Minnesota Crime Rates & City Safety Scores

How to read the Minnesota directory

The scoring run contains 3 reportable jurisdictions in Minnesota. This public directory displays the 3 most populous jurisdictions in the current scored comparison set, while each city's rank is calculated against the current 3-jurisdiction comparison set.

Within the displayed cohort, Rochester has the highest adjusted score at 63.56, and Minneapolis has the lowest at 8.59. The public-cohort range is 54.97 points; use the offense-rate tables on each city profile to understand that spread.

Current trajectories in the displayed cohort: 0 decreasing, 3 stable, and 0 increasing. Trends compare weighted 2024 and 2025 reporting and do not forecast future incidents.

Review the scoring method, coverage report, and buyer checklist before citing or purchasing data.

Minnesota crime rates: how to use this state safety directory

Use this page as the Minnesota pillar in Safety Atlas’s city-safety cluster. It brings the state comparison into one place, then routes you to the individual city reports where the underlying offense-rate tables, reporting coverage, and rank context are visible. The current scoring run includes 3 reportable jurisdictions; this public directory displays 3 populous jurisdictions in the current scored comparison set. That distinction matters: a city’s rank is measured against the current scored comparison set, while the table is designed as a practical starting list rather than a complete map of every community.

People often search “is Minnesota safe,” “safest cities in Minnesota,” or “Minnesota crime rate.” Those questions do not have one universal answer. Reported crime can vary materially by jurisdiction, offense category, reporting coverage, and population base. A state label is useful for organizing research, but the decision-relevant evidence is usually the city profile, the offense mix, and the source-year coverage shown alongside the score.

What the Minnesota score compares

Safety Atlas compares reported rates per 100,000 people rather than raw incident totals. That is important because a larger jurisdiction will often record more incidents simply because more people live there. The score is a relative research aid: higher scores indicate lower reported rates after the published population adjustment, and the city page explains the offense categories used. It should not be treated as a forecast, a neighborhood-level estimate, a measure of policing quality, or a substitute for local conditions a resident may experience.

The date attached to each report matters as much as the score. This directory’s displayed trajectories compare weighted 2024 reporting with 2025 reporting. A change in reported rate can reflect real change, but it can also be influenced by reporting participation, population coverage, classification practices, or the months available in a source. Read a city’s coverage note before making a year-over-year claim, especially when the apparent difference is small.

How to compare cities in Minnesota

1. Start with the state table. Filter by a city you are researching and note its comparison-set rank, score, and displayed trend.
2. Open the city report. Review the offense-rate table rather than relying on the composite score alone; different risk questions can produce different comparisons.
3. Check source year and coverage. Compare cities only when their reporting context is reasonably comparable. A newer or more complete source should be called out, not blended silently with older coverage.
4. Use a national and state frame. The city profile is the right place to see whether a rate is being compared with its state cohort or the national baseline.
5. Keep the claim narrow. Say that a profile shows lower or higher reported rates in this dataset; do not turn an index into a promise about any person’s safety.

Among the public city set, Rochester currently has the highest displayed score (63.56), while Minneapolis has the lowest (8.59). These are relative positions inside the published comparison, not a personal-safety guarantee.

Why offense mix and coverage are more useful than a single ranking

A single rank is quick to scan, but it can conceal the question a researcher is actually trying to answer. Someone planning a move may care about property crime and vehicle theft; a public-safety analyst may want to compare violent-offense patterns; a buyer evaluating a data product may need to know whether a jurisdiction has sufficient reporting coverage for the intended use. The city pages break out the published offense rates so that the reader can move from a broad state comparison to a specific, checkable claim.

Scores also should not be used to compare a city with a county, an unincorporated area, or a neighborhood. The unit on this site is the reported jurisdiction shown on the profile. Geographic boundaries, population definitions, and agency coverage can differ. When a decision depends on a smaller area, use local sources and treat this directory as context instead of a final answer.

Minnesota city safety reports

These child pages form the actionable part of the Minnesota cluster. Each keeps the city-specific score, rank, trend, source year, and rate table together so readers and search engines can follow a clear pillar-to-detail path instead of landing on a generic state list.

• Rochester safety report: #1 of 3, population 121,638, score 63.56, and the displayed trajectory is → Stable. Open the profile for its offense-rate tables, reporting coverage, and local comparison context.
• St. Paul safety report: #2 of 3, population 307,762, score 17.51, and the displayed trajectory is → Stable. Open the profile for its offense-rate tables, reporting coverage, and local comparison context.
• Minneapolis safety report: #3 of 3, population 426,845, score 8.59, and the displayed trajectory is → Stable. Open the profile for its offense-rate tables, reporting coverage, and local comparison context.

Frequently asked questions about Minnesota safety data

Does a higher Safety Atlas score mean a city is safe?

No. It means the city has lower relative reported rates under this site’s published scoring method. It does not predict individual risk, describe every block, or replace local information such as emergency services, housing conditions, or firsthand knowledge of an area.

Why can two Minnesota cities have similar scores but different crime patterns?

The composite score summarizes multiple offense categories. Two cities can arrive at a similar overall result through different combinations of reported rates. Open both city reports and compare the category and offense tables before deciding which difference is relevant to your research.

Can I cite this directory in a report or decision?

You can use it as a transparent starting point when you retain the source year, coverage context, and the limitation that it measures reported rates. For reproducible analysis, review the methodology, the coverage report, and the crime-data evaluation guide.

Related research: national state comparison, US safety directory, and the city reports above. Safety Atlas publishes population-adjusted reported-rate comparisons; it does not certify places as safe or unsafe.