Photo: Myotus · CC BY 4.0Per resident, Detroit Lakes records more property crime than two in three U.S. towns
Weighing it all, Detroit Lakes earns C+ for safety (#120 of 166 graded towns in Minnesota), with more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported over 2023 to 2025. By contrast, the local count comes to 1.9 violent crimes and 16.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 3.0 and 20.2 in the rest of Minnesota. The crimes the grade counts held steady per resident from 2023 to 2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of MN” is every other Minnesota 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 Detroit Lakes
A job center
Detroit Lakes has 8,934 jobs based in town for 10,019 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Detroit Lakes’ 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 (1.9) 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 (16.2) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Detroit Lakes | Rest of Minnesota | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.7 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Detroit Lakes’ police reported 58 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Minnesota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Detroit Lakes 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 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
How crime in Detroit Lakes has moved
Show as a table
| Year | Detroit Lakes property | Rest of Minnesota property | Detroit Lakes violent | Rest of Minnesota violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 21.9 | 24.8 | 2.7 | 3.4 |
| 2023 | 16.7 | 21.8 | 2.2 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 15.4 | 20.6 | 1.7 | 3.1 |
| 2025 | 16.4 | 18.2 | 1.9 | 2.7 |
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 Minnesota.
184 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.
19 violent and 165 property, as reported to the FBI by Detroit Lakes’ police.
One person died in crashes on Detroit Lakes’s roads in 2019–2023
Detroit Lakes had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died; 1 was a cyclist.
That is about what is typical for Minnesota towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (3.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Detroit Lakes’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Detroit Lakes’s own rate (2.0) 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.
Detroit Lakes and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Lakes | C+ | 1.9 | 16.2 |
| Detroit Township | — | — | — |
| Lake View Township | — | — | — |
| Burlington Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Detroit Township, Lake View Township and Burlington Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Minnesota towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Lakes | C+ | 1.9 | 16.2 |
| Minnetrista | A | 0.4 | 3.9 |
| Little Falls | C+ | 1.4 | 16.9 |
| Fairmont | C+ | 2.3 | 14.5 |
| Hermantown | C | 0.7 | 24.1 |
| St. Anthony | C− | 1.6 | 27.5 |
The five graded Minnesota towns closest to Detroit Lakes’ population (10,019), 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 Detroit Lakes. 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 Detroit Lakes’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (10,032 in 2025); our figure for Detroit Lakes is 10,019 (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 Detroit Lakes
Is Detroit Lakes, MN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Detroit Lakes reports more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #120 of 166 in Minnesota. Its police reported 1.9 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Minnesota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Detroit Lakes?
1.9 violent and 16.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Minnesota reports 3.0 and 20.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Detroit Lakes?
Detroit Lakes’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Detroit Lakes”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Detroit Lakes.
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.