Minnesota’s 20 Safest Cities of 2023

The SafeWise Team is pleased to release the ninth annual Safest Cities report.

See if your city made the full list.

In our 2023 State of Safety survey, residents of Minnesota (41%) were less likely to worry about their safety on a daily basis than most Americans (50%). This makes sense since Minnesota’s violent crime rate falls below the national rate, and its property crime rate isn’t too high above the national average.

All of Minnesota's 20 safest cities reported violent crime and property crime rates well below the state average.

Minnesota's violent crime rate rose from 2.8 per 1,000 people to 3.2, while property crime decreased from 21.2 per 1,000 to 20.6.

Even with the increase in Minnesota's violent crime rate this year, the state remained below the national average. Its property crime rate is slightly above the national average of 19.3.

A slight rise in Minnesota's violent crime rate this year reflects that more than a third of survey respondents don't feel safe in the state. This growing unease also aligns with an increase in personal experiences with violent crime and gun violence compared to the last reporting year.

• 38% of Minnesota residents report feeling safe in their state compared to 50% of Americans.
• 19% of survey participants reported having a personal experience with violent crime in the last 12 months prior to our survey—9 percentage points higher than the previous year.
• There were over 18,000 violent crimes in The North Star State during the 2023 reporting year.
• Although this is the third consecutive year the violent crime rate has risen, Minnesota still has the eighteenth-lowest violent crime rate in the nation.
• 31% of respondents use some form of personal protection—much lower than the national average of 39%.
• 38% of Minnesotans say their personal safety has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic compared to 44% of Americans.

Overall, gun safety is a bigger concern for The North Star State than the year before with a 29% increase in gun violence worries. This may be due to the increase in mass shootings from the year before.

• 44% of Minnesotans said they were concerned about gun violence—slightly lower than the US average of 47%.
• There were 12 mass shootings in Minnesota over the 12 reporting months, up one from the year before.
• 16% of those surveyed reported an experience with gun violence in the past 12 months prior to the survey, 4 percentage points higher than last year (US 12%).

In terms of property crime, this is the first year where property crime has gone down statewide in a while. Even so, the state is ranked eighteenth-highest in property crime.

• Minnesotans reported more personal experiences with property crime this year (24%)—41% higher than last year.
• 33% of survey respondents reported experiencing package theft in the 12 months prior to the survey (US 34%).
• 27% of Minnesotans surveyed say they don't use any form of property protection (US 24%).
• The top form of property protection in Minnesota this year is security cameras with 36% using them compared to 38% of Americans.
• 23% of Minnesota residents say the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the security of their property, compared to 28% nationally.

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

• Minnesota reported 0 murders among the safest cities. 
• No city reported more than one violent crime per 1,000 residents.
• Montevideo made the most dramatic improvement the year before, rising 28 spots to number 7. This year it rose even higher to place at number 1.
• Hibbing made a big move on this year's report, jumping 38 spots to rank fifth.
• Both Montevideo and Corcoran had zero murders, rapes, robberies, burglaries, larceny thefts, and motor vehicle thefts.
• Only three of the safest cities reported a robbery.

We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, based on the state’s median population as calculated using FBI data. To request a report of the remaining cities in your state email info@safewise.com with the subject line: Safest Cities Full Report.

NOTE: If your city is missing from our full report, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2021.

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• Burglary Stats & Facts
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• The State of Safety in America in 2022

FBI Crime Data Explorer, "Documents & Downloads." Accessed February 6, 2023.

• 2021 and 2020 Crime in the United States Annual Reports
  • Offenses Known to Law Enforcement
• 2021 NIBRS Estimation Tables

FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, "Offenses Known to Law Enforcement [2019]." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Bureau of Justice Statistics, "National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)." Accessed February 6, 2023.

US Census Bureau, "2021: ACS 5-Year Estimates Subject Tables." Accessed February 6, 2023.

US Census Bureau, "2021: ACS 5-Year Estimates Detailed Tables." Accessed February 6, 2023.

SafeWise, "2022 State of Safety survey." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "General Methodology." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "Past Summary Ledgers." Accessed January 3, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "Congress."

• 2022 totals: Accessed January 3, 2023.
• 2021 and 2020 totals: Accessed December 19, 2022.