Nickels-Sortwell House · Photo: WestportWiki · CC BY-SA 3.0Wiscasset reports less crime per resident than two in three U.S. towns
Its letter for safety is B+, worked out from crimes Wiscasset’s police reported over 2023 to 2025: #48 of 78 graded towns in Maine. Year on year, 1.3 violent crimes and 7.9 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 1.1 and 13.6 in the rest of Maine. Violent crime here is lower than in 60% of U.S. towns; property crime, lower than in 64%.
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 Wiscasset
Among Maine towns, closer to the middle
Maine’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Wiscasset’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 38% of the 78 Maine towns we grade, against 65% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Wiscasset’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 | Wiscasset | Rest of Maine | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Wiscasset’s police reported 15 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.1 in the rest of Maine and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Wiscasset 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 | Wiscasset property | Rest of Maine property | Wiscasset violent | Rest of Maine violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 11.1 | 15.5 | 1.0 | 1.2 |
| 2023 | 9.0 | 14.1 | 2.3 | 1.2 |
| 2024 | 8.4 | 14.6 | 0.5 | 1.1 |
| 2025 | 6.2 | 12.1 | 1.0 | 1.1 |
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 Maine.
29 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.
4 violent and 25 property, as reported to the FBI by Wiscasset’s police.
Three people died in crashes on Wiscasset’s roads in 2019–2023
Wiscasset had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died.
That is about what is typical for Maine towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (8.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Wiscasset’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Wiscasset’s own rate (15.5) 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.
Wiscasset and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Woolwich, Edgecomb, Newcastle and Dresden have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Maine towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wiscasset | B+ | 1.3 | 7.9 |
| Monmouth | A+ | 0.1 | 1.7 |
| Fort Kent | A | 0.4 | 4.0 |
| Madawaska | A | 0.3 | 4.9 |
| Dexter | B+ | 0.7 | 8.9 |
| Wilton | B+ | 1.6 | 6.3 |
The five graded Maine towns closest to Wiscasset’s population (3,998), 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 Wiscasset. 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 Wiscasset’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,003 in 2025); our figure for Wiscasset is 3,998 (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 Wiscasset
Is Wiscasset, ME safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Wiscasset reports less crime per resident than 65% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #48 of 78 in Maine. Its police reported 1.3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 1.1 in the rest of Maine and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Wiscasset?
1.3 violent and 7.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Maine reports 1.1 and 13.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Wiscasset?
Wiscasset’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Wiscasset”. 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 Wiscasset.
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.