Property Crime per Capita in Detroit
Property crime covers theft, burglary, vehicle theft, and arson, offenses against belongings rather than people. The map below shows the property crime rate per 1,000 Detroit residents.
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Cost of Crime™ for Detroit, MI
$639.4 million
In 2025, property crime will cost $363 per household.
On the map, green marks the parts of the Detroit area with the least property crime and red marks the most, weighted by the type and severity of each offense. Property crime is the most common category of crime, so these maps track closely with where stores, parking, and daytime foot traffic sit. The Interpreting the Crime Maps section below explains why busy commercial blocks can look worse than the neighborhoods around them.
The D+ grade reflects how often theft, burglary, vehicle theft, and arson happen in the Detroit area against the average US city, where the rate is slightly higher than the norm. Detroit sits in the 30th percentile for property-crime safety, ahead of 30% of cities and behind 70%. The grade covers only the Detroit area's official city boundaries. See the table below for nearby cities.
The property crime rate in the Detroit area is 17.16 per 1,000 residents in a typical year. Residents generally point to the northeast part of the city as the safest for their belongings. Your odds of a property-crime loss range from 1 in 31 in the southeast neighborhoods to 1 in 94 in the northeast.
Counting total incidents instead of per-capita rates, the south parts of Detroit, MI report the most property crime, about 16,117 cases per year. The north part reports the fewest, around 3,343 per year.
The Cost of Crime™ in Detroit, MI
Property crime in Detroit is projected to cost $639,397,854 in 2025, about $141 per resident and $363 per household. That equals 0.3% of the median household income. All of it is measurable loss: replaced vehicles, repaired break-ins, stolen goods, and the policing and courts that respond.
Because property crime leaves a repair bill rather than a lasting injury, these tangible costs make up its full economic toll. They split into:
- Criminal justice system costs (law enforcement, courts, and imprisonment): 58.5%
- Direct costs to victims (damaged property, medical expenses, and lost wages): 35.7%
- Lost economic contribution from offenders (time in prison or repeat offenses): 5.8%
How Much Does Property Crime Cost in Detroit Compared to Other Cities?
| Detroit, MI: | $141 |
|---|---|
| Highland Park, MI: | $296 |
| Hudsonville, MI: | $19 |
| Michigan: | $114 |
| USA: | $136 |
Property crime costs $141 per resident each year in Detroit, which is $5 more than the national average and $27 more than Michigan's state average. The comparison below uses cities similar to Detroit:
- In Highland Park, MI, crime costs $296 per person, which is $155 more than in Detroit.
- In Hudsonville, MI, crime costs $19 per person, which is $122 less than in Detroit
2025 Projected Property Crime Cost by Type
The table below breaks the property-crime total into its four offenses for Detroit, with the projected cost per resident.
Crime |
Cost to Detroit |
Cost per Detroit Resident |
|---|---|---|
Vehicle Theft |
$281.8 million |
$62 |
Burglary |
$87.7 million |
$19 |
Theft |
$254.8 million |
$56 |
Arson |
$15.1 million |
$3 |
Total Cost of Property Crime |
$639,397,854 |
$141 |
How the Property Crime Cost Is Estimated
Property crime carries no pain-and-suffering figure in this model. Its cost is the replacement and repair value of what was taken or damaged, plus the policing, courts, and lost offender productivity that follow. Stolen and damaged property has a market price, which is why this total is easier to pin down than the human cost of violent crime in Detroit, MI.
All Cost of Crime figures come from scholarly research on the cost of crime. Read more about our methodology here.
Interpreting the Property Crime Maps
Property crime rates are measured per resident, so places where shoppers and commuters outnumber residents read high. Stores are where shoplifting, theft, and vehicle break-ins happen, yet almost nobody lives there, so the per-capita rate climbs. How strongly this shows on the map depends on retail density; the central part of the city has more retail establishments. A red commercial strip does not mean the homes nearby are unsafe.
Parking lots and transit stops follow the same pattern: heavy daytime traffic, few residents, so per-capita property crime reads high. To judge a residential block, weigh both the per-capita rate and the total number of incidents, and note what sits nearby.
The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Detroit, MI at ISP Reports.
Detroit Property Crime Breakdown
The table below shows which non-violent crimes are used to calculate the Crime Grade above. All property crime rates are shown as the number of crimes per 1,000 Detroit residents in a standard year.
Crime Type |
Crime Rate |
|---|---|
Theft |
10.87 |
Vehicle Theft |
4.019 |
Burglary |
2.136 |
Arson |
0.1381 |
Total Property Crime |
17.16 (D+) |
Crime Maps and Rates for Nearby Cities
Compared to surrounding cities, the rate of property crime in the Detroit area is lower. The table below shows Crime Grades for cities close to the Detroit area.
Nearby City | Overall Crime Grade | Violent Crime Grade | Property Crime Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
F | F | F | |
F | F | F | |
D | D- | D | |
D | D- | D | |
C+ | B | B- | |
D- | D- | D | |
D+ | D- | D+ | |
B- | B | B | |
D- | D- | D- | |
D | D- | D |
Crime Maps and Rates for City with Similar Populations
Detroit is lower versus other cities of the same size for property crime. The table below compares crime in cities with comparable overall population in the city‘s boundaries.
Similar City | Overall Crime Grade | Violent Crime Grade | Property Crime Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
D- | D+ | D+ | |
C- | D+ | D+ | |
D+ | C | C | |
B | C | C | |
C | C- | C- | |
D+ | D+ | D+ | |
D- | D | D | |
A- | B | B | |
D | D | D | |
D- | D | D |
Considering only the property crime rate, the Detroit area is less safe than the Michigan state average and as safe as the national average.
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CrimeGrade.org provides highly detailed and accurate crime data, used by insurance companies, home security firms, and other industries. Our data is available for licensing—learn more about our USA crime data and licensing.
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