Photo: User Mxobe on en.wikipedia · Public domainCrime per resident in Kalamazoo runs higher than in 98% of U.S. towns
On crimes Kalamazoo’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades D− for safety: #259 of 266 graded towns in Michigan. What’s more, it has more violent crime than 99% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 94%. The crimes the grade counts fell 26% per resident from 2023 to 2025. Year on year, 12.0 violent crimes and 35.0 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 5.3 and 17.3 in the rest of Michigan.
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 Kalamazoo
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 5 Michigan towns on Kalamazoo’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Portage (C−), Kalamazoo Township (D). Oshtemo Township, Comstock Township and Parchment have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
A college town
Kalamazoo is home to Western Michigan University, with 14,743 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 22% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
A job center
Kalamazoo has 43,823 jobs based in town for 72,683 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell 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 Kalamazoo’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Kalamazoo property | Rest of Michigan property | Kalamazoo violent | Rest of Michigan violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 45.0 | 18.4 | 15.2 | 5.6 |
| 2023 | 41.6 | 19.2 | 12.5 | 5.7 |
| 2024 | 34.5 | 17.2 | 12.8 | 5.3 |
| 2025 | 29.0 | 15.4 | 10.8 | 5.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident fell 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 | Kalamazoo | Rest of Michigan | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 15.2 | 5.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 12.5 | 5.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 12.8 | 5.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 10.8 | 5.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Kalamazoo’s police reported 2,633 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 12.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.3 in the rest of Michigan and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Kalamazoo 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 11 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
2,914 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.
789 violent and 2,125 property, as reported to the FBI by Kalamazoo’s police.
27 people died in crashes on Kalamazoo’s roads in 2019–2023
Kalamazoo had 27 fatal crashes in five years, in which 27 people died; 9 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 1 died in crash on an Interstate.
That is 7.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Michigan towns of 25,000–100,000 people (5.3, 77 towns).
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.
Kalamazoo and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kalamazoo | D− | 12.0 | 35.0 |
| Kalamazoo Township | D | 6.2 | 27.9 |
| Portage | C− | 2.5 | 29.1 |
| Oshtemo Township | — | — | — |
| Comstock Township | — | — | — |
| Parchment | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Oshtemo Township, Comstock Township and Parchment have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Michigan towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kalamazoo | D− | 12.0 | 35.0 |
| Rochester Hills | A− | 0.7 | 6.4 |
| Novi | B+ | 1.0 | 6.8 |
| Waterford Township | B− | 2.6 | 7.5 |
| Wyoming | C− | 4.7 | 22.2 |
| Southfield | D | 5.4 | 25.0 |
The five graded Michigan towns closest to Kalamazoo’s population (72,683), 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 Kalamazoo. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Kalamazoo’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (73,244 in 2025); our figure for Kalamazoo is 72,683 (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 Kalamazoo
Is Kalamazoo, MI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Kalamazoo reports more crime per resident than 98% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #259 of 266 in Michigan. Its police reported 12.0 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.3 in the rest of Michigan and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Kalamazoo?
12.0 violent and 35.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Michigan reports 5.3 and 17.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Kalamazoo in 2025?
Kalamazoo’s police reported 7 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 9.6 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Kalamazoo safer than Kalamazoo Township?
Kalamazoo Township reports less crime per resident than Kalamazoo: Kalamazoo Township grades D for safety and Kalamazoo D−. Kalamazoo Township’s police reported 6.2 violent and 27.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Kalamazoo?
Kalamazoo’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Kalamazoo”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Kalamazoo.
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.