Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0Per resident, Traverse City records more violent crime than 82% of U.S. towns
The rate the grade counts held about level from 2023 to 2025. Its letter overall is C+ (#158 of 266 graded towns in Michigan): more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, from crimes its police reported through 2023 to 2025. Still, each year brought 4.0 violent crimes and 7.7 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (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 Traverse City
A college town
Traverse City is home to Northwestern Michigan College, with 2,313 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 6% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
A job center
Traverse City has 24,319 jobs based in town for 15,832 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
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 Traverse City’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Traverse City’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down.
Crime in Traverse City 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 6 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Traverse City | Rest of Michigan | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.8 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.9 | 5.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.2 | 5.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 5.8 | 5.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Traverse City’s police reported 188 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.4 in the rest of Michigan and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Traverse City property | Rest of Michigan property | Traverse City violent | Rest of Michigan violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.9 | 18.7 | 2.8 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 10.3 | 19.4 | 2.9 | 5.7 |
| 2024 | 5.5 | 17.4 | 3.2 | 5.4 |
| 2025 | 7.4 | 15.6 | 5.8 | 5.1 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
209 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.
92 violent and 117 property, as reported to the FBI by Traverse City’s police.
Seven people died in crashes on Traverse City’s roads in 2019–2023
Traverse City had 7 fatal crashes in five years, in which seven people died; 3 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is about what is typical for Michigan towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (6.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Traverse City’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Traverse City’s own rate (9.0) 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.
Traverse City and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traverse City | C+ | 4.0 | 7.7 |
| Garfield Township | — | — | — |
| Peninsula Township | — | — | — |
| East Bay Township | — | — | — |
| Elmwood Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Garfield Township, Peninsula Township, East Bay Township and Elmwood Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Michigan towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traverse City | C+ | 4.0 | 7.7 |
| Brandon Township | A | 0.6 | 2.0 |
| Berkley | A | 0.4 | 4.0 |
| DeWitt Township | B | 2.0 | 7.0 |
| Grosse Pointe Woods | B | 0.9 | 13.1 |
| Huron Township | B− | 2.9 | 5.3 |
The five graded Michigan towns closest to Traverse City’s population (15,832), 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 Traverse City. 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 Traverse City’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (15,809 in 2025); our figure for Traverse City is 15,832 (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 Traverse City
Is Traverse City, MI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Traverse City reports more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #158 of 266 in Michigan. Its police reported 4.0 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 Traverse City?
4.0 violent and 7.7 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.
Who polices Traverse City?
Traverse City’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Traverse City”. 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 Traverse City.
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.