Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Michigan?
We all watch the news with horror when we hear about a homicide that happens not that far away from us. While a murder just blocks or even a couple of towns away from your house would make anyone uneasy, in the long run, most likely, where you live is relatively safe.
To find the cities in Michigan with the most murders and the highest murder rates per capita, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the FBI crime data on murders for the 61 cities in the Wolverine State with over 7,000 residents.
What city has the highest murder rate in Michigan? The city with the highest murder rate in Michigan is Saginaw with 44 murders per 100,000 people.
What is the city in Michigan with highest number of murders? The city in Michigan with the highest number of murders is Detroit with 203 murders.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in Michigan ranked. There were ‘only’ 61 cities in Michigan where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 147 places had no murder.
44 per 100k · #1 highest murder rate in Michigan
Located in
Saginaw County, Michigan
Saginaw is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both located in the area known as Mid-Michigan or Central Michigan. The city of Saginaw is located adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and is considered part of the Tri-City area, along with neighboring Bay City and Midland. The Saginaw County MSA had a population of 196,542 in 2013. The city is also the largest municipality within the Saginaw, Midland, and Bay City Metropolitan Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
36 per 100k · #2 highest murder rate in Michigan
Located in
Wayne County, Michigan
Highland Park is a city in Wayne County in the State of Michigan, within Metro Detroit. The population was 11,776 at the 2010 census. The city is completely surrounded by Detroit except for a small portion that touches the city of Hamtramck, which is also surrounded by Detroit.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
31 per 100k · #3 highest murder rate in Michigan
Located in
Wayne County, Michigan
Detroit is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan, the largest city on the United States-Canada border, and the seat of Wayne County. The municipality of Detroit had a 2016 estimated population of 672,795, making it the 23rd-most populous city in the United States. The metropolitan area, known as Metro Detroit, is home to 4.3 million people, making it the second-largest in the Midwest after Chicago.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
28 per 100k · #4 highest murder rate in Michigan
25 per 100k · #5 highest murder rate in Michigan
Located in
Genesee County, Michigan
Flint is the largest city and county seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, 66 miles northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. According to the 2010 census, Flint has a population of 102,434, making it the seventh largest city in Michigan. The Flint metropolitan area is located entirely within Genesee County. It is the fourth largest metropolitan area in Michigan with a population of 425,790 in 2010. The city was incorporated in 1855.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
21 per 100k · #6 highest murder rate in Michigan
21 per 100k · #7 highest murder rate in Michigan
Located in
Oakland County, Michigan
Pontiac is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near Metro Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 59,515. It is the county seat of Oakland County, and about 12 miles north and slightly west of the Detroit city limits.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
20 per 100k · #8 highest murder rate in Michigan
16 per 100k · #9 highest murder rate in Michigan
Located in
Wayne County, Michigan
Melvindale is a city in Wayne County of the U.S. state of Michigan and a Downriver suburb of Detroit. At the 2010 census, the city population was 10,715. Melvindale’s slogan is “The Little City with a Big Heart.”
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
14 per 100k · #10 highest murder rate in Michigan
Located in
Kalamazoo County, Michigan
Kalamazoo is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. As of the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a total population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 335,340 as of 2015. Kalamazoo is equidistant from the major American cities of Chicago and Detroit, each less than 150 miles away.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Michigan’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Michigan’s murders happen
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we calculated the murder capitals of Michigan
While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in a state are the most dangerous, we wanted to rely on something other than speculation and opinion. Instead, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the hard numbers from the FBI’s last year of reporting. Specifically, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, which summarizes the number of murders in each city annually.
We only looked at every single city in Michigan for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 61 cities to rank.
We took the number of murders per capita as the ranking factor. The place with the most murders per capita based on the most recent data is Saginaw. It is our eleventh time ranking the places with the most murders per capita in Michigan. We updated the list for 2026.
The full plate
Murder Rates By City In Michigan
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Murders | Murders/100K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saginaw | 42,880 | 19 | 44 |
| 2 | Highland Park | 8,280 | 3 | 36 |
| 3 | Detroit | 651,171 | 203 | 31 |
| 4 | Oscoda Township | 7,211 | 2 | 28 |
| 5 | Flint | 79,183 | 20 | 25 |
| 6 | Benton Township | 14,040 | 3 | 21 |
| 7 | Pontiac | 61,644 | 13 | 21 |
| 8 | Bridgeport Township | 9,840 | 2 | 20 |
| 9 | Melvindale | 12,267 | 2 | 16 |
| 10 | Kalamazoo | 73,002 | 10 | 14 |
| 11 | Buena Vista Township | 7,485 | 1 | 13 |
| 12 | Inkster | 24,751 | 3 | 12 |
| 13 | Northfield Township | 8,461 | 1 | 12 |
| 14 | Howell | 9,985 | 1 | 10 |
| 15 | Lansing | 111,965 | 11 | 10 |
| 16 | Jackson | 30,704 | 3 | 10 |
| 17 | Emmett Township | 11,743 | 1 | 9 |
| 18 | Wyandotte | 23,778 | 2 | 8 |
| 19 | Battle Creek | 61,163 | 5 | 8 |
| 20 | Romulus | 24,567 | 2 | 8 |
| 21 | Blackman Township | 39,091 | 3 | 8 |
| 22 | Bath Township | 13,473 | 1 | 7 |
| 23 | Madison Heights | 28,188 | 2 | 7 |
| 24 | Fraser | 14,350 | 1 | 7 |
| 25 | Burton | 29,280 | 2 | 7 |
| 26 | Harper Woods | 14,717 | 1 | 7 |
| 27 | Flint Township | 30,751 | 2 | 7 |
| 28 | DeWitt Township | 15,433 | 1 | 6 |
| 29 | Bay City | 31,908 | 2 | 6 |
| 30 | Grand Rapids | 195,913 | 12 | 6 |
| 31 | Wayne | 16,891 | 1 | 6 |
| 32 | Wixom | 17,120 | 1 | 6 |
| 33 | Trenton | 17,698 | 1 | 6 |
| 34 | Oxford Township | 19,165 | 1 | 5 |
| 35 | Warren | 135,843 | 7 | 5 |
| 36 | Genesee Township | 20,199 | 1 | 5 |
| 37 | Taylor | 60,602 | 3 | 5 |
| 38 | Saginaw Township | 40,864 | 2 | 5 |
| 39 | Redford Township | 47,067 | 2 | 4 |
| 40 | Clinton Township | 99,056 | 4 | 4 |
| 41 | East Lansing | 50,472 | 2 | 4 |
| 42 | Walker | 25,308 | 1 | 4 |
| 43 | Wyoming | 77,684 | 3 | 4 |
| 44 | Auburn Hills | 26,019 | 1 | 4 |
| 45 | Westland | 81,727 | 3 | 4 |
| 46 | Oak Park | 28,858 | 1 | 3 |
| 47 | Canton Township | 97,844 | 3 | 3 |
| 48 | Eastpointe | 33,492 | 1 | 3 |
| 49 | Holland | 34,604 | 1 | 3 |
| 50 | Pittsfield Township | 39,244 | 1 | 3 |
| 51 | Midland | 42,712 | 1 | 2 |
| 52 | Roseville | 46,358 | 1 | 2 |
| 53 | Kentwood | 53,891 | 1 | 2 |
| 54 | Dearborn Heights | 60,148 | 1 | 2 |
| 55 | Novi | 66,366 | 1 | 2 |
| 56 | Waterford Township | 69,066 | 1 | 1 |
| 57 | Southfield | 75,454 | 1 | 1 |
| 58 | Rochester Hills | 75,960 | 1 | 1 |
| 59 | Farmington Hills | 82,116 | 1 | 1 |
| 60 | Dearborn | 104,571 | 1 | 1 |
| 61 | Sterling Heights | 133,058 | 1 | 1 |
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report. 61 Michigan cities that reported a murder.
Summary
Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In Michigan For 2026
If you’re looking at the places in Michigan with the most murders, and where residents have the highest chances of being killed themselves, this is an accurate list. Again, these statistics are an indication of where crimes occur, not a statement about the effectiveness of the law enforcement in the areas they serve.
The cities with the highest murder per capita in Michigan are Saginaw, Highland Park, Detroit, Oscoda Township, Flint, Benton Township, Pontiac, Bridgeport Township, Melvindale, and Kalamazoo.
