CrimeMetric

Crime in Whitefish, Montana

Major crime in Whitefish is 6% below the U.S. rate per resident: 26% lower for persons crimes and about the same for property crimes. Expected major crimes are down 7.3% from a year earlier.

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

Major crime
94
6% below the U.S. rate
9% below the Montana rate
down 7.3% in a year
Persons crimes
74
26% below the U.S. rate
41% below the Montana rate
down 3.4% in a year
Property crimes
98
about the U.S. rate
about the Montana rate
down 7.9% in a year
Social disorder
66
34% below the U.S. rate
20% below the Montana rate
down 5.6% in a year

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

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Crime by type

Shoplifting stands out most, at 1.5 times the U.S. rate

Expected crimes per year in Whitefish 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 Whitefish

The middle half of Whitefish residents live in neighborhoods with a major-crime index between 36 and 71; the typical (median) resident's is 43. The citywide figure (94) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.

Map of Whitefish, 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.
  • 0–5069.0%
  • 50–1007.0%
  • 100–20016.4%
  • 200–4000.0%
  • 400+7.6%

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 6pm102
Sunday to Thursday nights, 6pm to 6am83
Saturday and Sunday, 6am to 6pm97
Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm to 6am90
Trend and outlook

Major crime fell 7.3% in a year; across Montana it fell 8.4%

Past yearBy 2031
Major crime-7.3%MT -8.4%-3.1%MT -9.1%
Persons crimes-3.4%MT -10.7%+11.1%MT +3.0%
Property crimes-7.9%MT -7.7%-5.4%MT -12.4%
Social disorder-5.6%MT -8.4%+5.0%MT -4.0%

Change in expected crimes, with Montana 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

Whitefish against U.S. places with 5,000 to 10,000 residents

611 of the 2,163 other places of this size have a higher major-crime index than Whitefish; the middle of the group is 63. The 9 nearest in population:

Polson, MT6,269190
Wailea, HI6,263149
Blakely, GA6,253137
Whitefish, MT6,26194

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

Nearby places

Whitefish has a higher major-crime index than 5 of its 8 nearest neighbors

The 8 nearest cities and towns we cover, by major-crime index. The closest, Columbia Falls (8 mi), is 25% below Whitefish's rate.

Cut Bank93 mi421
Polson50 mi190
Kalispell14 mi121
Whitefish94
Evergreen13 mi60
Lakeside26 mi59
Bigfork26 mi49
Libby56 mi46

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

Questions about crime in Whitefish

What are the most common crimes in Whitefish?

By expected count, the most common persons and property crimes are other larceny (about 45 a year), shoplifting (about 31 a year) and aggravated assault (about 12 a year). Compared with the U.S., shoplifting stands out most: 1.5 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. Whitefish's figures add up its 6 block groups. The index compares crimes per resident with the U.S. rate.

  • Whitefish 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: 6,261. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2

Full method and validation·Data sources

Cite this page

CrimeMetric. "Crime in Whitefish, Montana." Vorp Labs, model updated Oct 20, 2026. https://crimemetric.com/mt/whitefish

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Major-crime index, U.S. = 100