Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Minnesota?
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 Minnesota 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 39 cities in the North Star State with over 8,000 residents.
What city has the highest murder rate in Minnesota? The city with the highest murder rate in Minnesota is Minneapolis with 17 murders per 100,000 people.
What is the city in Minnesota with highest number of murders? The city in Minnesota with the highest number of murders is Minneapolis with 72 murders.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in Minnesota ranked. There were ‘only’ 39 cities in Minnesota where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 89 places had no murder.
17 per 100k · #1 highest murder rate in Minnesota
Located in
Hennepin County, Minnesota
Minneapolis ) is the county seat of Hennepin County, and the larger of the Twin Cities, the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the United States. As of 2016, Minneapolis is the largest city in the state of Minnesota and 46th-largest in the United States, with an estimated population of 413,651. The Twin Cities metropolitan area consists of Minneapolis, its neighbor Saint Paul, and suburbs which together contain about 3.5 million people, the second-largest economic center in the Midwest, after Chicago.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
16 per 100k · #2 highest murder rate in Minnesota
Located in
Hennepin County, Minnesota
Brooklyn Center is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The city is located on the west bank of the Mississippi River on the northwest border of Minneapolis. The population was 30,104 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
12 per 100k · #3 highest murder rate in Minnesota
Located in
Chisago County, Minnesota
Wyoming is a city in Chisago County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 7,791 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
12 per 100k · #4 highest murder rate in Minnesota
Located in
Beltrami County, Minnesota
Bemidji is a city in Beltrami County, in north west Minnesota, United States. With a population of 14,301 as of July 1, 2016, it is the largest commercial center between Grand Forks, North Dakota and Duluth, Minnesota. Bemidji houses many Native American services, including the Indian Health Service. The city is the central hub of the Red Lake Indian Reservation, White Earth Indian Reservation and the Leech Lake Indian Reservation. Bemidji lies on the south west shore of Lake Bemidji, the northernmost lake feeding the Mississippi River and as such is deemed “The First City On The Mississippi.” Bemidji is also the self proclaimed “curling capital” of the U.S. and birth place of Paul Bunyan
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
12 per 100k · #5 highest murder rate in Minnesota
Located in
Stearns County, Minnesota
Waite Park is a city in Stearns County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 6,715 at the 2010 census and according to 2016 estimates is now 7,839. It is part of the St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
11 per 100k · #6 highest murder rate in Minnesota
Located in
Pennington County, Minnesota
Thief River Falls, also called Thief River or TRF, is a city in Pennington County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 8,573 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
11 per 100k · #7 highest murder rate in Minnesota
Located in
Morrison County, Minnesota
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
11 per 100k · #8 highest murder rate in Minnesota
Located in
Waseca County, Minnesota
Waseca is a city in Waseca County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 9,410 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
9 per 100k · #9 highest murder rate in Minnesota
Located in
Ramsey County, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2016, the city’s estimated population was 304,442. Saint Paul is the county seat of Ramsey County, the smallest and most densely populated county in Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state’s largest city. Known as the “Twin Cities”, the two form the core of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with about 3.52 million residents.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
9 per 100k · #10 highest murder rate in Minnesota
Located in
Hennepin County, Minnesota
Brooklyn Park is the sixth largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city is located on the west bank of the Mississippi River, upstream from downtown Minneapolis in northern Hennepin County. Brooklyn Park is a northwest suburb of the Twin Cities metropolitan area of Minneapolis-Saint Paul.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Minnesota’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Minnesota’s murders happen
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we calculated the murder capitals of Minnesota
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 Minnesota for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 39 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 Minneapolis. It is our eleventh time ranking the places with the most murders per capita in Minnesota. We updated the list for 2026.
The full plate
Murder Rates By City In Minnesota
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Murders | Murders/100K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minneapolis | 422,341 | 72 | 17 |
| 2 | Brooklyn Center | 31,522 | 5 | 16 |
| 3 | Wyoming | 8,066 | 1 | 12 |
| 4 | Bemidji | 16,221 | 2 | 12 |
| 5 | Waite Park | 8,377 | 1 | 12 |
| 6 | Thief River Falls | 8,939 | 1 | 11 |
| 7 | Little Falls | 9,083 | 1 | 11 |
| 8 | Waseca | 9,113 | 1 | 11 |
| 9 | St. Paul | 300,368 | 27 | 9 |
| 10 | Brooklyn Park | 81,920 | 7 | 9 |
| 11 | Roseville | 35,466 | 3 | 8 |
| 12 | North St. Paul | 12,866 | 1 | 8 |
| 13 | Marshall | 13,726 | 1 | 7 |
| 14 | Fridley | 30,656 | 2 | 7 |
| 15 | Red Wing | 16,725 | 1 | 6 |
| 16 | Hopkins | 17,911 | 1 | 6 |
| 17 | Albert Lea | 18,347 | 1 | 5 |
| 18 | Sartell | 19,862 | 1 | 5 |
| 19 | South St. Paul | 20,403 | 1 | 5 |
| 20 | New Hope | 20,613 | 1 | 5 |
| 21 | Forest Lake | 20,936 | 1 | 5 |
| 22 | Moorhead | 45,026 | 2 | 4 |
| 23 | St. Cloud | 69,922 | 3 | 4 |
| 24 | Winona | 25,770 | 1 | 4 |
| 25 | Edina | 51,980 | 2 | 4 |
| 26 | Austin | 26,212 | 1 | 4 |
| 27 | Owatonna | 26,501 | 1 | 4 |
| 28 | Prior Lake | 28,390 | 1 | 4 |
| 29 | Bloomington | 86,793 | 3 | 3 |
| 30 | Lakeville | 76,929 | 2 | 3 |
| 31 | Plymouth | 77,576 | 2 | 3 |
| 32 | St. Louis Park | 48,241 | 1 | 2 |
| 33 | Minnetonka | 51,791 | 1 | 2 |
| 34 | Eden Prairie | 61,645 | 1 | 2 |
| 35 | Burnsville | 63,650 | 1 | 2 |
| 36 | Eagan | 66,943 | 1 | 1 |
| 37 | Maple Grove | 70,729 | 1 | 1 |
| 38 | Duluth | 86,570 | 1 | 1 |
| 39 | Rochester | 122,035 | 1 | 1 |
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report. 39 Minnesota cities that reported a murder.
Summary
Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In Minnesota For 2026
If you’re looking at the places in Minnesota 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 Minnesota are Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center, Wyoming, Bemidji, Waite Park, Thief River Falls, Little Falls, Waseca, St. Paul, and Brooklyn Park.
