Highland Park, MI is among the highest-crime cities in the country, and earns an F PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 758% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Highland Park, MI shows violent crime at 3,019.3 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 4,287.4 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 758% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade F from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
F safety grade
3019.3/100K violent
4287.4/100K property
+758% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Highland Park, MI
Position in the state cohort
Highland Park reported the highest violent-crime rate among comparable Michigan cities
At 3019.3 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Highland Park ranks 1 of 366 — above 365 of the 365 other Michigan cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +1515.0% against the cohort median of 187.0. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 41.3% of the 605 Part I offenses reported in Highland Park for 2024, against a median of 16.7% across comparable Michigan cities — a gap of 24.6 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 1938.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 3019.3 in 2024 (+55.8%). The highest observed value was 3019.3 in 2024 and the lowest 1938.0 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Comparable rate records
Highland Park's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Michigan cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Highland Park's 3019.3 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Saginaw (2201.5), Vassar (1971.7), Benton Township (1880.3), Benton Harbor (1874.1). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 51.0% of reported property offenses in Highland Park, against a cohort median of 79.7%. The remainder is burglary (71) and motor vehicle theft (103). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Highland Park's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Small-city offense counts above are voluntary UCR submissions, not neighbourhood advice. Year-to-year swings can look large when the population base is modest.
Highland Park's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 3 Census sq mi, Highland Park logged 119.5 property and 84.1 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Highland Park leans on aggravated assault at 35% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 2,545.
Violent offenses are 41% of the municipal total - a violence-heavy book for a small city.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (3 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
+55.8%
1938 → 3019.3/100K
Property Crime Rate
+9%
3934.7 → 4287.4/100K
Property offenses lead Highland Park's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs MI
vs US avg
Property Crime
355
4287.4
1395.3
1711
Larceny-Theft
181
2186
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
103
1244
-
-
Burglary
71
857.5
-
-
Arson
11
132.9
-
-
Violent Crime
250
3019.3
431.4
352
Aggravated Assault
209
2524.2
-
-
Robbery
29
350.2
-
-
Rape
9
108.7
-
-
Murder
3
36.2
-
-
Highland Park Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Highland Park property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averagesRead the chart as a list
Highland Park: 3019 violent, 4287 property per 100,000 (grade F)
Center Line: 422 violent, 1495 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Flushing: 73 violent, 562 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Brighton: 111 violent, 1229 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Menominee: 419 violent, 973 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Mason: 160 violent, 776 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Northfield Township: 71 violent, 556 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Spring Arbor Township: 129 violent, 353 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Raisin Township: 87 violent, 386 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Highland Park Police Department
Reporting agency for Highland Park NIBRS-participating
Highland Park Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Highland Park's 605 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in Michigan
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Michigan cities closest to Highland Park in population. Their populations run from 8,038 to 8,501, against 8,280 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Highland Park reported 250 violent crimes and 355 property crimes, for a total of 605 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Highland Park?
From 2023 to 2024, Highland Park's violent crime rate increased by 55.8%, and the property crime rate increased by 9%.
What is the most common crime in Highland Park?
The most common crime type in Highland Park is aggravated assault, accounting for 34.5% of all reported crimes (209 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Highland Park is sourced from FBI UCR Table 8 for 2024; rates use that row's population.
Small-city rows use the same per-100,000 formula; a few unreported years can leave gaps in the trend table. Verify the agency's submission on FBI.gov UCR.
Disclaimer (small city): UCR counts here are informational only. They are not a victimization probability. Source: FBI UCR Program.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Highland Park, MI rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.