Photo: Tony Webster from San Francisco, California · CC BY-SA 2.0Duluth reports more crime per resident than 83% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Duluth’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #154 of 166 graded towns in Minnesota.
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 Duluth
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 7 Minnesota towns on Duluth’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Proctor (B+), Hermantown (C). Rice Lake, Midway Township, Lakewood Township, Twin Lakes Township and Canosia Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
A college town
Duluth is home to the University of Minnesota-Duluth, with 9,130 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 15% 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
Duluth has 56,525 jobs based in town for 88,330 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 Duluth’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; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.4) 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.
For every 1,000 residents, about 30 property crimes reported
And about 2 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Duluth’s police reported 625 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Minnesota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Duluth | Rest of Minnesota | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Reported crime is steady
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Duluth property | Rest of Minnesota property | Duluth violent | Rest of Minnesota violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 29.1 | 24.7 | 2.9 | 3.4 |
| 2023 | 29.1 | 21.6 | 2.6 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 29.5 | 20.4 | 2.2 | 3.1 |
| 2025 | 30.3 | 18.0 | 2.3 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
2,881 crimes reported in 2025
203 violent and 2,678 property, as reported to the FBI by Duluth’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
19 people died in crashes on Duluth’s roads in 2019–2023
Duluth had 17 fatal crashes in five years, in which 19 people died; 3 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 3 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 4.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for Minnesota towns of 25,000–100,000 people (4.2, 40 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.
Duluth and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duluth | C− | 2.4 | 29.7 |
| Hermantown | C | 0.7 | 24.1 |
| Rice Lake | — | — | — |
| Midway Township | — | — | — |
| Proctor | B+ | 0.9 | 7.5 |
| Lakewood Township | — | — | — |
| Twin Lakes Township | — | — | — |
| Canosia Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Rice Lake, Midway Township, Lakewood Township, Twin Lakes Township and Canosia Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Minnesota towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duluth | C− | 2.4 | 29.7 |
| Lakeville | A− | 0.9 | 5.9 |
| Plymouth | B+ | 0.6 | 9.8 |
| Woodbury | B | 0.8 | 12.1 |
| Brooklyn Park | C− | 3.4 | 23.7 |
| Bloomington | D | 3.0 | 34.0 |
The five graded Minnesota towns closest to Duluth’s population (88,330), 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 Duluth. 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 Duluth’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (88,307 in 2025); our figure for Duluth is 88,330 (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 Duluth
Is Duluth, MN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Duluth reports more crime per resident than 83% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #154 of 166 in Minnesota. Its police reported 2.4 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 Duluth?
2.4 violent and 29.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Minnesota reports 3.0 and 20.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Duluth?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Duluth in 2025?
Duluth’s police reported 4 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 4.5 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Duluth safer than Hermantown?
Hermantown reports less crime per resident than Duluth: Hermantown grades C for safety and Duluth C−. Hermantown’s police reported 0.7 violent and 24.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Duluth?
Duluth’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Duluth”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Duluth.
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.