Packard Proving Grounds Gateway Complex · Photo: Andrew Jameson · CC BY-SA 3.0Shelby Township sees less property crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns
Among its 4 neighbors with figures, 2 record less crime per resident. Year on year, 1.5 violent crimes and 5.4 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 5.5 and 17.6 in the rest of Michigan. Overall, Shelby Township grades B+ for safety (#81 of 266 graded towns in Michigan): less crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 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 Shelby Township
2 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 Michigan towns on Shelby Township’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Rochester (A), Rochester Hills (A−), Sterling Heights (B−), Utica (C−). Macomb Township and Washington Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Shelby Township’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Shelby Township | Rest of Michigan | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.4 | 5.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.4 | 5.8 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.6 | 5.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.4 | 5.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Shelby Township’s police reported 356 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.5 in the rest of Michigan and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Shelby Township 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.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Shelby Township property | Rest of Michigan property | Shelby Township violent | Rest of Michigan violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.0 | 18.9 | 1.4 | 5.8 |
| 2023 | 5.9 | 19.6 | 1.4 | 5.8 |
| 2024 | 5.4 | 17.5 | 1.6 | 5.5 |
| 2025 | 4.9 | 15.7 | 1.4 | 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.
512 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.
114 violent and 398 property, as reported to the FBI by Shelby Township’s police.
20 people died in crashes on Shelby Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Shelby Township had 18 fatal crashes in five years, in which 20 people died; 4 were pedestrians.
That is 5.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as 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.
Shelby Township and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shelby Township | B+ | 1.5 | 5.4 |
| Utica | C− | 3.8 | 26.3 |
| Rochester Hills | A− | 0.7 | 6.4 |
| Sterling Heights | B− | 2.1 | 11.0 |
| Macomb Township | — | — | — |
| Washington Township | — | — | — |
| Rochester | A | 0.3 | 3.3 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Macomb Township and Washington Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Michigan towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shelby Township | B+ | 1.5 | 5.4 |
| Farmington Hills | B | 1.7 | 8.6 |
| Westland | C− | 4.6 | 13.9 |
| Wyoming | C− | 4.7 | 22.2 |
| Southfield | D | 5.4 | 25.0 |
| Flint | D | 12.2 | 13.4 |
The five graded Michigan towns closest to Shelby Township’s population (80,415), 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 Shelby Township. 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 Shelby Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (80,698 in 2025); our figure for Shelby Township is 80,415 (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 Shelby Township
Is Shelby Township, MI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Shelby Township reports less crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #81 of 266 in Michigan. Its police reported 1.5 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.5 in the rest of Michigan and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Shelby Township?
1.5 violent and 5.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Michigan reports 5.5 and 17.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Shelby Township in 2025?
Shelby Township’s police reported 4 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 5.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Shelby Township safer than Utica?
Utica reports more crime per resident than Shelby Township: Utica grades C− for safety and Shelby Township B+. Utica’s police reported 3.8 violent and 26.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Shelby Township?
Shelby Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Shelby Township”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Shelby Township.
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.