Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0What is recorded in Lake Leelanau, and why there is no grade
The nearest town with a Safety Grade is Traverse City, 17 miles away, graded C+. Lake Leelanau has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in Leelanau County. The Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office reports to the FBI for the parts of the county without police of their own, so there are no figures for Lake Leelanau alone, and no Safety Grade.
What stands out about safety in Lake Leelanau
Policed by the county
Lake Leelanau is a census-designated place, with no town government. Crimes there are reported to the FBI inside the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office’s totals for the county. County police ↓
Counts, not rates
The FBI doesn’t publish how many people the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office covers, so its totals can’t be turned into a per-resident rate or a grade for Lake Leelanau. County police ↓
The nearest graded towns
The closest Michigan towns with their own police figures are Traverse City (C+, 17 mi), East Jordan (C+, 31 mi), Kalkaska (B, 31 mi). Nearby towns can differ a lot from Lake Leelanau. Nearest ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office reports
Reports to the FBI for the parts of Leelanau County without police of their own, which include Lake Leelanau.
Property crimes
Violent crimes
2024 offenses reported by the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office
Counts, not rates: the FBI doesn’t publish how many people each agency covers. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Tables 10–11.
Crimes reported to the FBI for the whole area the department covers, by year.
The nearest Michigan towns with a Safety Grade
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traverse City | C+ | 17 mi | 4.0 | 7.7 |
| East Jordan | C+ | 31 mi | 3.1 | 9.6 |
| Kalkaska | B | 31 mi | 0.9 | 11.3 |
| Charlevoix | C | 32 mi | 2.8 | 17.0 |
| Boyne City | A− | 38 mi | 0.9 | 4.5 |
| Manton | A− | 42 mi | 0.9 | 4.8 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Lake Leelanau. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Lake Leelanau.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
No one died in a crash on Lake Leelanau’s roads in 2019–2023
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 Lake Leelanau’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lake Leelanau’s own rate (0.0) 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.
Lake Leelanau and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leland Township | — | — | — |
| Suttons Bay Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Leland Township and Suttons Bay Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
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.
- A county agency covers a wide area. Its totals mix many communities, so they say little about any one of them.
- 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 Lake Leelanau
Is Lake Leelanau, MI safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Lake Leelanau. The nearest Michigan towns with a grade are Traverse City (C+, 17 mi), East Jordan (C+, 31 mi), Kalkaska (B, 31 mi).
Who polices Lake Leelanau?
The Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office. Lake Leelanau is an unincorporated community, and the department reports to the FBI for the parts of Leelanau County without police of their own.
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 Lake Leelanau.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 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.