | 3,042 | 1 |
| 8 | Murray | 10.00 | 49,238 | 3,597 | 278 | 3,319 | 5 |
| 9 | Richfield | 10.50 | 8,306 | 2,191 | 313 | 1,878 | 0 |
| 10 | Tooele | 15.00 | 40,402 | 1,705 | 349 | 1,356 | 3 |
| 11 | Moab | 15.50 | 5,175 | 1,855 | 734 | 1,121 | 0 |
| 12 | West Jordan | 16.50 | 114,211 | 1,653 | 294 | 1,359 | 0 |
| 13 | Sunset | 17.00 | 5,322 | 1,522 | 376 | 1,146 | 0 |
| 14 | Clearfield | 17.50 | 35,374 | 1,473 | 317 | 1,156 | 1 |
| 15 | Perry | 18.00 | 6,057 | 1,502 | 297 | 1,205 | 0 |
| 16 | Roosevelt | 18.50 | 7,370 | 1,682 | 190 | 1,493 | 0 |
| 17 | Taylorsville City | 19.00 | 56,047 | 2,036 | 170 | 1,866 | 2 |
| 18 | Provo | 21.50 | 112,763 | 1,477 | 207 | 1,271 | 2 |
| 19 | Orem | 22.00 | 94,571 | 1,534 | 174 | 1,360 | 1 |
| 20 | Harrisville | 22.50 | 6,725 | 2,483 | 119 | 2,364 | 0 |
| 21 | West Bountiful | 26.50 | 5,828 | 1,561 | 120 | 1,441 | 0 |
| 22 | Hurricane | 26.50 | 25,362 | 1,250 | 205 | 1,045 | 0 |
| 23 | American Fork/Cedar Hills | 26.50 | 50,121 | 1,578 | 120 | 1,458 | 3 |
| 24 | St. George | 26.50 | 107,595 | 1,213 | 210 | 1,003 | 1 |
| 25 | Heber | 27.00 | 19,082 | 1,121 | 215 | 907 | 0 |
| 26 | Draper | 27.50 | 49,166 | 1,273 | 171 | 1,102 | 1 |
| 27 | Layton | 28.00 | 84,017 | 1,476 | 130 | 1,346 | 1 |
| 28 | Logan | 29.50 | 56,083 | 1,268 | 137 | 1,130 | 0 |
| 29 | Woods Cross | 30.00 | 11,482 | 1,481 | 113 | 1,367 | 0 |
| 30 | Roy | 30.00 | 38,353 | 1,033 | 214 | 819 | 0 |
| 31 | Cottonwood Heights | 31.00 | 31,778 | 1,702 | 88 | 1,614 | 1 |
| 32 | Cedar City | 31.50 | 41,556 | 1,160 | 147 | 1,013 | 1 |
| 33 | Lindon | 32.50 | 11,819 | 2,005 | 76 | 1,929 | 0 |
| 34 | Price | 33.00 | 8,271 | 1,197 | 121 | 1,076 | 4 |
| 35 | South Ogden | 33.50 | 17,740 | 1,094 | 147 | 947 | 0 |
| 36 | Pleasant Grove | 33.50 | 37,148 | 913 | 205 | 708 | 0 |
| 37 | Springville | 34.50 | 35,521 | 985 | 160 | 825 | 0 |
| 38 | Washington | 34.50 | 35,835 | 999 | 151 | 848 | 3 |
| 39 | Grantsville | 35.00 | 16,216 | 808 | 284 | 524 | 0 |
| 40 | Centerville | 35.50 | 16,398 | 1,512 | 79 | 1,433 | 0 |
| 41 | Nephi | 38.50 | 7,353 | 870 | 136 | 734 | 0 |
| 42 | South Jordan | 40.00 | 86,846 | 982 | 115 | 867 | 0 |
| 43 | Bluffdale | 40.50 | 19,714 | 690 | 188 | 502 | 0 |
| 44 | Payson | 41.00 | 25,051 | 826 | 128 | 699 | 0 |
| 45 | Clinton | 45.00 | 23,630 | 859 | 89 | 770 | 2 |
| 46 | Herriman | 45.00 | 61,387 | 715 | 117 | 598 | 1 |
| 47 | Farmington | 45.50 | 26,187 | 1,119 | 61 | 1,058 | 0 |
| 48 | Tremonton Garland | 46.00 | 16,054 | 772 | 112 | 660 | 0 |
| 49 | Riverton | 48.50 | 44,711 | 968 | 72 | 897 | 1 |
| 50 | Saratoga Springs | 48.50 | 58,400 | 666 | 91 | 575 | 1 |
| 51 | North Salt Lake | 49.00 | 23,720 | 1,029 | 38 | 991 | 0 |
| 52 | Kaysville | 50.00 | 32,915 | 629 | 97 | 532 | 0 |
| 53 | Lehi | 51.00 | 95,189 | 629 | 88 | 541 | 3 |
| 54 | Santaquin/Genola | 52.00 | 20,580 | 471 | 102 | 369 | 0 |
| 55 | Spanish Fork | 52.00 | 46,536 | 780 | 75 | 705 | 0 |
| 56 | North Park | 53.50 | 17,789 | 652 | 79 | 573 | 0 |
| 57 | North Ogden | 54.50 | 22,645 | 574 | 84 | 490 | 0 |
| 58 | Mapleton | 56.00 | 14,584 | 425 | 82 | 343 | 0 |
| 59 | Kanab | 56.50 | 5,433 | 681 | 18 | 663 | 0 |
| 60 | Pleasant View | 57.50 | 11,326 | 388 | 79 | 309 | 0 |
| 61 | Enoch | 59.50 | 8,644 | 220 | 81 | 139 | 0 |
| 62 | Ephraim | 60.00 | 6,279 | 573 | 0 | 573 | 0 |
| 63 | Santa Clara/Ivins | 60.00 | 19,369 | 356 | 77 | 279 | 0 |
| 64 | Syracuse | 60.00 | 38,714 | 553 | 52 | 501 | 0 |
| 65 | Smithfield | 63.50 | 15,093 | 219 | 53 | 166 | 0 |
| 66 | Salem | 64.50 | 11,213 | 312 | 9 | 303 | 0 |
| 67 | Lone Peak | 64.50 | 30,812 | 198 | 29 | 169 | 0 |
Source: FBI UCR 2024. 67 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: Locking It All Up In Utah
So what is the most dangerous city in Utah? After analyzing 67 cities in Utah, South Salt Lake takes the top spot as the most dangerous city in Utah based on the most recently reported FBI data — 2024.
The latest FBI crime data shows that South Salt Lake ranks as the most dangerous city in Utah for 2026.
The most dangerous cities in Utah are South Salt Lake, Salt Lake City, Riverdale, Park City, Ogden, West Valley, Vernal, Murray, Richfield, and Tooele.
We want to point out again that there’s still safes places in South Salt Lake and that this isn’t a comment on the people that live there. So please don’t beat us up. Not sold on Utah? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Most Dangerous Places To Live In Utah FAQs
Is Utah a dangerous state?
No, Utah is not a dangerous state as it ranks as the #28 safest state in the United States based on our analysis of the latest FBI Crime Data. The violent crime rate in Utah ranks 39th most dangerous in the United States — 29.51% better than US average violent crime rate. The property crime rate in the Beehive State ranks 11th most dangerous in the United States — 26.1% worse than US average property crime rate. The latest reporting year from the FBI was 2022.
Is Salt Lake City, UT a dangerous city?
Yes, Salt Lake City is a dangerous city. Salt Lake City ranks as the #7 most dangerous out of 328 major cities over 100,000 people in the United States based on our analysis of the latest FBI Crime Data. Keep in mind that are always safe and dangerous parts of any city, so even though Salt Lake City might be considered dangerous you still need to be aware of where you are. For example, Greater Avenues is the safest in Salt Lake City, while Poplar Grove is considered dangerous by many based on recent crime stats.
Compared to other big cities, the violent crime rate in Salt Lake City ranks 4highest in America — 76.74% worse than US average violent crime rate. The property crime rate in the ranks sixth highest in the United States — 135.38% worse than US average property crime rate. Note the latest reporting year from the FBI was 2022 and that no city in America is ‘dangerous’. Despite the uptick in murders, it’s nothing like you’d see in Tijuana or Caracas where the murder rate is 2x any American city.
