The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Lansing, MI
Lansing is the capital of Michigan, a city of 138,200 in Ingham County · Updated November 2026
Is Lansing, MI safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B-, Lansing has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 80% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, B+ against C. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Lansing run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe neighborhoods below.
B-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 551 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
20% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Lansing as a whole, and 80% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Lansing scores 551.
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 Lansing, MI at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Lansing, 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 Lansing
Aggravated assault stands out among B-graded cities. For the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 3.1 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents; Lansing has 9.8.
Car thefts and arsons both run high. In Lansing, each runs at about double the US rate: 5.9 car thefts and 0.27 arsons a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 and 0.12 nationally.
The safest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Lansing
Safety changes a lot from one part of Lansing to the next: 40% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 29% live in areas graded D or F. Grades across Lansing run from A+ to F; 9% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
40%31%29%
A or B 40%C 31%D or F 29%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
1Northwestside, northwestCar thefts run at less than half the rate in the rest of Lansing.A-795
2Westside Lansing, westAggravated assaults run about 30% lower here than in the rest of Lansing.B623
3Forest View, southeastRobberies run about 20% lower here than in the rest of Lansing.B621
4Old Town, northeastThefts run about 30% higher here than in the rest of Lansing.B-582
5Southside, southwestRobberies run about 80% higher here than in the rest of Lansing.C+523
6Downtown Lansing, centralThefts run at about half the rate in the rest of Lansing.C+492
7Eastside Lansing, eastCar thefts run about 60% higher here than in the rest of Lansing.C+479
8Old Everett, southCar thefts run about 60% higher here than in the rest of Lansing.C429
Neighborhood areas of Lansing, 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 Lansing?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Lansing is up 17% and property crime is down 14%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 11 to 13 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 29 to 25 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 13%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
LansingUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Lansing. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Lansing
Violent, US
Property, Lansing
Property, US
2016
+3%
+4%
+0%
+15%
2017
+2%
+4%
+6%
+12%
2018
-0%
+0%
+6%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+35%
+4%
+12%
-8%
2021
+39%
+6%
-9%
-10%
2022
+14%
+5%
-5%
-6%
2023
+24%
+2%
-1%
-7%
2024
+17%
-4%
-14%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Lansing
CrimeGrade™ estimates Lansing has about 58 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 57% more than the US as a whole and 69% more than Michigan.
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.
Assault is the most common crime in Lansing, about 40% 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 Lansing
Lansing has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Lansing, 68% 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 (68%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (38%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (42%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (37%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (63%)
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 Lansing compares with nearby cities
Lansing has the most crime of its 9 nearest cities.
Two things set Lansing apart: it has 85 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 3.7 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. 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 robbery runs high here.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.85 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 93% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.7 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 92% 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. 65% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (26 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 75% of US city residents
Show all 6
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 Lansing: D+ (23 of 100).8 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 80% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.12.1 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 70% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.7.3% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 65% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Lansing 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 Lansing
Crime costs Lansing about $2,049 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 70% more than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $123 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 $476 million a year, or $3,442 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$22 million
$162
Rape
$8.4 million
$60
Robbery
$3.6 million
$26
Assault
$52 million
$380
Burglary
$4.8 million
$35
Theft
$11 million
$82
Vehicle theft
$12 million
$90
Arson
$890,000
$6
Vandalism
$6.6 million
$48
Total
$123 million
$890
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 Lansing 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 Lansing, MI average a SchoolGrade of C-: 36% of students test proficient, against 32% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Lansing on SchoolGrade
