Columbia College · Photo: Ian Poellet · CC BY-SA 3.0The crimes the grade counts fell 38% per resident in Milton-Freewater from 2023 to 2025
Milton-Freewater’s overall Safety Grade is C+ (#35 of 74 graded towns in Oregon): more crime per resident than 65% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Annual rates stand at 2.5 violent crimes and 15.6 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 3.8 and 30.4 in the rest of Oregon. Still, violent crime here is higher than in 66% of U.S. towns; property crime, higher than in 66%.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of OR” is every other Oregon 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 Milton-Freewater
Among Oregon towns, closer to the middle
Oregon’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Milton-Freewater’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 53% of the 74 Oregon towns we grade, against 35% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Milton-Freewater’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 higher than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.5) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns. Its property rate (15.6) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Milton-Freewater property | Rest of Oregon property | Milton-Freewater violent | Rest of Oregon violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 21.6 | 36.5 | 4.2 | 4.1 |
| 2023 | 18.3 | 32.9 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 17.8 | 30.9 | 2.2 | 4.0 |
| 2025 | 10.9 | 27.5 | 2.3 | 3.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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 Oregon.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Milton-Freewater | Rest of Oregon | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.2 | 4.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.3 | 3.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Milton-Freewater’s police reported 53 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.8 in the rest of Oregon and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Milton-Freewater 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 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
92 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.
16 violent and 76 property, as reported to the FBI by Milton-Freewater’s police.
Three people died in crashes on Milton-Freewater’s roads in 2019–2023
Milton-Freewater had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died; 2 were pedestrians.
That is about what is typical for Oregon towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (3.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Milton-Freewater’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Milton-Freewater’s own rate (8.5) 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.
Milton-Freewater and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milton-Freewater | C+ | 2.5 | 15.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Oregon towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milton-Freewater | C+ | 2.5 | 15.6 |
| Brookings | B− | 2.0 | 10.8 |
| Talent | B− | 2.4 | 10.2 |
| Madras | C− | 3.8 | 24.2 |
| Seaside | D | 2.9 | 44.1 |
| Warrenton | D | 3.4 | 43.9 |
The five graded Oregon towns closest to Milton-Freewater’s population (7,029), 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 Milton-Freewater. 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 Milton-Freewater’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (6,988 in 2025); our figure for Milton-Freewater is 7,029 (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 Milton-Freewater
Is Milton-Freewater, OR safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Milton-Freewater reports more crime per resident than 65% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #35 of 74 in Oregon. Its police reported 2.5 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.8 in the rest of Oregon and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Milton-Freewater?
2.5 violent and 15.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Oregon reports 3.8 and 30.4; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Milton-Freewater?
Milton-Freewater’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Milton-Freewater”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Milton-Freewater.
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.