Sterling · 2021 public safety benchmarks

Name: Sterling, CO public safety benchmarks
Creator: Orivian
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Logan County · Eastern Plains · Pop. 13,054 (2025 estimate); 2021 per-resident figures use 13,212 · Public safety data 2016–2025

City website (opens in a new tab)

Year

2021 in brief

Sterling spent $185 per resident on police in FY2021, 44% below the median of the 174 Colorado municipalities reporting. It had 1.4 sworn officers per 1,000 residents in 2021, 20% below its peers. Reported violent crime was 4.5 per 1,000 residents, 78% above the Colorado median, and property crime was 69% above the median. Police cleared 89.8% of reported violent crimes.

Generated from the figures below. Every number links to its source.

Notes: spending is fiscal-year Census data; staffing and crime are calendar-year FBI data via CBI. Dollars are nominal. Definitions: orivian.ai/benchmarks/methodology#public-safety

Compared with

The finance peers: nearest on population, household income and region

Reporting agency: Sterling Police Department (ORI CO0380100) · 12 of 12 months reported.

Spending & staffing

Spending: FY2021, the government's fiscal year (Census). Staffing: 2021, sworn officers on the payroll October 31 (FBI).

Police spending per resident (definition)FY2021

$185

26% below peers

Peer median: $248
CO median · 174 with a published figure Median of the 174 Colorado municipalities with FY2021 Census finance data. In Census of Governments years the Census covers every municipality; in other years it surveys a sample, mostly larger cities.: $332
Position: Higher than 19% of the 174 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars: Not enough history for a 5-year change

Police spending per officer (definition)FY2021
Police spending for the fiscal year divided by sworn officers on the payroll as of October 31 of that year. Spending covers civilian staff, equipment and construction as well as officer pay, so this is not a salary figure.

$128.4K

in line with peers

Peer median: $130.2K
CO median · 137 with a published figure Median of the 137 Colorado municipalities with FY2021 Census finance data. In Census of Governments years the Census covers every municipality; in other years it surveys a sample, mostly larger cities.: $166K
Position: Higher than 22% of the 137 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars: Not enough history for a 5-year change

Officers per 1,000 residents (definition)2021

1.4

20% below peers

per 1,000 residents

Peer median: 1.8
CO median · 155 with a published figure Median of the Colorado municipalities with a published officers per 1,000 residents for 2021.: 2.3
Position: Higher than 19% of the 155 reporting
5-year change: +0.1 per 1,000

Reported outcomes

Reported crime reflects what is reported to police and how it is recorded, not only how much crime occurs.

Violent crime rate (definition)2021

4.5

24% above peers

per 1,000 residents

Peer median: 3.6
CO median · 133 with a published figure Median of the Colorado municipalities with a published violent crime rate for 2021.: 2.5
Position: Higher than 74% of the 133 reporting
5-year change: +1.1 per 1,000

Property crime rate (definition)2021

35.4

40% above peers

per 1,000 residents

Peer median: 25.4
CO median · 133 with a published figure Median of the Colorado municipalities with a published property crime rate for 2021.: 20.9
Position: Higher than 77% of the 133 reporting
5-year change: +0.9 per 1,000

Violent crime clearance rate (definition)2021
A clearance rate counts offenses cleared during the year against offenses reported that year. On its own it doesn't measure how effective a department is: clearances can include earlier years' offenses, and agencies record clearances differently.

89.8%

71% above CO median

Peer median: Benchmark unavailable
CO median · 72 with a published figure Median of the Colorado municipalities with a published violent crime clearance rate for 2021.: 52.5%
Position: Higher than 94% of the 72 reporting
5-year change: +42.9 pts

Property crime clearance rate (definition)2021
A clearance rate counts offenses cleared during the year against offenses reported that year. On its own it doesn't measure how effective a department is: clearances can include earlier years' offenses, and agencies record clearances differently.

42.1%

2.2× peers

Peer median: 19.5%
CO median · 119 with a published figure Median of the Colorado municipalities with a published property crime clearance rate for 2021.: 14.0%
Position: Higher than 97% of the 119 reporting
5-year change: +18.2 pts

How this number was calculated

Police spending per resident · $185

Reported by the city to the Census Bureau

1Metric
$185 Police spending divided by population
= Police spending ÷ population
Full definition: Police spending per resident
2Inputs
Police spending $2.4M ÷ population 13,212 (2021 estimate)
3Census line items
- E62 Police protection, current operations
4Source file
- Annual Survey of State & Local Government Finances 2022 - Individual Unit File
  Value for
  FY2021
  Survey file
  2022
  The 2022 Census survey covers fiscal years ending July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022, so a fiscal year ending December 31, 2021 is FY2021.
  Retrieved October 12, 2026 · View source: Annual Survey of State & Local Government Finances 2022 - Individual Unit File (opens in a new tab)
- Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 - incorporated places
  Value for
  FY2021
  Source year
  2025
  Retrieved October 7, 2026 · View source: Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 - incorporated places (opens in a new tab)

Sterling and its peers

The same five peers as the finance pages. Police spending is per resident for the fiscal year shown; staffing and crime are per 1,000 residents for 2021. How peers are chosen

Sterling compared with its peer municipalities: police spending per resident and per-1,000 staffing and crime rates
Municipality	Police spendingper resident · FY2021	Officers per 1,000 residentsper 1,000 · 2021	Violent crimeper 1,000 · 2021	Property crimeper 1,000 · 2021	Violent crime clearance2021
	Fiscal year · Census	Calendar year · FBI via CBI
Sterling	$185	1.4	4.5	35.4	89.8%
Fort Morgan	$396	2.4	5.5	28.8	79.4%
Lamar	$248	2.0	1.0	12.7	Not shown Lamar · Violent crime clearance rate · 2021 Reason: Fewer than 10 violent crimes reported; a clearance rate would not be meaningful
La Junta	$234	1.8	5.1	44.5	45.9%
Brush	$273	1.7	Withheld Brush · Violent crime rate · 2021 Reason: Agency reported 11 of 12 months Crime, clearance and staffing figures come from the police agency's reports to CBI and the FBI, not the city's financial statements. A year stays withheld until the agency's FBI record for it is complete or the agency confirms it. FBI Crime Data Explorer (opens in a new tab)	Withheld Brush · Property crime rate · 2021 Reason: Agency reported 11 of 12 months Crime, clearance and staffing figures come from the police agency's reports to CBI and the FBI, not the city's financial statements. A year stays withheld until the agency's FBI record for it is complete or the agency confirms it. FBI Crime Data Explorer (opens in a new tab)	Withheld Brush · Violent crime clearance rate · 2021 Reason: Agency reported 11 of 12 months; Fewer than 10 violent crimes reported; a clearance rate would not be meaningful Crime, clearance and staffing figures come from the police agency's reports to CBI and the FBI, not the city's financial statements. A year stays withheld until the agency's FBI record for it is complete or the agency confirms it. FBI Crime Data Explorer (opens in a new tab)
Rocky Ford	$147	1.6	2.1	21.9	Not shown Rocky Ford · Violent crime clearance rate · 2021 Reason: Fewer than 10 violent crimes reported; a clearance rate would not be meaningful
Peer median	$248	1.8	3.6	25.4	Benchmark unavailable

Trends

Police spending by fiscal year; staffing and crime by calendar year. Lines break where a year is missing or withheld; nothing is interpolated.

This city
Peer median
Withheld (shown on the axis, no value)

Police spending per resident

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Census definition change: Excludes equipment purchases and payments to other governments, which Census stopped reporting after FY2021.

Peer group changed in FY2023. Peers are matched each year, so the peer median can step when the group changes.

Show data table

Police spending per resident by fiscal year
Year	This city	Peer median	Colorado median
FY2021	$185	$248	$332 (174 reporting, sample year)
FY2023	$320	$337	$428 (91 reporting, sample year)

Officers per 1,000 residents

Calendar year

Peer group changed in 2021, 2023. Peers are matched each year, so the peer median can step when the group changes.

Show data table

Officers per 1,000 residents by calendar year
Year	This city	Peer median	Colorado median
2016	1.4	2.0	2.4 (145 reporting, sample year)
2017	1.5	2.0	2.2 (145 reporting, sample year)
2018	1.5	2.0	2.2 (152 reporting, sample year)
2019	1.6	1.9	2.2 (153 reporting, sample year)
2020	1.6	1.8	2.2 (153 reporting, sample year)
2021	1.4	1.8	2.3 (155 reporting, sample year)
2022	1.5	1.9	1.9 (155 reporting, sample year)
2023	1.5	2.1	2.3 (155 reporting, sample year)
2024	1.8	2.2	2.4 (155 reporting, sample year)
2025	1.4	2.3	2.5 (143 reporting, sample year)

Violent crime rate

Calendar year

Peer group changed in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025. Peers are matched each year, so the peer median can step when the group changes.

Show data table

Violent crime rate by calendar year
Year	This city	Peer median	Colorado median
2016	3.4	3.2	1.9 (126 reporting, sample year)
2017	4.7	4.0	1.7 (129 reporting, sample year)
2018	6.8	4.1	2.1 (126 reporting, sample year)
2019	4.5	4.1	2.0 (130 reporting, sample year)
2020	5.0	4.5	2.0 (140 reporting, sample year)
2021	4.5	3.6	2.5 (133 reporting, sample year)
2022	3.1	3.4	2.4 (121 reporting, sample year)
2023	4.2	4.0	2.5 (122 reporting, sample year)
2024	4.0	2.8	2.1 (135 reporting, sample year)
2025	2.8	2.5	2.1 (139 reporting, sample year)

Property crime rate

Calendar year

Peer group changed in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025. Peers are matched each year, so the peer median can step when the group changes.

Show data table

Property crime rate by calendar year
Year	This city	Peer median	Colorado median
2016	34.5	40.3	22.9 (126 reporting, sample year)
2017	31.5	28.2	21.6 (129 reporting, sample year)
2018	34.4	33.7	20.2 (126 reporting, sample year)
2019	32.2	23.9	18.3 (130 reporting, sample year)
2020	39.6	25.0	19.5 (140 reporting, sample year)
2021	35.4	25.4	20.9 (133 reporting, sample year)
2022	28.2	21.8	20.6 (121 reporting, sample year)
2023	35.2	24.2	19.6 (122 reporting, sample year)
2024	29.1	19.4	15.9 (135 reporting, sample year)
2025	22.6	13.9	13.6 (139 reporting, sample year)

About these numbers

The city's own published statistics may differ: CBI counts some offenses once per victim, while many cities count once per case.
Reported crime reflects what is reported to police and how it is recorded, not only how much crime occurs.
Police spending here is FY2021, the government’s fiscal year; crime, clearances and staffing are calendar year 2021.

Read the public safety methodology

Sources · Retrieved October 12, 2026 from orivian.ai/benchmarks/public-safety

Annual Survey of State & Local Government Finances 2022 - Individual Unit File · 2022 survey file
U.S. Census Bureau
Retrieved October 12, 2026View source: Annual Survey of State & Local Government Finances 2022 - Individual Unit File (opens in a new tab)
Crime Data Explorer police employees, 2021 · 2021
FBI Crime Data Explorer (NIBRS data submitted by Colorado agencies through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation)
Retrieved October 12, 2026View source: Crime Data Explorer police employees, 2021 (opens in a new tab)
Crime Data Explorer summarized offenses and clearances, 2021 · 2021
FBI Crime Data Explorer (NIBRS data submitted by Colorado agencies through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation)
Retrieved October 12, 2026View source: Crime Data Explorer summarized offenses and clearances, 2021 (opens in a new tab)
Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 - incorporated places · 2025
U.S. Census Bureau
Retrieved October 7, 2026View source: Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 - incorporated places (opens in a new tab)

Every figure on this page is read from the published index; nothing is recalculated for display. Read the methodology

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Sterling · 2021 public safety benchmarks

2021 in brief

Spending & staffing

Police spending per resident (definition)FY2021

Police share of spending (definition)FY2021

Police spending per officer (definition)FY2021Police spending for the fiscal year divided by sworn officers on the payroll as of October 31 of that year. Spending covers civilian staff, equipment and construction as well as officer pay, so this is not a salary figure.Close

Officers per 1,000 residents (definition)2021

Reported outcomes

Violent crime rate (definition)2021

Property crime rate (definition)2021

Violent crime clearance rate (definition)2021A clearance rate counts offenses cleared during the year against offenses reported that year. On its own it doesn't measure how effective a department is: clearances can include earlier years' offenses, and agencies record clearances differently.Close

Property crime clearance rate (definition)2021A clearance rate counts offenses cleared during the year against offenses reported that year. On its own it doesn't measure how effective a department is: clearances can include earlier years' offenses, and agencies record clearances differently.Close

How this number was calculated

Sterling and its peers

Trends

About these numbers

Sources · Retrieved October 12, 2026 from orivian.ai/benchmarks/public-safety

Work for Sterling?

Police spending per officer (definition)FY2021
Police spending for the fiscal year divided by sworn officers on the payroll as of October 31 of that year. Spending covers civilian staff, equipment and construction as well as officer pay, so this is not a salary figure.

Violent crime clearance rate (definition)2021
A clearance rate counts offenses cleared during the year against offenses reported that year. On its own it doesn't measure how effective a department is: clearances can include earlier years' offenses, and agencies record clearances differently.

Property crime clearance rate (definition)2021
A clearance rate counts offenses cleared during the year against offenses reported that year. On its own it doesn't measure how effective a department is: clearances can include earlier years' offenses, and agencies record clearances differently.