Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 4.0Crime and safety in Buffalo Lake, MN
Buffalo Lake’s police department covers under 1,000 people in the FBI’s count, so the page shows its counts, not rates, and there is no Safety Grade. Within a 25-mile drive lie 5 towns that have a grade. The closest graded town is Fairfax, 15 miles away, at A.
0 crimes reported in 2025
In a town this small, a few incidents move the numbers a lot, so we show counts rather than rates.
Every offense type 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.
0 violent and 0 property, as reported to the FBI by Buffalo Lake’s police.
The nearest Minnesota towns with a Safety Grade
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfax | A | 15 mi | 0.3 | 3.0 |
| Hutchinson | B− | 16 mi | 2.2 | 10.3 |
| Olivia | A− | 19 mi | 0.7 | 5.5 |
| Glencoe | B+ | 23 mi | 1.3 | 7.7 |
| Gaylord | B | 23 mi | 1.4 | 10.8 |
| Litchfield | B− | 27 mi | 1.7 | 10.2 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Buffalo Lake. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Buffalo Lake.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
No one died in a crash on Buffalo Lake’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for Minnesota towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (4.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Buffalo Lake’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Buffalo Lake’s own rate (0.0) 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.
Buffalo Lake and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
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 Buffalo 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 Buffalo Lake’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (639 in 2025); our figure for Buffalo Lake is 637 (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 Buffalo Lake
Is Buffalo Lake, MN safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Buffalo Lake. The nearest Minnesota towns with a grade are Fairfax (A, 15 mi), Hutchinson (B−, 16 mi), Olivia (A−, 19 mi).
Who polices Buffalo Lake?
Buffalo Lake’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Buffalo 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 Buffalo 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.