State crime profile · 2024

Minnesota Crime Rates: Safest & Most Dangerous Cities

Crime data for 278 cities and 84 counties in Minnesota (MN), ranked safest to most dangerous from 400 reporting agencies.

Data updated 2026-07-13

259.4
Violent / 100K
1,624.6
Property / 100K
278
Cities
84
Counties

The verdict

Minnesota's 259.4 violent crimes per 100,000 runs 26% below the U.S. average, making it safer than most states.

259.4
violent crimes per 100K
-26%
vs. the U.S. average
20th
safest of 51 states & DC
1,624.6
property crimes per 100K

How safe is Minnesota? FBI UCR data snapshot

Minnesota (MN) reported 15,025 violent crimes and 94,113 property crimes in 2024, based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program submissions from 400 law enforcement agencies. That translates to a statewide violent crime rate of 259.4 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 1624.6 per 100,000 against a reporting population of 5,793,151. The PlainCrime dataset indexes 278 Minnesota cities and 84 counties, each with their own detail pages and local crime figures drawn from FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10.

The FBI's state-level summary reports violent and property crime as aggregate totals rather than broken out by individual offense type (murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson). For an offense-by-offense breakdown, see the individual city and county pages for Minnesota below, which draw on FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10 and do report each offense type separately.

Across 11 years of state-level UCR history (2014–2024), the violent crime rate moved from 228.8 to 259.4 per 100,000, a rise of 13.4%. City-level detail pages within Minnesota include safety grades (A+ to F), benchmarks against national averages, per-capita risk estimates, and multi-year trend tables for users comparing specific jurisdictions. All figures above are drawn from FBI UCR 2024 submissions; reporting completeness varies by agency, and the FBI periodically restates prior-year figures as late submissions arrive.

State figures roll up the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) submissions from local and county agencies across the state, then express them per 100,000 residents so one state can be compared with another. Statewide averages hide a great deal of variation: a handful of large cities often account for much of a state's reported violent crime, while most of its land area and population live with markedly lower rates. Reporting completeness also differs between states, so a year-over-year change can reflect which agencies filed data as much as any real shift on the ground. Read a state number as the broad backdrop, then drill into the city and county pages for the local detail that actually shapes day-to-day decisions.

Violent Crime Rate
259.4/100K
Property Crime Rate
1624.6/100K
Population
5,793,151
Data Year
2024

How Minnesota ranks nationally

Minnesota vs. every U.S. state

Violent crime per 100,000 residents, FBI UCR 2024. Lower is safer.

259 Safer than 61% among 51 U.S. states

MN 0 1,100+ every state & DC, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band of values; taller bars hold more U.S. states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · 2024

Safest Cities

Top 50 by lowest violent crime rate

Most Dangerous Cities

Top 50 by highest violent crime rate

Crime Trends

Multi-year charts & analysis

Year Population Violent Crime Rate Property Crime Rate
2024 5,793,151 15,025 259.4 94,113 1624.6
2023 5,737,915 15,145 263.9 98,940 1724.3
2022 5,717,184 16,218 283.7 113,706 1988.8
2021 5,707,390 17,705 310.2 117,898 2065.7
2020 5,657,342 15,765 278.7 121,216 2142.6
2019 5,639,632 13,383 237.3 118,150 2095
2018 5,611,179 12,366 220.4 112,238 2000.3
2017 5,576,606 13,321 238.9 122,760 2201.3
2016 5,519,952 13,268 240.4 117,747 2133.1
2015 5,489,594 13,383 243.8 122,429 2230.2
2014 5,457,173 12,485 228.8 125,689 2303.2

Cities in Minnesota

Safest cities in Minnesota

Cities with 25,000+ residents, lowest violent crime per 100,000, FBI UCR 2024. Hover a bar for the exact rate.

/100K

What this shows Cottage Grove is the safest sizeable city in Minnesota, at 39.4 violent crimes per 100,000.

Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program As of 2024

Highest violent-crime cities in Minnesota

Cities with 25,000+ residents, highest violent crime per 100,000, FBI UCR 2024. Hover a bar for the exact rate.

/100K

What this shows Minneapolis reports the highest big-city violent-crime rate in Minnesota, at 1,160.2 per 100,000.

Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program As of 2024
Minnesota's largest cities, violent vs. property crime. X axis violent crime per 100K, Y axis property crime per 100K, split by the national averages. 14 cities; the anchor is ringed. Minnesota's largest cities, violent vs. property crime 46 1,253 Violent crime per 100K → 514 5,554 Property crime per 100K → Minneapolis St. Paul Rochester Duluth SAFEST HIGHEST CRIME Safety grade A / B C D / F
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are Minnesota's statewide averages · the four largest cities are labeled
City Population Violent / 100K Grade
Minneapolis 423,282 1,160.2 F
St. Paul 304,051 617.7 F
Rochester 122,694 154 B
Duluth 88,003 219.3 C
Bloomington 86,598 311.8 D
Woodbury 80,940 98.8 A
Brooklyn Park 80,665 291.3 C
Lakeville 78,436 76.5 A
Plymouth 76,577 50.9 A
Blaine 74,913 89.4 A
Maple Grove 71,622 113.1 B
St. Cloud 71,492 408.4 D
Eagan 66,956 103.1 B
Burnsville 64,860 209.7 B
Coon Rapids 63,308 211.7 B
Eden Prairie 61,511 73.2 A
Apple Valley 55,028 214.4 B
Edina 53,347 73.1 A
Minnetonka 51,935 115.5 B
St. Louis Park 49,592 179.5 C
Shakopee 48,239 116.1 A
Mankato 46,137 255.8 C
Moorhead 45,424 365.4 C
Cottage Grove 43,131 39.4 A+
Maplewood 39,638 454.1 D
Richfield 36,287 267.3 C
Inver Grove Heights 36,212 165.7 B
Roseville 35,507 399.9 D
Savage 33,140 78.5 A
Brooklyn Center 31,058 679.4 F
Fridley 30,355 247.1 C
Chaska 29,431 84.9 A
Ramsey 28,813 62.5 A
Rosemount 28,220 56.7 A+
Oakdale 28,214 180.8 B
Prior Lake 28,163 106.5 A
Elk River 27,826 89.8 A
Owatonna 26,573 150.5 A
Austin 26,160 191.1 B
Winona 26,045 188.1 B
Faribault 24,708 307.6 B
Farmington 23,995 79.2 A
Columbia Heights 23,341 321.3 C
White Bear Lake 23,106 86.6 A
Lino Lakes 22,685 35.3 A+
Champlin 22,532 115.4 A
West St. Paul 22,128 162.7 C
Hastings 22,112 113.1 A
New Brighton 22,022 90.8 A
Crystal 21,477 279.4 C
Willmar 21,437 438.5 C
Northfield 21,099 151.7 B
Golden Valley 20,806 67.3 A
Forest Lake 20,680 120.9 A
South St. Paul 20,648 348.7 C
New Hope 20,319 172.3 B
Sartell 19,845 65.5 A
Stillwater 19,185 83.4 A
Orono 18,943 52.8 A+
Hopkins 18,454 281.8 B
Albert Lea 18,194 208.9 B
Anoka 18,022 244.1 B
Red Wing 16,819 202.2 B
Buffalo 16,627 54.1 A+
Hibbing 15,915 62.8 A
Bemidji 15,853 813.7 F
Alexandria 15,136 290.7 C
Hutchinson 14,730 217.2 B
Brainerd 14,615 431.1 C
Fergus Falls 14,245 203.6 C
North Mankato 14,021 149.8 A
Marshall 13,924 272.9 B
New Ulm 13,858 72.2 A
Robbinsdale 13,771 384.9 C
Sauk Rapids 13,736 87.4 A
Rogers 13,716 131.2 B
Worthington 13,523 281 B
Big Lake 12,904 131.7 A
North St. Paul 12,762 188.1 B
Mounds View 12,730 188.5 B
St. Anthony 12,658 118.5 B
Cloquet 12,570 175 A
St. Peter 12,362 72.8 A
Centennial Lakes 12,219 65.5 A
North Branch 12,137 107.1 A
South Lake Minnetonka 11,961 33.4 A+
Mendota Heights 11,501 191.3 B
Grand Rapids 11,333 88.2 A
Dayton 11,273 17.7 A+
Minnetrista 11,072 45.2 A+
Cambridge 10,802 64.8 A
Lakes Area 10,781 102 A
Hermantown 10,196 78.5 B
Fairmont 10,173 294.9 C
Detroit Lakes 9,969 170.5 B
Baxter 9,249 173 C
Waseca 9,219 195.2 B
Little Falls 9,088 99 B
East Grand Forks 8,859 112.9 A
Thief River Falls 8,816 90.7 A
Showing the 100 largest of 278 reporting cities. Browse all 278 cities → Or see the safest and most dangerous rankings.

Counties in Minnesota

Largest counties in Minnesota, violent crime per 100K

Top 8 counties by population, violent crime per 100,000 residents. Hover a bar for the exact rate.

/100K
Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program As of 2024

Nearby States

Compare Minnesota with neighboring states, or use the compare tool for side-by-side jurisdiction benchmarking.

Primary source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, Crime in the United States annual release. State-level trends cross-check against the FBI Crime Data Explorer (CDE) API.

Population figures for rate calculations reference U.S. Census Bureau estimates where FBI-reported populations are unavailable. Verify with Census.gov QuickFacts.

Using PlainCrime rankings responsibly

Crime rankings are most useful when they sit alongside other community-quality signals, school performance, housing affordability, employment, and access to healthcare. A safer-than-average violent-crime rate in a small commuter suburb does not by itself make a city a better place to live; it is one data point among many. Likewise, a higher-than-average rate in a dense urban center may reflect that residents and visitors interact with police more often, not that the city is necessarily unsafe for its residents. We provide cross-links from each city profile to neighboring jurisdictions, state averages, and national benchmarks so you can read each number in context rather than in isolation.

For news outlets, researchers, and concerned residents who cite our rankings, the most defensible approach is to quote the per-100,000 rate, the reporting year, and the source agency in the same sentence. Avoid framing crime statistics as predictive, UCR data describes what was reported in a past year, not what will happen tomorrow. Where possible, pair our rankings with longitudinal trend data on the relevant city's profile page to show whether the rate is moving up, holding steady, or falling year over year.

Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.