Community Corner
These 7 MI Suburbs Among Safest In U.S. In New Ranking
Find out which communities made the list, according to the 2025 County Health Rankings and Roadmap.
MICHIGAN — Seven metro Detroit suburbs are among the 360 safest in the country, according to a new ranking of communities based on low crime and other significant safety criteria families consider when choosing a place to live.
The ranking of America's Safest Suburbs by the financial services provider smartasset used publicly available data on violent crime, property crime and traffic deaths, as well as the number of adults reporting they drink excessively in a survey for the 2025 County Health Rankings & Roadmap, a project of the University of Wisconsin Public Health Institute.
Data from the FBI’s 2023 Uniform Crime Reporting Database and the Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey were also used in the analysis.
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According to the analysis, Royal Oak is the safest place to live in Michigan. It ranks in 26th place nationally. The analysis shows the community has a violent crime rate of 0.0064 per capita, a property crime rate of 0.0199 per capita, and 5.67 traffic deaths per 100,000 population. Also, 19.7 percent of Lexington residents reported that they excessively drink in a survey for the 2025 County Health Rankings.
Other suburbs that made the list are:
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Farmington Hills
- Violent crime per capita: 0.0101
- Property crime per capita: 0.0193
- Traffic deaths per 100,000 population: 5.67
- Adults reporting excessive drinking: 19.7 percent
Wixom
- Violent crime per capita: 0.0096
- Property crime per capita: 0.0236
- Traffic deaths per 100,000 population: 5.67
- Adults reporting excessive drinking: 19.7 percent
Mount Clemens
- Violent crime per capita: 0.0049
- Property crime per capita: 0.0217
- Traffic deaths per 100,000 population: 7.64
- Adults reporting excessive drinking: 20.7 percent
Sterling Heights
- Violent crime per capita: 0.0129
- Property crime per capita: 0.0189
- Traffic deaths per 100,000 population: 7.64
- Adults reporting excessive drinking: 20.7 percent
Pontiac
- Violent crime per capita: 0.0362
- Property crime per capita: 0.0377
- Traffic deaths per 100,000 population: 5.67
- Adults reporting excessive drinking: 19.7 percent
Adrian
- Violent crime per capita: 0.0280
- Property crime per capita: 0.0331
- Traffic deaths per 100,000 population: 15.82
- Adults reporting excessive drinking: 19.4 percent
Housing costs and quality of life are often factors when people move to the suburbs, but smartasset said its report showed that people are willing to pay more to move to a neighborhood if they feel safe.
The 360 towns ranked in the report are all within 45 minutes driving distance of a major city.
The report found the top 20 safest suburbs are:
- Lehi, Utah
- Bethesda, Maryland
- Great Falls, Virginia
- Rockville, Maryland
- Dacula, Georgia
- Buford, Georgia
- Layton, Utah
- Edgewater, New Jersey
- McKinney, Texas
- Frisco, Texas
- Gretna, Nebraska
- Noblesville, Indiana
- Fishers, Indiana
- Highland Park, Illinois
- Carmel, Indiana
- Lexington, Massachusetts
- Brownsburg, Indiana
- Fort Lee, New Jersey
- Spring, Texas
- Canton, Georgia
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