St. Joseph, MI carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 26% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, St. Joseph, MI shows violent crime at 442.2 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,534.7 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 26% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade C from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
C safety grade
442.2/100K violent
1534.7/100K property
+26% vs U.S.
The verdict
St. Joseph earns a C safety grade: violent crime runs 26% above the U.S. average, placing it among the highest-crime cities in the country.
C
PlainCrime safety grade
+26%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
17th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
1,534.7
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for St. Joseph, MI
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 288.7 per 100,000 in 2020 to 442.2 in 2024 (+53.2%). The highest observed value was 442.2 in 2024 and the lowest 217.3 in 2021. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Comparable rate records
St. Joseph's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Michigan cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to St. Joseph's 442.2 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Greenville (442.1), Clinton (444.4), Coloma Township (439.1), Southgate (446.0). 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.
Position in the state cohort
St. Joseph reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Michigan cities
At 442.2 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, St. Joseph ranks 67 of 366 — above 299 of the 365 other Michigan cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +136.5% 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 22.4% of the 152 Part I offenses reported in St. Joseph for 2024, against a median of 16.7% across comparable Michigan cities — a gap of 5.7 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
Larceny-theft dominates the property total more than it does across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 88.1% of reported property offenses in St. Joseph, against a cohort median of 79.7%. The remainder is burglary (9) and motor vehicle theft (5). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate St. Joseph'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.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
+55.3%
284.8 → 442.2/100K
Property Crime Rate
+21%
1268.4 → 1534.7/100K
Property offenses lead St. Joseph's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
118
1534.7
1711
Larceny-Theft
104
1352.6
-
Burglary
9
117.1
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
5
65
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
34
442.2
352
Aggravated Assault
31
403.2
-
Rape
2
26
-
Robbery
1
13
-
Murder
0
0
-
St. Joseph Crime Trend (2020-2024)
St. Joseph property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
1,534.7/100K↑21%vs 2023
St. Joseph violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · rose · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
442.2/100K↑55.3%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
8,313
288.7
1239
127
2021
Comparable
8,283
217.3
869.3
90
2022
Comparable
7,684
273.3
1379.5
127
2023
Comparable
7,726
284.8
1268.4
120
2024
Comparable
7,689
442.2
1534.7
152
How St. Joseph sits among MI peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
St. Joseph Police Department NIBRS-participating
St. Joseph's crime figures on this page originate from St. Joseph Police Department's submission to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
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 St. Joseph in population. Their populations run from 7,485 to 7,947, against 7,689 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These Michigan cities report the closest violent-crime rates to St. Joseph's 442.2/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
St. Joseph has a violent crime rate of 442.2 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 1534.7 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is St. Joseph, MI safe? ▼
St. Joseph receives a safety grade of C (Average), with a safety score of 43/100. The violent crime rate is 26% above the national average and 3% above the Michigan average.
What is the population of St. Joseph, MI? ▼
The reporting population for St. Joseph is 7,689 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in St. Joseph? ▼
In 2024, St. Joseph reported 34 violent crimes and 118 property crimes, for a total of 152 reported offenses.
How do St. Joseph's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, St. Joseph recorded about one reported offense per 51 residents and one reported violent offense per 226 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in St. Joseph? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, St. Joseph's violent crime rate increased by 55.3%, and the property crime rate increased by 21%.
What is the most common crime in St. Joseph? ▼
The most common crime type in St. Joseph is larceny-theft, accounting for 68.4% of all reported crimes (104 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: St. Joseph 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 St. Joseph, MI rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.