Sylvan Lake records less violent crime per head than 95% of U.S. towns
Weighing it all, Sylvan Lake earns A− for safety, with less crime per resident than 79% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported over 2023 to 2025. What’s more, in a usual year, 0.2 violent crime and 7.8 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of Michigan, 5.4 and 17.5. Each of the 3 towns on its borders with figures records more crime per resident.
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 Sylvan Lake
Sylvan Lake reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 3 Michigan towns on Sylvan Lake’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: West Bloomfield Township (A−), Waterford Township (B−), Pontiac (D). Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Sylvan Lake’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; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Sylvan Lake | Rest of Michigan | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.4 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.0 | 5.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.6 | 5.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.0 | 5.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Sylvan Lake’s police reported 1 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.2 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 Sylvan Lake 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 no 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 | Sylvan Lake property | Rest of Michigan property | Sylvan Lake violent | Rest of Michigan violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.4 | 18.7 | 2.4 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 10.6 | 19.4 | 0.0 | 5.7 |
| 2024 | 7.7 | 17.4 | 0.6 | 5.4 |
| 2025 | 5.3 | 15.6 | 0.0 | 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.
9 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.
0 violent and 9 property, as reported to the FBI by Sylvan Lake’s police.
No one died in a crash on Sylvan Lake’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 Sylvan Lake’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Sylvan Lake’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.
Sylvan Lake and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sylvan Lake | A− | 0.2 | 7.8 |
| West Bloomfield Township | A− | 1.0 | 5.1 |
| Pontiac | D | 9.6 | 16.4 |
| Waterford Township | B− | 2.6 | 7.5 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Michigan towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sylvan Lake | A− | 0.2 | 7.8 |
| Armada | A− | 1.2 | 4.0 |
| New Buffalo | B | 2.4 | 5.3 |
| Cassopolis | C+ | 3.1 | 9.2 |
| Watervliet | C | 4.8 | 7.6 |
| Decatur | C− | 4.0 | 19.6 |
The five graded Michigan towns closest to Sylvan Lake’s population (1,685), 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 Sylvan Lake. 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 Sylvan Lake’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (1,712 in 2025); our figure for Sylvan Lake is 1,685 (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 Sylvan Lake
Is Sylvan Lake, MI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Sylvan Lake reports less crime per resident than 79% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade. Its police reported 0.2 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 Sylvan Lake?
0.2 violent and 7.8 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 Sylvan Lake safer than West Bloomfield Township?
West Bloomfield Township reports more crime per resident than Sylvan Lake: West Bloomfield Township grades A− for safety and Sylvan Lake A−. West Bloomfield Township’s police reported 1.0 violent and 5.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Sylvan Lake?
Sylvan Lake’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Sylvan Lake”. 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 Sylvan Lake.
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.