Photo: Andrew Latham · CC BY-SA 3.0For property crime, Winona Lake beats 92% of U.S. towns per resident
That puts it at A for safety, judged on crimes Winona Lake’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #11 of 91 graded towns in Indiana. Its police logs show 0.9 violent crime and 2.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the rest of Indiana the numbers are 4.3 and 19.1. Per resident, the graded rate barely moved from 2023 to 2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of IN” is every other Indiana city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Winona Lake
Winona Lake reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 1 Indiana towns on Winona Lake’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Warsaw (C−). Neighbors ↓
A college town
Winona Lake is home to Grace College and Theological Seminary, with 1,877 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 21% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Winona Lake’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are lower than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Winona Lake | Rest of Indiana | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.8 | 4.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.4 | 4.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.8 | 4.6 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.6 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Winona Lake’s police reported 14 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.3 in the rest of Indiana and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Winona Lake per 1,000 residents
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Winona Lake property | Rest of Indiana property | Winona Lake violent | Rest of Indiana violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.3 | 23.2 | 2.8 | 4.8 |
| 2023 | 2.1 | 22.2 | 1.4 | 4.9 |
| 2024 | 2.9 | 20.3 | 0.8 | 4.6 |
| 2025 | 2.9 | 15.0 | 0.6 | 3.5 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Indiana.
18 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
3 violent and 15 property, as reported to the FBI by Winona Lake’s police.
One person died in crashes on Winona Lake’s roads in 2019–2023
Winona Lake had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is about what is typical for Indiana towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (8.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Winona Lake’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Winona Lake’s own rate (3.9) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Winona Lake and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winona Lake | A | 0.9 | 2.7 |
| Warsaw | C− | 4.1 | 16.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Indiana towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winona Lake | A | 0.9 | 2.7 |
| Cicero | A | 0.6 | 1.5 |
| Lawrenceburg | A− | 1.1 | 2.9 |
| Sheridan | B | 2.7 | 4.7 |
| Linton | C+ | 1.9 | 17.1 |
| Whiting | C− | 3.7 | 18.3 |
The five graded Indiana towns closest to Winona Lake’s population (5,126), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Winona Lake. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Winona Lake’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,119 in 2025); our figure for Winona Lake is 5,126 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Winona Lake
Is Winona Lake, IN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Winona Lake reports less crime per resident than 87% of U.S. towns, an A Safety Grade and #11 of 91 in Indiana. Its police reported 0.9 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.3 in the rest of Indiana and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Winona Lake?
0.9 violent and 2.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Indiana reports 4.3 and 19.1; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Winona Lake safer than Warsaw?
Warsaw reports more crime per resident than Winona Lake: Warsaw grades C− for safety and Winona Lake A. Warsaw’s police reported 4.1 violent and 16.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Winona Lake?
Winona Lake’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Winona Lake”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Winona Lake.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.