Norton Shores sees more property crime per resident than 74% of U.S. towns
From 2023 to 2025, crimes Norton Shores’ police reported put it at C for safety: #179 of 266 graded towns in Michigan. By contrast, the yearly rates were 2.3 violent crimes and 18.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 5.4 and 17.5 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 Norton Shores
Norton Shores reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 5 Michigan towns on Norton Shores’ borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Roosevelt Park (D). Muskegon Heights, Fruitport Township and Muskegon reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024. Spring Lake Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Norton Shores’ 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; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.3) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Norton Shores | Rest of Michigan | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.3 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.3 | 5.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.9 | 5.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.8 | 5.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Norton Shores’ police reported 175 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.3 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 Norton Shores 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 3 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Norton Shores property | Rest of Michigan property | Norton Shores violent | Rest of Michigan violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 23.1 | 18.7 | 2.3 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 20.3 | 19.4 | 2.3 | 5.7 |
| 2024 | 18.8 | 17.4 | 1.9 | 5.4 |
| 2025 | 16.9 | 15.6 | 2.8 | 5.1 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
492 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.
69 violent and 423 property, as reported to the FBI by Norton Shores’ police.
Six people died in crashes on Norton Shores’s roads in 2019–2023
Norton Shores had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which six people died; 2 were pedestrians.
That is about what is typical for Michigan towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (5.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Norton Shores’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Norton Shores’s own rate (4.8) 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.
Norton Shores and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norton Shores | C | 2.3 | 18.7 |
| Muskegon Heights | — | — | — |
| Roosevelt Park | D | 2.1 | 52.1 |
| Fruitport Township | — | — | — |
| Muskegon | — | — | — |
| Spring Lake Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Muskegon Heights, Fruitport Township and Muskegon reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024. Spring Lake Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Michigan towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norton Shores | C | 2.3 | 18.7 |
| Auburn Hills | C− | 3.2 | 20.2 |
| Walker | C− | 2.3 | 24.7 |
| Blackman Township | C− | 2.7 | 25.1 |
| Romulus | D | 8.7 | 21.6 |
| Inkster | D | 10.4 | 19.1 |
The five graded Michigan towns closest to Norton Shores’ population (25,088), 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 Norton Shores. 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 Norton Shores’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (25,083 in 2025); our figure for Norton Shores is 25,088 (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 Norton Shores
Is Norton Shores, MI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Norton Shores reports more crime per resident than 69% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #179 of 266 in Michigan. Its police reported 2.3 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 Norton Shores?
2.3 violent and 18.7 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.
How many homicides were there in Norton Shores in 2025?
Norton Shores’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Norton Shores safer than Roosevelt Park?
Roosevelt Park reports more crime per resident than Norton Shores: Roosevelt Park grades D for safety and Norton Shores C. Roosevelt Park’s police reported 2.1 violent and 52.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Norton Shores?
Norton Shores’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Norton Shores”. 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 Norton Shores.
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.