The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Duluth, MN
Duluth is the fifth-largest city in Minnesota, with 101,400 residents in St. Louis County · Updated November 2026
Is Duluth, MN safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Duluth is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Duluth sits near the middle: 52% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 48% in neighborhoods with less. Violent crime grades A and property crime A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Duluth run from A+ to D+, so check the map or the safest and least safe neighborhoods below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 845 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
52% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Duluth as a whole, and 48% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Duluth scores 845.
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 Duluth, MN at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Duluth, 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 Duluth
Thefts run high for an A-graded city. Duluth has 22.7 thefts a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 8.3.
One part of Duluth stands out for burglary. Burglaries in West End, in south Duluth, run at more than double the rate in the rest of the city.
Vehicle theft runs low. Duluth has 1.1 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, less than half the US rate of 2.7.
The safest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Duluth
Most of Duluth grades well: 91% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 1% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Duluth run from A+ to D+; 55% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
91%
A or B 91%C 8%D or F 1%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
1Woodlands-Pleasantview, northThefts run at less than half the rate in the rest of Duluth.A+962
2Lakeside-Lester Park, northeastBurglaries run at a small fraction of the rate in the rest of Duluth.A+957
3Piedmont Heights, westSimple assaults run at less than half the rate in the rest of Duluth.A910
4Park Point, southeastClose to the rest of Duluth on most crimes.A-834
5Spirit Valley-Denfeld-Norton Park, Morgan Park-Smithville-Riverside & Fond du Lac-Gary-New Duluth, southwestThefts run about 40% higher here than in the rest of Duluth.A-811
6Congdon Park, eastCar thefts run at about double the rate in the rest of Duluth.A-782
8West End, southAggravated assaults run at more than double the rate in the rest of Duluth.B-600
Neighborhood areas of Duluth, ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Is crime going up in Duluth?
Reported crime in Duluth has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 36% and property crime down 31%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.4 to 2.2 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 43 to 30 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 18%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
DuluthUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Duluth. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Duluth
Violent, US
Property, Duluth
Property, US
2016
+6%
+4%
+4%
+15%
2017
-5%
+4%
+4%
+12%
2018
+5%
+0%
+0%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-13%
+4%
-13%
-8%
2021
+15%
+6%
-7%
-10%
2022
-12%
+5%
-30%
-6%
2023
-21%
+2%
-32%
-7%
2024
-36%
-4%
-31%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Duluth
CrimeGrade™ estimates Duluth has about 41 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 10% more than the US as a whole and 36% 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.
Theft is the most common crime in Duluth, about 55% of everything reported, and it also accounts for 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 Duluth
Duluth has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Duluth, 51% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 42% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (51%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (38%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (42%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (26%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (33%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (39%)
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 Duluth compares with nearby cities
Duluth has the most crime of its 6 nearest cities.
One thing sets Duluth apart: it has 9 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. It also combines many jobs with busy transit: places with both tend to report more theft and robbery than places with only one of them, and theft runs high here.
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 Duluth: D+ (24 of 100).9 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 81% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.63 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 79% 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. 75% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (22 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 67% of US city residents
Show all 6
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.72% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 76% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.5 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 74% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.12.0 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 70% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Duluth on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 Duluth
Crime costs Duluth about $987 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 18% less than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $42 million a year.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost rises to about $128 million a year, or $1,265 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$9.5 million
$94
Rape
$2.5 million
$25
Robbery
$1.1 million
$11
Assault
$7.9 million
$78
Burglary
$2.3 million
$23
Theft
$12 million
$117
Vehicle theft
$1.7 million
$17
Arson
$490,000
$5
Vandalism
$4.6 million
$46
Total
$42 million
$414
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 Duluth 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 Duluth, MN average a SchoolGrade of B: 38% of students test proficient, against 48% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Duluth on SchoolGrade
