Denby is a neighborhood of 12,500 residents in Detroit, about 8 miles northeast of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Denby in Detroit safe?
Denby is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of F, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 99% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade F here. Detroit as a whole grades F. Every neighborhood in Denby grades F.
F
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 0 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
1% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Denby as a whole, and 99% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Denby scores 0.
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 Denby, Detroit, MI at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Denby in Detroit, 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 Denby
Burglaries run high for an F-graded neighborhood. Denby has 9.6 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an F-graded US neighborhood, the figure is 4.6.
Aggravated assaults and car thefts both run high. In Denby, each runs at more than triple the US rate: 20.1 aggravated assaults and 14.2 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 and 2.7 nationally.
How Denby compares within Detroit
Every part of Denby grades D or F on the national scale.
100%
D or F 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Denby has less crime than 6 of the 76 neighborhoods in Detroit. It covers much of the Denby, Regent Park, and Van Steuban areas.
Is crime going up in Detroit?
Reported violent crime in Detroit as a whole peaked in 2021 and has fallen 21% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is up 2% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 19 to 18 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts stayed at about 43 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
DetroitUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Detroit. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Detroit
Violent, US
Property, Detroit
Property, US
2016
+4%
+4%
+10%
+15%
2017
+5%
+4%
+6%
+12%
2018
+3%
+0%
+1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+17%
+4%
-21%
-8%
2021
+17%
+6%
-16%
-10%
2022
+3%
+5%
+4%
-6%
2023
+2%
+2%
+8%
-7%
2024
-8%
-4%
+2%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Denby
CrimeGrade™ estimates Denby has about 120 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about triple the rate for the US as a whole and close to Detroit as a whole.
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 Denby is assault, about 42% 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 Detroit
The Detroit Police Department polices Denby; these figures cover Detroit as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Detroit as a whole, 81% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 45% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (81%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (51%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (45%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (57%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (64%)
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 Denby compares with nearby neighborhoods
Denby has more crime than 8 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods. Finney and East English Village have the least crime nearby.
Two things set Denby apart: it has 2 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 14.9% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places with few jobs tend to report less theft and robbery, yet theft and robbery run higher here than that would suggest.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.2 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 99% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.14.9% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 94% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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. 64% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (28 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 58% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft and car theft.2.9 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 91% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Denby
Crime costs Denby about $6,071 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, more than triple 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 $110 million a year, or $8,816 per resident.
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 Denby 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
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 Denby, Detroit, MI average a SchoolGrade of F: 11% of students test proficient, against 11% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Denby on SchoolGrade
