Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Brewer reports less violent crime than most U.S. towns, but more property crime
Overall, Brewer grades B− for safety (#63 of 78 graded towns in Maine): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of ME” is every other Maine 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 Brewer
3 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 Maine towns on Brewer’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Veazie (A+), Hampden (A), Holden (A), Bangor (D). Orrington and Eddington have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Maine towns, lower
Maine’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Brewer’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 19% of the 78 Maine towns we grade, against 46% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Brewer has 6,968 jobs based in town for 9,636 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Brewer’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Brewer’s grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Brewer’s police reported 9 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.2 in the rest of Maine and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Brewer | Rest of Maine | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Reported crime is falling
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Maine.
Show as a table
| Year | Brewer property | Rest of Maine property | Brewer violent | Rest of Maine violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 22.4 | 15.4 | 0.3 | 1.2 |
| 2023 | 21.8 | 14.0 | 0.2 | 1.2 |
| 2024 | 17.9 | 14.5 | 0.4 | 1.2 |
| 2025 | 17.0 | 12.0 | 0.3 | 1.1 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 17 property crimes reported
And fewer than 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
167 crimes reported in 2025
3 violent and 164 property, as reported to the FBI by Brewer’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Two people died in crashes on Brewer’s roads in 2019–2023
Brewer had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died.
That is about what is typical for Maine towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (6.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Brewer’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Brewer’s own rate (4.1) 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.
Brewer and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Orrington and Eddington have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Maine towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brewer | B− | 0.3 | 18.9 |
| Cape Elizabeth | A+ | 0.2 | 1.6 |
| Yarmouth | A | 0.6 | 3.6 |
| Lisbon | A− | 0.7 | 5.7 |
| Topsham | B+ | 0.3 | 11.2 |
| Old Orchard Beach | B | 1.5 | 10.5 |
The five graded Maine towns closest to Brewer’s population (9,636), by grade.
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 Brewer. 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 Brewer’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (9,619 in 2025); our figure for Brewer is 9,636 (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 Brewer
Is Brewer, ME safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Brewer reports more crime per resident than 54% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #63 of 78 in Maine. Its police reported 0.3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.2 in the rest of Maine and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Brewer?
0.3 violent and 18.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Maine reports 1.2 and 13.5; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Brewer?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Brewer safer than Bangor?
Bangor reports more crime per resident than Brewer: Bangor grades D for safety and Brewer B−. Bangor’s police reported 1.9 violent and 40.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Brewer?
Brewer’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Brewer”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Brewer.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.