Michigan Paper Company Mill Historic District · Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0Reported crime per resident in Plainwell rose 31% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Plainwell grades C+ for safety (#158 of 266 graded towns in Michigan): more crime per resident than 62% 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 Plainwell
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 Plainwell’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 (2.9) 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 (12.5) 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 is rising
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Plainwell property | Rest of Michigan property | Plainwell violent | Rest of Michigan violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 16.9 | 18.7 | 2.1 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 12.1 | 19.4 | 1.6 | 5.7 |
| 2024 | 11.8 | 17.4 | 2.7 | 5.4 |
| 2025 | 13.7 | 15.6 | 4.3 | 5.1 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Plainwell’s police reported 32 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.9 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 | Plainwell | Rest of Michigan | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.1 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.6 | 5.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.7 | 5.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.3 | 5.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 14 property crimes reported
And about 4 violent crimes, 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.
67 crimes reported in 2025
16 violent and 51 property, as reported to the FBI by Plainwell’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 Plainwell’s roads in 2019–2023
Plainwell had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
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 Plainwell’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Plainwell’s own rate (5.3) 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.
Plainwell and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plainwell | C+ | 2.9 | 12.5 |
| Gun Plain Township | — | — | — |
| Otsego Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Gun Plain Township and Otsego Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Michigan towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plainwell | C+ | 2.9 | 12.5 |
| Boyne City | A− | 0.9 | 4.5 |
| Williamston | B+ | 1.7 | 4.8 |
| Portland | B | 1.4 | 8.4 |
| Belleville | C+ | 2.7 | 10.0 |
| Imlay City | C+ | 2.9 | 12.1 |
The five graded Michigan towns closest to Plainwell’s population (3,722), 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 Plainwell. 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 Plainwell’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (3,723 in 2025); our figure for Plainwell is 3,722 (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 Plainwell
Is Plainwell, MI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Plainwell reports more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #158 of 266 in Michigan. Its police reported 2.9 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 Plainwell?
2.9 violent and 12.5 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 Plainwell?
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices Plainwell?
Plainwell’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Plainwell”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Plainwell.
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.