Photo: Downspec · CC BY-SA 4.0Delavan sits close to the middle of U.S. towns for reported crime
Overall, Delavan grades B− for safety (#113 of 175 graded towns in Wisconsin): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Delavan
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 1 Wisconsin towns on Delavan’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Delavan (A−). Neighbors ↓
Among Wisconsin towns, closer to the middle
Wisconsin’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Delavan’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 35% of the 175 Wisconsin towns we grade, against 51% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Delavan has 6,035 jobs based in town for 9,228 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Delavan’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 (1.7) 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 (11.4) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Delavan’s police reported 52 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.7 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 | Delavan | Rest of Wisconsin | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.1 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.1 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.9 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 11 property crimes reported
And about 2 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.
Reported crime is steady
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 Wisconsin.
Show as a table
| Year | Delavan property | Rest of Wisconsin property | Delavan violent | Rest of Wisconsin violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 15.2 | 18.2 | 1.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 10.8 | 16.0 | 1.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 12.2 | 15.4 | 1.9 | 3.8 |
| 2025 | 11.3 | 13.5 | 2.1 | 3.2 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
143 crimes reported in 2025
22 violent and 121 property, as reported to the FBI by Delavan’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
No one died in a crash on Delavan’s roads in 2019–2023
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 Delavan’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Delavan’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.
Delavan and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delavan | B− | 1.7 | 11.4 |
| Delavan (township) | A− | 0.4 | 5.5 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Wisconsin towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delavan | B− | 1.7 | 11.4 |
| Cottage Grove | A | 0.8 | 3.2 |
| McFarland | A− | 0.6 | 6.8 |
| St. Francis | B | 1.4 | 10.5 |
| Altoona | C+ | 0.6 | 21.0 |
| Merrill | C | 2.0 | 22.7 |
The five graded Wisconsin towns closest to Delavan’s population (9,228), 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 Delavan. 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 Delavan’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (10,723 in 2025); our figure for Delavan is 9,228 (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 Delavan
Is Delavan, WI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Delavan reports less crime per resident than 51% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #113 of 175 in Wisconsin. Its police reported 1.7 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 Delavan?
1.7 violent and 11.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Wisconsin reports 3.6 and 15.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Delavan?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Delavan safer than Delavan?
Delavan reports less crime per resident than Delavan: Delavan grades A− for safety and Delavan B−. Delavan’s police reported 0.4 violent and 5.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Delavan?
Delavan’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Delavan”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Delavan.
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.