As any Coloradan who owns a bike should be aware of, bike theft in the Centennial State is no joke. Property theft rates in Colorado tend to be on the higher side compared to other places around the country and with many local outdoor recreation enthusiasts opting to invest in high-performance gear, bicycles can be a top target of thieves.

A company called JOIN calculated the average value of a stolen bike in Colorado at $1,936.92 – the highest among all US states. The same company also reported that 7,433 bikes were stolen statewide in 2023 (behind only California and Texas), with the total value of those bikes being $14,397,131 (behind only California – the average bike value in Texas was calculated at $896).

While that report relies on FBI data from 2023, bike theft are tracked in near-real time in several Colorado cities, too, providing a better look at what’s happened thus far this year.

The City of Boulder has what’s perhaps the most extensive public reporting system statewide when it comes to bike theft, allowing web users to see where bikes have been stolen from and how these thefts factor into annual statistics. This reporting page is updated very regularly, too, with the last bike theft that’s mapped reported just three days ago on December 15.

Thus far this year in Boulder, a total of 494 bikes have been reported stolen, representing a total value of about $956,277 – on par with the same state-specific per bike value noted in the aforementioned JOIN report. Of the bikes that have been stolen this year in Boulder, 43 have been recovered – about nine percent (some of those recovered bikes may have been stolen in previous years, too).

While that’s a lot of bike theft that’s taking place, it’s a sharp drop compared to theft that occurred last year – 746 bikes were stolen in Boulder in 2024 (valued at $1,541,971) with 78 recovered (about 10%). That’s about a 34% decrease in Boulder bike thefts year-over-year – still a problem, but trending in the right direction.

Meanwhile, Denver Crimes reports that 1,259 bike thefts have been reported in the Mile High City thus far in 2025 (the city, not the full metro area), with Five Points being the neighborhood where the most thefts of occurred (98).

This breakdown also shows that while Denver’s population is about 730,000 compared to Boulder’s 108,000, bike thefts occur (or at least, get reported) in Boulder at a much higher rate.

Meanwhile, Colorado Springs, with a population of about 495,000, had around 500 bicycle thefts in 2024 – a lower rate than both Denver and Boulder.

Editor’s Note: A key reason why Boulder’s ‘bike thefts per capita’ is higher could be related to the city’s recent initiatives in building out their bike theft prevention program, which encourages registration and reporting. This may increase the likelihood of reporting a theft.

When it comes to preventing the theft of a bicycle, keeping a bike out-of-sight (indoors or in the garage) is the best option. That’s not always a possibility, making locking mechanisms and proper locking technique important, too. It’s also crucial that bike owners register their gear on Bike Index and other local registers. Services like these make it easier for law enforcement agencies to track serial numbers on recovered bikes back to their original owners.

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