Bad Axe sits close to the middle of U.S. towns for reported crime
Overall, Bad Axe grades B− for safety (#147 of 266 graded towns in Michigan): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of MI” is every other Michigan city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Bad Axe
A job center
Bad Axe has 2,537 jobs based in town for 2,943 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Bad Axe’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.0) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns. Its property rate (11.7) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Bad Axe’s police reported 18 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.4 in the rest of Michigan and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Bad Axe | Rest of Michigan | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.0 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.0 | 5.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.7 | 5.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.4 | 5.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 9 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
Reported crime is steady
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Michigan.
Show as a table
| Year | Bad Axe property | Rest of Michigan property | Bad Axe violent | Rest of Michigan violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 15.6 | 18.7 | 2.0 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 12.7 | 19.4 | 1.0 | 5.7 |
| 2024 | 13.5 | 17.4 | 3.7 | 5.4 |
| 2025 | 8.8 | 15.6 | 1.4 | 5.1 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
30 crimes reported in 2025
4 violent and 26 property, as reported to the FBI by Bad Axe’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
One person died in crashes on Bad Axe’s roads in 2019–2023
Bad Axe had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what is typical for Michigan towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (12.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Bad Axe’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bad Axe’s own rate (6.7) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Bad Axe and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bad Axe | B− | 2.0 | 11.7 |
| Colfax Township | — | — | — |
| Verona Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Colfax Township and Verona Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Michigan towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bad Axe | B− | 2.0 | 11.7 |
| Rogers City | A | 0.7 | 3.0 |
| Corunna | A− | 1.2 | 3.0 |
| Lake Orion | B+ | 2.0 | 3.2 |
| Mattawan | C | 4.2 | 9.6 |
| Fowlerville | C | 1.8 | 23.4 |
The five graded Michigan towns closest to Bad Axe’s population (2,943), by grade.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Bad Axe. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Bad Axe’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (2,951 in 2025); our figure for Bad Axe is 2,943 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Bad Axe
Is Bad Axe, MI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Bad Axe reports more crime per resident than 53% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #147 of 266 in Michigan. Its police reported 2.0 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.4 in the rest of Michigan and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Bad Axe?
2.0 violent and 11.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Michigan reports 5.4 and 17.5; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Bad Axe?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices Bad Axe?
Bad Axe’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Bad Axe”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Bad Axe.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.