Photo: WeaponizingArchitecture · CC BY-SA 4.0Less violent crime is recorded per resident in Brighton than in 77% of U.S. towns
Per resident, the graded crimes were up 35% from 2023 to 2025. Still, typical years here bring 0.7 violent crime plus 12.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 5.4 plus 17.5 in the rest of Michigan. Weighing it all, Brighton earns B for safety (#114 of 266 graded towns in Michigan), with close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported over 2023 to 2025. Both towns next door with figures record less crime per resident.
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 Brighton
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 4 Michigan towns on Brighton’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Hamburg Township (A), Green Oak Township (A). Genoa Township and Brighton Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
A job center
Brighton has 9,058 jobs based in town for 7,904 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Reported crime is rising
Crime reported per resident rose from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Brighton’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Brighton’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (12.6) 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Brighton property | Rest of Michigan property | Brighton violent | Rest of Michigan violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 13.9 | 18.7 | 0.9 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 11.1 | 19.4 | 0.3 | 5.7 |
| 2024 | 12.3 | 17.4 | 1.1 | 5.4 |
| 2025 | 14.5 | 15.6 | 0.7 | 5.1 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Michigan.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Brighton | Rest of Michigan | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.9 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.3 | 5.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.1 | 5.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.7 | 5.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Brighton’s police reported 17 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.7 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.4 in the rest of Michigan and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Brighton per 1,000 residents
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.
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
123 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
6 violent and 117 property, as reported to the FBI by Brighton’s police.
One person died in crashes on Brighton’s roads in 2019–2023
Brighton had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died. Most of these deaths (1 of 1) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is about what is typical for Michigan towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (6.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Brighton’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Brighton’s own rate (2.6) 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.
Brighton and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton | B | 0.7 | 12.6 |
| Genoa Township | — | — | — |
| Brighton Township | — | — | — |
| Green Oak Township | A | 0.7 | 3.9 |
| Hamburg Township | A | 0.6 | 1.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Genoa Township and Brighton Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Michigan towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton | B | 0.7 | 12.6 |
| Grand Ledge | B+ | 1.6 | 4.4 |
| Grand Blanc | B | 1.9 | 7.3 |
| Hillsdale | B− | 3.0 | 7.9 |
| St. Joseph | C | 3.0 | 13.9 |
| Three Rivers | D | 6.2 | 33.9 |
The five graded Michigan towns closest to Brighton’s population (7,904), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
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 Brighton. 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 Brighton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (8,058 in 2025); our figure for Brighton is 7,904 (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 Brighton
Is Brighton, MI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Brighton reports less crime per resident than 58% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #114 of 266 in Michigan. Its police reported 0.7 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 Brighton?
0.7 violent and 12.6 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 Brighton safer than Green Oak Township?
Green Oak Township reports less crime per resident than Brighton: Green Oak Township grades A for safety and Brighton B. Green Oak Township’s police reported 0.7 violent and 3.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Brighton?
Brighton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Brighton”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Brighton.
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.