The 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Minnesota For 2022

The 10 Most Dangerous Places To Live In Minnesota For 2022

The home of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, Bemidji gained some fame for being the location of Netflix's Fargo.

It turns out, the crime dramedy actually let Bemidji off easy when it comes to crime rates, seeing as the real city ranks as the most dangerous in Minnesota. Folks in Bemidji had a 1 in 13 chance of being the victim of a property crime over 2020, so watch your wallet, or you'll be saying "oh, jeez" before you know it.

On top of that, Bemidji had the third highest violent crime rate in Minnesota, with an aggravated assault going down more than once a week, on average.

When it comes to the Twin Cities, Minneapolis comes in as the naughtier sibling. Take our advice and buddy up in the City of Lakes, because, with an average of almost one murder a week, Minneapolis has the third highest murder rate in Minnesota.

On top of that, Minneapolis had the ninth highest rate of rape cases in the state. Overall, residents had a 1 in 86 shot of being the victim of a violent crime.

Even your home is unsafe in Minneapolis, considering the city had the highest burglary rate statewide.

Still, if you stick to one of Minneapolis's safest neighborhoods and use good judgment, you shouldn't have to worry.

Located just south of St. Paul, West Paul is a city of 20,007 jammed into five square miles. So it kind of makes sense that West St. Paul had the second highest property crime rate, with residents facing a 1 in 12 chance of having their stuff stolen or damaged.

Violent crime wasn't so bad in West St. Paul, overall. However, the city did have the fifth highest murder rate. So don't stay out late at St. Clair Park by yourself.

Like its Twin City, St. Paul is a victim of simply being a big city. Hey, when you have loads of fun neighborhoods and great things to do, more people are going to wander through and inflate your crime numbers.

Still, Minnesota's capital city has come crime numbers that are hard to ignore. Like residents having a 1 in 133 chance of being the victim of a violent crime over a year. Or about two murders a month going down, which works out to the seventh highest murder rate in Minnesota.

And while property crime isn't too bad in St. Paul, it still has higher rates of car theft and arson than Minneapolis, with 2,829 stolen cars and 225 arson cases recorded in 2020.

Even though Waite Park only occupies the #5 position on this list, it has the highest overall crime rate in Minnesota, outstripping the national average by 300%.

How'd that happen? Well, Waite Park has the highest property crime rate by a significant margin. On average, two cars a month are stolen in Waite Park -- quite often for a city of just 7,812.

On the bright side, most of the other property crimes are just larcenies, which makes sense for a spot with so much retail. Still, we didn't rank it among the worst places to live in Minnesota for no reason.

The county seat of Crow Wing County, Brainerd is known for its awesome lakes. Unfortunately, it's also known for high rates of violent crime.

For starters, Brainerd had about 1.5 rape cases per month over 2020, giving it the highest rate of rape cases in Minnesota. Overall, residents had a 1 in 191 shot of being violently attacked over the year.

Some of that's due to a fairly regular stream of tourists, but it doesn't change the fact that a lot of crime goes down relative to Brainerd's native population.

Known as the Queen City of the North, Virginia's kingdom is plagued by high crime rates. For starters, Virginia had the 12th highest burglary rate in Minnesota.

But it's the violent crime that makes it unsafe to stay out at Olcott Park after the sun goes down.

Virginia had the 26th highest rate of rape cases statewide, a big contributor to the city's ranking as the fourth most violent place in Minnesota.

So the other Brooklyn is just across the bridge from Manhattan -- one of the most iconic urban areas in the country. Brooklyn Center sits just north of Minneapolis. Sure, that's the largest metro area in Minnesota... but not quite the same thing.

Still, this suburb has its charms, from golf courses to parks along the Mississippi River. However, it also has its drawbacks. And, no, we aren't talking about the arctic winters. Rather, Brooklyn Center has a high crime rate. This includes 200 car thefts and 44 robberies in a population of 30,744 people.

Here's another Minneapolis suburb that makes this list. Fridley sits just north of the big city. The community is built along the Mississippi River, which gives it some charming features, like parks by the water. This being Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes, you'll find a lake in town too -- Moore Lake.

Just don't go strolling by the river late at night. Robberies represent a real problem in the community, with 32 such crimes in a population of 27,892. The rates for car thefts and larcenies are also high.

Poor Minneapolis. The area surrounding the city dominates this list. Here, yet again, sits another of the state's most dangerous areas.

Roseville lies to the northeast of the city center, about 15 minutes from downtown. The community itself began building up in the 1940s and saw massive growth in the 1950s and 1960s. Lately, the area's history has become more troubled. Violence remains relatively rare, but property crime rates have reached epidemic proportions. This includes 283 burglaries and 59 robberies in a population of 36,675. Roseville suffers a large number of car thefts as well.

Most Dangerous Places To Live In Minnesota FAQs

Is Minnesota a dangerous state?

No, Minnesota is not a dangerous state as it ranks as the #19 safest state in the United States based on our analysis of the latest FBI Crime Data. The violent crime rate in minnesota ranks 38th highest in the United States -- 28.45% better than US average violent crime rate. The property crime rate in the North Star State ranks 20th highest in the United States -- 8.51% worse than US average property crime rate. The latest reporting year from the FBI was 2020.

Is Minneapolis, MN a dangerous city?

Yes, Minneapolis is a dangerous city. Minneapolis ranks as the #20 most dangerous out of 320 major cities over 100,000 people in the United States based on our analysis of the latest FBI Crime Data. Keep in mind that are always safe and dangerous parts of any city, so even though Minneapolis might be considered dangerous you still need to be aware of where you are. For example, Linden Hills is the safest in Minneapolis, while Hawthorne is considered dangerous by many based on recent crime stats.

Compared to other big cities, the violent crime rate in Minneapolis ranks 24th highest in America -- 110.39% worse than US average violent crime rate. The property crime rate in the ranks 27th highest in the United States -- 71.63% worse than US average property crime rate. Note the latest reporting year from the FBI was 2020 and that no city in America is 'dangerous'. Despite the uptick in murders, it's nothing like you'd see in Tijuana or Caracas where the murder rate is 2x any American city.