ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Tree Town can now add the title of sixth safest city in Michigan to its long list of accolades thanks to a new top 10 list by Munetrix.
An Auburn Hills-based data analytics solutions provider, Munetrix used publicly available data from Michigan State Police and the U.S. Census Bureau to see which Michigan cities with populations over 50,000 were the safest in the state.
Data from 2019, the most recent year that crime data is available, was used to compare the number of total crimes in each city relative to their populations, according to a release from Munetrix.
Data from the MSP annual crime statistics report was cross-referenced with population data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Crimes such as petty theft, assault, white collar crimes and murder are included in the total crime numbers, said Munetrix.
Out of its population of 121,890, Ann Arbor had 49.6 crimes per thousand people in 2019. The cities of Rochester Hills, Farmington Hill, Sterling Heights, Novi and Royal Oak beat Ann Arbor by having 21.4, 32.4, 35.4, 35.6 and 42.1 crimes per thousand people respectively.
Bob Kittle, the president of Muntrix, noted that data from 2017 onward has shown a decrease in total crimes overall and that communities across Michigan seem to be becoming safer.
“As we analyzed the data, we discovered an interesting and encouraging trend at the macro level, also represented fairly consistently from city to city,” Kittle said in the release.
“If you look at the three-year trend data dating back to 2017, the data reveal a trending decrease in total crimes overall—communities statewide appear to have been getting safer, in terms of the data we have available, which is a pleasant byproduct of this study.”
Here are the top 10 safest Michigan cities:
- Rochester Hills
- Farmington Hills
- Sterling Heights
- Novi
- Royal Oak
- Ann Arbor
- Troy
- Livonia
- St. Clair Shores
- Dearborn Heights