CrimeMetric

Crime in Sterling, Colorado

Major crime in Sterling is 19% above the U.S. rate per resident: 8% lower for persons crimes and 25% higher for property crimes. Expected major crimes are down 8.1% from a year earlier.

Modeled estimates per resident, not counts of incidents. How we calculated this

Major crime
119
19% above the U.S. rate
15% below the Colorado rate
down 8.1% in a year
Persons crimes
92
8% below the U.S. rate
28% below the Colorado rate
down 4.2% in a year
Property crimes
125
25% above the U.S. rate
13% below the Colorado rate
down 8.7% in a year
Social disorder
130
30% above the U.S. rate
35% above the Colorado rate
down 7.0% in a year

Index: crimes per resident compared with the U.S., where 100 is the U.S. rate and 200 is twice it.

Check an address in Sterling

Crime by type

Drugs and alcohol stands out most, at 1.9 times the U.S. rate

Expected crimes per year in Sterling for each type, and the index against the U.S. rate per resident.

Citywide indexWhere the middle half of residents live

IndexPer year

How crime varies across Sterling

The middle half of Sterling residents live in neighborhoods with a major-crime index between 59 and 171; the typical (median) resident's is 79. The citywide figure (119) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.

Map of Sterling, with its census block groups shaded by major-crime index band
Block groups shaded by major-crime index, in the bar's bands below; pale gray where fewer than 100 people live. Highways and boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau.
  • 0–5023.9%
  • 50–10036.8%
  • 100–20016.8%
  • 200–40022.5%
  • 400+0.0%

Share of residents by the index of their census block group, a neighborhood of roughly 600 to 3,000 people.

When it happens

Highest on weekday daytimes

Major-crime index by time of week, against the U.S. rate for the same hours.

Monday to Friday, 6am to 6pm130
Sunday to Thursday nights, 6pm to 6am112
Saturday and Sunday, 6am to 6pm117
Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm to 6am103
Trend and outlook

Major crime fell 8.1% in a year; across Colorado it fell 9.1%

Past yearBy 2031
Major crime-8.1%CO -9.1%-17.0%CO -11.0%
Persons crimes-4.2%CO -9.3%-4.0%CO +0.8%
Property crimes-8.7%CO -9.1%-19.1%CO -13.3%
Social disorder-7.0%CO -9.3%-13.0%CO -6.4%

Change in expected crimes, with Colorado as a whole in gray. The past year uses the reporting agencies' year-to-date FBI data; 2031 is the model's projection.

Similar-size places

Sterling against U.S. places with 10,000 to 25,000 residents

473 of the 2,149 other places of this size have a higher major-crime index than Sterling; the middle of the group is 72. The 9 nearest in population:

Sterling, CO14,661119
Red Hill, SC14,62380
Conway, FL14,63569
Vandalia, OH14,66669
Jerome, ID14,65044

Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; residents in gray.

Nearby places

Sterling has a higher major-crime index than all of its 8 nearest neighbors

The 8 nearest cities and towns we cover, by major-crime index. The closest, Brush (36 mi), is 78% below Sterling's rate.

Sterling119
Sidney, NE36 mi56
Eaton83 mi49
Yuma41 mi34
Brush36 mi26
Holyoke44 mi24

Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; distances between where residents live, in miles.

Questions about crime in Sterling

What are the most common crimes in Sterling?

By expected count, the most common persons and property crimes are other larceny (about 125 a year), shoplifting (about 52 a year) and aggravated assault (about 34 a year). Compared with the U.S., drugs and alcohol stands out most: 1.9 times the U.S. rate per resident.

How we calculated this

Each police agency's crimes, as reported to the FBI, are spread across the census block groups it serves using population, jobs, points of interest and, where available, local incident records. Sterling's figures add up its 12 block groups. The index compares crimes per resident with the U.S. rate.

  • Sterling has no published incident records in our data, so its estimate relies on agency totals and neighborhood characteristics.
  • 0.0% of residents live in block groups whose estimate has high confidence (80% interval within about 5x).
  • Rates are per resident, so places where many people work or visit but few live, such as downtowns, airports and stadiums, can read high.
  • Disorderly conduct and trespassing are modeled, because the FBI records them only through arrests.
  • Residents: 14,661. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2

Full method and validation·Data sources

Cite this page

CrimeMetric. "Crime in Sterling, Colorado." Vorp Labs, model updated Oct 20, 2026. https://crimemetric.com/co/sterling

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Major-crime index, U.S. = 100