Owatonna, MN carries a PlainCrime A safety grade with violent crime 57% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Owatonna, MN shows violent crime at 150.5 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 820.4 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 57% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade A from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
A safety grade
150.5/100K violent
820.4/100K property
-57% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Owatonna, MN
Comparable rate records
Owatonna's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Minnesota cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Owatonna's 150.5 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are St. James (149.9), North Mankato (149.8), Fulda (151.3), Northfield (151.7). 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 198.3 per 100,000 in 2020 to 150.5 in 2024 (-24.1%). The highest observed value was 231.1 in 2022 and the lowest 150.5 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Owatonna sits mid-pack among comparable Minnesota cities
At 150.5 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Owatonna ranks 94 of 276 — above 182 of the 275 other Minnesota cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +53.8% against the cohort median of 97.8. 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 15.5% of the 258 Part I offenses reported in Owatonna for 2024, against a median of 10.6% across comparable Minnesota cities — a gap of 4.9 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.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 76.1% of reported property offenses in Owatonna, against a cohort median of 85.7%. The remainder is burglary (29) and motor vehicle theft (23). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Owatonna'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.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Owatonna's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 15.2 Census sq mi, Owatonna logged 14.4 property and 2.6 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Owatonna's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (64% of 258 offenses; mix index 4,483).
Violent offenses are 16% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (15.2 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
-21.8%
192.4 → 150.5/100K
Property Crime Rate
-9.8%
909.4 → 820.4/100K
Property offenses lead Owatonna's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs MN
Property Crime
218
820.4
1711
1624.6
Larceny-Theft
166
624.7
-
-
Burglary
29
109.1
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
23
86.6
-
-
Arson
5
18.8
-
-
Violent Crime
40
150.5
352
259.4
Aggravated Assault
28
105.4
-
-
Rape
10
37.6
-
-
Robbery
2
7.5
-
-
Murder
0
0
-
-
Owatonna Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Owatonna property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Owatonna Police Department
Reporting agency for Owatonna NIBRS-participating
Owatonna Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Owatonna's 258 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 Minnesota
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Minnesota cities closest to Owatonna in population. Their populations run from 24,708 to 28,813, against 26,573 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Owatonna reported 40 violent crimes and 218 property crimes, for a total of 258 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Owatonna?
From 2023 to 2024, Owatonna's violent crime rate decreased by 21.8%, and the property crime rate decreased by 9.8%.
What is the most common crime in Owatonna?
The most common crime type in Owatonna is larceny-theft, accounting for 64.3% of all reported crimes (166 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Owatonna figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Owatonna, MN rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.