Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Colorado?
We all watch the news with horror when we hear about a homicide that happens not that far away from us. While a murder just blocks or even a couple of towns away from your house would make anyone uneasy, in the long run, most likely, where you live is relatively safe.
To find the cities in Colorado with the most murders and the highest murder rates per capita, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the FBI crime data on murders for the 26 cities in the Centennial State with over 5,000 residents.
What city has the highest murder rate in Colorado? The city with the highest murder rate in Colorado is Alamosa with 50 murders per 100,000 people.
What is the city in Colorado with highest number of murders? The city in Colorado with the highest number of murders is Denver with 71 murders.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in Colorado ranked. There were ‘only’ 26 cities in Colorado where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 45 places had no murder.
50 per 100k · #1 highest murder rate in Colorado
Located in
Alamosa County, Colorado
Alamosa is a city under Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Alamosa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 8,780 at the 2010 United States Census. The city is the commercial center of the San Luis Valley in south-central Colorado, and is the home of Adams State University.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
17 per 100k · #2 highest murder rate in Colorado
Located in
Pueblo County, Colorado
Pueblo is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The population was 106,595 in 2010 census, making it the 267th most populous city in the United States and the 9th largest in Colorado. Pueblo is the heart of the Pueblo Metropolitan Statistical Area totaling over 160,000 people and an important part of the Front Range Urban Corridor. As of 2014, Pueblo is the primary city of the Pueblo-Caon City combined statistical area totaling approximately 208,000 people, making it the 134th largest in the nation.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
17 per 100k · #3 highest murder rate in Colorado
Located in
Arapahoe County, Colorado
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
14 per 100k · #4 highest murder rate in Colorado
Located in
Otero County, Colorado
La Junta is the city that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Otero County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,077 at the 2010 United States Census. La Junta is located on the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado east of Pueblo.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
13 per 100k · #5 highest murder rate in Colorado
Located in
Teller County, Colorado
The City of Woodland Park is a Home Rule Municipality that is the most populous city in Teller County, Colorado, United States and is immediately west of El Paso County and the unincorporated community of Crystola. Many residents in this bedroom community, which is surrounded by the one-million acre Pike National Forest, make the 17-mile commute to Colorado Springs. Ute Pass lies 12 miles to the west of Woodland Park on US 24. The population was 6,515 at the 2000 census. Nearby Douglas County is about a fifteen-minute drive from the city.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
11 per 100k · #6 highest murder rate in Colorado
Located in
Eagle County, Colorado
Gypsum is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population was 6,477 at the 2010 census. Gypsum is the home of an American Gypsum drywall plant and mine.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
10 per 100k · #7 highest murder rate in Colorado
Located in
Douglas County, Colorado
Aurora is a Home Rule Municipality in the U.S. state of Colorado, spanning Arapahoe and Adams counties, with the extreme southeastern portion of the city extending into Douglas County. Aurora is one of the principal cities of the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city’s population was 325,078 in the 2010 census, which made it the third most populous city in the state of Colorado and the 54th most populous city in the United States.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
10 per 100k · #8 highest murder rate in Colorado
Located in
Denver County, Colorado
Denver, officially the City and County of Denver, is the capital and most populous municipality of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, approximately 12mi east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is nicknamed the Mile High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile above sea level, making it the highest major city in the United States. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich, the longitudinal reference for the Mountain Time Zone, passes directly through Denver Union Station.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
10 per 100k · #9 highest murder rate in Colorado
Located in
Garfield County, Colorado
The City of Glenwood Springs is the Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Garfield County, Colorado, United States. Glenwood Springs is located at the confluence of the Roaring Fork River and the Colorado River, threading together the Roaring Fork Valley and a series of smaller towns up and down the Colorado River. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 9,614.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
9 per 100k · #10 highest murder rate in Colorado
The City of Commerce City is a Home Rule Municipality located in Adams County, Colorado, United States. Commerce City is a northern suburb of Denver and as of 2013 is the 18th most populous municipality in Colorado. The city population was 45,913 at the 2010 United States Census, a population increase of 118.7% in the ten years since the 2000 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Colorado’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Colorado’s murders happen
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we calculated the murder capitals of Colorado
While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in a state are the most dangerous, we wanted to rely on something other than speculation and opinion. Instead, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the hard numbers from the FBI’s last year of reporting. Specifically, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, which summarizes the number of murders in each city annually.
We only looked at every single city in Colorado for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 26 cities to rank.
We took the number of murders per capita as the ranking factor. The place with the most murders per capita based on the most recent data is Alamosa. It is our eleventh time ranking the places with the most murders per capita in Colorado. We updated the list for 2026.
The full plate
Murder Rates By City In Colorado
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Murders | Murders/100K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alamosa | 9,906 | 5 | 50 |
| 2 | Pueblo | 110,805 | 19 | 17 |
| 3 | Sheridan | 5,844 | 1 | 17 |
| 4 | La Junta | 6,942 | 1 | 14 |
| 5 | Woodland Park | 7,857 | 1 | 13 |
| 6 | Gypsum | 9,101 | 1 | 11 |
| 7 | Aurora | 397,852 | 41 | 10 |
| 8 | Denver | 722,031 | 71 | 10 |
| 9 | Glenwood Springs | 10,334 | 1 | 10 |
| 10 | Commerce City | 70,170 | 6 | 9 |
| 11 | Colorado Springs | 491,474 | 38 | 8 |
| 12 | Greenwood Village | 15,060 | 1 | 7 |
| 13 | Greeley | 113,757 | 6 | 5 |
| 14 | Westminster | 114,310 | 6 | 5 |
| 15 | Northglenn | 38,210 | 2 | 5 |
| 16 | Louisville | 20,136 | 1 | 5 |
| 17 | Grand Junction | 70,686 | 3 | 4 |
| 18 | Longmont | 98,446 | 4 | 4 |
| 19 | Loveland | 80,374 | 3 | 4 |
| 20 | Parker | 64,088 | 2 | 3 |
| 21 | Lakewood | 155,868 | 4 | 3 |
| 22 | Brighton | 43,231 | 1 | 2 |
| 23 | Littleton | 44,076 | 1 | 2 |
| 24 | Fort Collins | 170,509 | 3 | 2 |
| 25 | Thornton | 145,847 | 2 | 1 |
| 26 | Broomfield | 78,294 | 1 | 1 |
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report. 26 Colorado cities that reported a murder.
Summary
Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In Colorado For 2026
If you’re looking at the places in Colorado with the most murders, and where residents have the highest chances of being killed themselves, this is an accurate list. Again, these statistics are an indication of where crimes occur, not a statement about the effectiveness of the law enforcement in the areas they serve.
The cities with the highest murder per capita in Colorado are Alamosa, Pueblo, Sheridan, La Junta, Woodland Park, Gypsum, Aurora, Denver, Glenwood Springs, and Commerce City.
