Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Brown Deer grades C overall, ranked 331st of 357 in Wisconsin, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. The median household earns $94K and it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 78% of U.S. towns. On the other side, its crime rate is higher than 90% of U.S. towns, with 36 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. Brown Deer’s property crime rate is 27.8 per 1,000 residents, where Wisconsin’s towns sit at 6.3 and U.S. towns at 9.9. Brown Deer School is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Brown Deer beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Wisconsin), ordered by how far Brown Deer is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 11,280 in 1960, 12,507 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 1884 and 4 maps from 1892 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Brown Deer. Close and well known come first.
9 mi Stadium & arenaFiserv Forum
10 mi MuseumMilwaukee Art Museum350K visitors a year
10 mi Stadium & arenaUW–Milwaukee Panther Arena
10 mi MuseumNature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin
10 mi MuseumHarley-Davidson Museum300K visitors a year
10 mi GardenMitchell Park Horticultural ConservatoryFiserv Forum: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Milwaukee Art Museum: Michael Hicks (Mulad), CC BY 2.0 · UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena: Shadowlink1014, Public domain · Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin: The original uploader was Sulfur at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0 · Harley-Davidson Museum: Dori, CC BY-SA 3.0 us · Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory: Sulfur (Talk / contribs), CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Brown Deer, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Brown Deer.
Brown Deer has an unusually large share working from home and gets more snow than most of the country, though not than most of Wisconsin; it also reports property crime at about twice the Wisconsin rate.
Property crime runs at 27.8 per 1,000 residents, about twice the Wisconsin rate, most of it theft. Reported crimes fell from 690 to 384 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Brown Deer’s violent crime rate is 2.9 per 1,000 residents. Brown Deer reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 90% report less.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by the Brown Deer School District. Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Brown Deer Middle/High, with 904 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brown Deer ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 709 | C− |
| Brown Deer Middle/HighLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 904 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WI on state tests and graduation
15% of Brown Deer adults binge drink. Brown Deer beats the Wisconsin average on 9 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 12% of Brown Deer adults smoke cigarettes.
| Brown Deer | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 20% | 16% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 82% | 78% | 79% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 33% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 11% | 12% |
| What stands out | Brown Deer | WI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 15.2% | 19% |
| Fewer smokers | 11.5% | 13.6% |
| More adults lacking emotional support | 24.2% | 20.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The Mt Mary College weather station, 8 miles away, records that 40 inches of snow fall in a normal winter: more than most of the country, but less than 80% of Wisconsin places with climate records. January nights average 14.3°: colder than most of the country, but milder than 99% of Wisconsin places with climate records; July afternoons average 81.3°.
Brown Deer has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Brown Deer is 81°F.
| Brown Deer | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 81°F | 82°F | 85°F |
| January low | 14°F | 11°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
22.5% of workers work from home, against 13.1% across Wisconsin.
Most working residents leave Brown Deer for work: only 6% work in town. 23% of workers work from home in Brown Deer. Jobs based in Brown Deer grew to 9,161 in 2023, 1,935 more than in 2013.
| Brown Deer | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 23% | 12% | 11% |
| Median household income | $94,000 | $87,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 6.9% | 6.3% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 63% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 39 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Brown Deer.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Brown Deer home is worth about $290,000, up 3.8% in a year, 14% below the Wisconsin typical home.
| Brown Deer | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 65% | 74% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,183 a month | $1,076 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
0.9 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Algonquin Park, at 20 acres.
| Brown Deer | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 8.2% | 3.8% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Algonquin Park | 0.4 mi | 20 |
| 2. Village Park | 0.3 mi | 14 |
| 3. A.C. Hanson Park | 0.1 mi | 13 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Wisconsin average. Brown Deer has grown 2.9% since 2020, to 12,821 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 41% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 33% across Wisconsin.
| Brown Deer | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 41% | 32% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 21% | 22% |
47% women, 53% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.7 points. Across Wisconsin, 49.9% of residents are women.
| Brown Deer | WI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.8% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.8% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.3% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 17.4% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.5% | 11.8% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.1% | 13.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.7% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.4% | 7.3% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6.1% | 6.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.6% | 29.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 20% | 19.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.7% | 11.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 30.6% | 22% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.1% | 11.4% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
14 within 15 miles of the center of Brown Deer
About 4 of every 100 Brown Deer residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Wisconsin.
Village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
Brown Deer is a village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. A suburb of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The population was 12,507 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Brown Deer.
| Town | WI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown Deer | #331 | C | C | D | C | B+ |
| River Hills | — | — | D | — | A | A+ |
| Milwaukee | #357 | D− | C+ | D− | D− | D |
River Hills has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. River Hills reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Brown Deer with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Brown Deer grades C overall, better than 26% of U.S. towns and #331 of 357 in Wisconsin. It grades B+ for health, D for safety and C for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D.
That is 3.7 years of the area's median household income ($78,218 across the Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
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