Overview

Cass Technical High School is a large, selective public magnet high school in Detroit, part of Detroit Public Schools Community District. It offers career-focused technical majors alongside a college-preparatory curriculum and is one of the largest and best-known high schools in the city.

Academics

No independently verified Michigan state assessment data (via MI School Data) was located for this profile; check the Michigan Department of Education's site directly for current school-level results.

Neighborhood

The school is located near Midtown Detroit, in Wayne County -- an area multiple sources specifically identify as calmer and more stable than the citywide crime average, alongside Downtown.

Crime & safety

Detroit's citywide crime data is consistently elevated across every source checked, among the more severe of any city profiled in this directory: overall crime rates cited from 65% to 209% above the national average, violent crime rates 369-396% above the national average, and a D- overall grade with Detroit ranking safer than only about 1% of major U.S. cities by one measure. However, every source also emphasizes genuine, substantial, officially-documented recent improvement: Detroit Police Department data cited by multiple independent outlets shows 2024 homicides at their lowest level since 1965 (203, down 19% from 2023), with 2025 preliminary data showing a further 19% year-over-year drop to 165 -- a 35% decline from 2023 across two years. Sources also consistently describe crime as heavily concentrated in specific east- and west-side districts, with Midtown, Downtown, and several historic residential enclaves (Indian Village, Palmer Woods, Sherwood Forest, Rosedale Park) named repeatedly as comparatively stable areas.

Detroit is a genuine case where both an unusually severe citywide crime picture and an unusually well-documented, two-year, officially-sourced decline are simultaneously true and both newsworthy. We're presenting the full range -- from the historically elevated absolute levels to the sustained, police-department-confirmed improvement -- rather than emphasizing one at the expense of the other.

Our calculated rating

We don't publish a single proprietary score. Given the severity and complexity of Detroit's safety data, we're not showing a rating for this profile. See our ratings methodology.

Sources

  1. NCES Common Core of Data, School Search -- Cass Technical High School, 2024-25 school year.
  2. Nextdoor Neighbors resource page, Detroit crime and safety, 2026.
  3. Guardian Protection blog, Detroit crime statistics, citing AreaVibes and NeighborhoodScout data, 2026.
  4. DoorProfit.com, Detroit crime statistics, citywide and Downtown-neighborhood-specific, citing FBI UCR data, 2026.
  5. Michigan Public (michiganpublic.org), "Fewest homicides in decades," January 2026, citing Detroit Police Department preliminary 2025 data.
  6. Patch.com, "Violent Crime In Detroit Hit Historic Lows In 2024," citing Detroit Police Department data.
  7. DetroitCrimes.com, Detroit crime map and neighborhood grading, citing Detroit Police Department incident data and Census data, 2026.
  8. CrimeSafe.app, Detroit crime rate and safety score, 2026.