The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Mitchell, SD
Mitchell is the seventh-largest city in South Dakota, with 17,600 residents in Davison County · Updated November 2026
Is Mitchell, SD safe?
Yes, crime in Mitchell is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A. Because most US neighborhoods are safe as well, Mitchell sits near the middle: safer than the neighborhoods where 59% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Mitchell run from A+ to B+, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 876 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
59% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Mitchell as a whole, and 41% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Mitchell scores 876.
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 Mitchell, SD at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Mitchell, 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 Mitchell
Burglaries are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Mitchell runs 29% above the US rate, but burglaries run 39% below it: 1.4 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.4 nationally.
Vandalism stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 3.0 acts of vandalism a year per 1,000 residents; Mitchell has 13.0.
The safest and least safe parts of Mitchell
Every part of Mitchell where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Mitchell run from A+ to B+; 54% 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 Mitchell, the southwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Mitchell?
Reported crime in Mitchell has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 30% and property crime down 39%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.7 to 2.6 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 32 to 20 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 24% and property crime fell 11%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
MitchellUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Mitchell. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Mitchell
Violent, US
Property, Mitchell
Property, US
2016
+55%
+4%
+15%
+15%
2017
+39%
+4%
+6%
+12%
2018
+34%
+0%
+6%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+18%
+4%
-1%
-8%
2021
+57%
+6%
-23%
-10%
2022
+4%
+5%
-21%
-6%
2023
-8%
+2%
-32%
-7%
2024
-30%
-4%
-39%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Mitchell
CrimeGrade™ estimates Mitchell has about 48 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 29% more than the US as a whole and 26% more than South Dakota.
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 Mitchell is assault, about 36% 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 Mitchell
Mitchell has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Mitchell, 63% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 39% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (63%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Car theft
Homes (34%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (39%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (32%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (55%)
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 Mitchell compares with nearby cities
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Mitchell has more crime than 71% of them.
Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Parking lots, shops and walkability in Mitchell
Two things set Mitchell apart: it has 6.3 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 17.7 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft, yet theft runs lower here than that would suggest.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.6.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 99% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.17.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 94% 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. 70% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (24 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 72% of US city residents
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.67 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 85% 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 Mitchell: 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 79% 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 Mitchell
Crime costs Mitchell about $1,014 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 16% 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 $18 million a year, or $1,015 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$690,000
$39
Rape
$350,000
$20
Robbery
$64,000
$4
Assault
$2.9 million
$166
Burglary
$230,000
$13
Theft
$1.3 million
$72
Vehicle theft
$490,000
$28
Arson
$31,000
$2
Vandalism
$1.6 million
$92
Total
$7.7 million
$435
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 Mitchell 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 Mitchell, SD average a SchoolGrade of A: 55% of students test proficient, against 45% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Mitchell on SchoolGrade
