Brown Deer School · Photo: Freekee · CC0Brown Deer reports more crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Brown Deer’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #171 of 175 graded towns in Wisconsin.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of WI” is every other Wisconsin 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 Brown Deer
Brown Deer reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 2 Wisconsin towns on Brown Deer’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Milwaukee (D−). River Hills reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023. Neighbors ↓
A job center
Brown Deer has 9,161 jobs based in town for 12,821 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 Brown Deer’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 (3.4) 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.
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 Wisconsin.
Show as a table
| Year | Brown Deer property | Rest of Wisconsin property | Brown Deer violent | Rest of Wisconsin violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 50.9 | 18.1 | 2.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 50.6 | 15.9 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 26.1 | 15.4 | 3.5 | 3.8 |
| 2025 | 27.8 | 13.5 | 2.9 | 3.2 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 28 property crimes reported
And about 3 violent crimes, 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Brown Deer’s police reported 129 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.6 in the rest of Wisconsin and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Brown Deer | Rest of Wisconsin | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.6 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.9 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
384 crimes reported in 2025
36 violent and 348 property, as reported to the FBI by Brown Deer’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 Brown Deer’s roads in 2019–2023
Brown Deer had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what is typical for Wisconsin towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (3.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Brown Deer’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Brown Deer’s own rate (3.2) 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.
Brown Deer and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brown Deer | D | 3.4 | 34.9 |
| River Hills | — | — | — |
| Milwaukee | D− | 13.4 | 25.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. River Hills reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023.
Wisconsin towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brown Deer | D | 3.4 | 34.9 |
| Port Washington | A | 0.4 | 3.9 |
| Cedarburg | A | 0.7 | 3.6 |
| DeForest | B+ | 1.1 | 7.7 |
| Fort Atkinson | B | 2.3 | 7.0 |
| Stoughton | B− | 1.4 | 12.3 |
The five graded Wisconsin towns closest to Brown Deer’s population (12,821), 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 Brown Deer. 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 Brown Deer’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (12,520 in 2025); our figure for Brown Deer is 12,821 (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 Brown Deer
Is Brown Deer, WI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Brown Deer reports more crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #171 of 175 in Wisconsin. Its police reported 3.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.6 in the rest of Wisconsin and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Brown Deer?
3.4 violent and 34.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Wisconsin reports 3.6 and 14.9; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Brown Deer?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Brown Deer safer than Milwaukee?
Milwaukee reports more crime per resident than Brown Deer: Milwaukee grades D− for safety and Brown Deer D. Milwaukee’s police reported 13.4 violent and 25.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Brown Deer?
Brown Deer’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Brown Deer”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Brown Deer.
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.