The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Brainerd, MN
Brainerd is a city of 24,800 in Crow Wing County, about 55 miles north of downtown St. Cloud · Updated November 2026
Is Brainerd, MN safe?
Yes. Most US neighborhoods have little crime, and Brainerd has less than most of them: its overall CrimeGrade™ is A, safer than the neighborhoods where 63% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Brainerd run from A+ to B, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 889 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
63% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Brainerd as a whole, and 37% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Brainerd scores 889.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Brainerd, MN at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Brainerd, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Brainerd
Car thefts are uncommon. Brainerd has car thefts at less than half the US rate: 0.92 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
Thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Brainerd, 50% of reported thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks, against 18% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Brainerd
Every part of Brainerd where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Brainerd run from A+ to B; 58% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Brainerd, the southeast side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Brainerd?
Since 2019, reported property crime in Brainerd is down 47%, while violent crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.6 to 4.4 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 34 to 18 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 24% and property crime fell 19%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
BrainerdUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Brainerd. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Brainerd
Violent, US
Property, Brainerd
Property, US
2016
+40%
+4%
+45%
+15%
2017
+14%
+4%
+21%
+12%
2018
-1%
+0%
-2%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+6%
+4%
-0%
-8%
2021
+9%
+6%
-27%
-10%
2022
+11%
+5%
-33%
-6%
2023
+26%
+2%
-35%
-7%
2024
-5%
-4%
-47%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Brainerd
CrimeGrade™ estimates Brainerd has about 36 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about the same as the US as a whole and 19% more than Minnesota.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
The largest share of crime reported in Brainerd is assault, about 43% of the total. It also makes up the largest share of what crime costs here.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Brainerd
Brainerd has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Brainerd, 74% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (74%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Homes (44%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (50%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (31%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (56%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Brainerd compares with nearby cities
Brainerd has the most crime of its 8 nearest cities.
Night lighting, parking lots and walkability in Brainerd
Two things set Brainerd apart: it has 53% of the land where people live lit at night, against 78% nationally, and 3.0 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places whose neighborhoods are dark at night tend to report less theft and vandalism, and theft runs low here.
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.53% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 86% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.0 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 85% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault. 83% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (15 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 60% of US city residents
Show all 6
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.3.2% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 84% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Brainerd: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.3% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 80% of US city residents
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Brainerd
Crime costs Brainerd about $869 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 28% less than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $21 million a year, or $864 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$430,000
$17
Rape
$700,000
$28
Robbery
$190,000
$8
Assault
$3.9 million
$159
Burglary
$270,000
$11
Theft
$1.3 million
$50
Vehicle theft
$350,000
$14
Arson
$43,000
$2
Vandalism
$1.3 million
$53
Total
$8.5 million
$343
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Brainerd means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Brainerd, MN average a SchoolGrade of B-: 37% of students test proficient, against 44% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Brainerd on SchoolGrade
