Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Franklin reports less crime per resident than 66% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Franklin’s police in 2023–2025, it grades B+ for safety: #79 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 Franklin
2 of the 5 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 Wisconsin towns on Franklin’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Muskego (B+), Hales Corners (B+), Greendale (B), Oak Creek (C+), Greenfield (C). Raymond has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Franklin’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Franklin’s police reported 58 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.5 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 | Franklin | Rest of Wisconsin | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.4 | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.6 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.5 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 10 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, 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 | Franklin property | Rest of Wisconsin property | Franklin violent | Rest of Wisconsin violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 13.4 | 18.2 | 0.4 | 4.1 |
| 2023 | 9.9 | 16.1 | 0.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 12.1 | 15.5 | 0.5 | 3.8 |
| 2025 | 9.9 | 13.6 | 0.5 | 3.2 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
381 crimes reported in 2025
19 violent and 362 property, as reported to the FBI by Franklin’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 Franklin’s roads in 2019–2023
Franklin had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died.
That is fewer than is typical for Wisconsin towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (3.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Franklin’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Franklin’s own rate (1.1) 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.
Franklin and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin | B+ | 0.5 | 10.6 |
| Greendale | B | 0.8 | 10.5 |
| Muskego | B+ | 0.4 | 8.7 |
| Hales Corners | B+ | 1.1 | 7.6 |
| Oak Creek | C+ | 1.2 | 17.7 |
| Raymond | — | — | — |
| Greenfield | C | 1.2 | 24.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Raymond has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Wisconsin towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin | B+ | 0.5 | 10.6 |
| New Berlin | B+ | 0.5 | 8.9 |
| Manitowoc | B− | 1.8 | 9.7 |
| Sun Prairie | B− | 1.6 | 12.8 |
| Fitchburg | C+ | 2.6 | 12.2 |
| Beloit | C− | 4.4 | 21.1 |
The five graded Wisconsin towns closest to Franklin’s population (36,687), 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 Franklin. 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 Franklin’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (36,675 in 2025); our figure for Franklin is 36,687 (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 Franklin
Is Franklin, WI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Franklin reports less crime per resident than 66% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #79 of 175 in Wisconsin. Its police reported 0.5 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 Franklin?
0.5 violent and 10.6 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 Franklin?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Franklin in 2025?
Franklin’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 2.7 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Franklin safer than Greendale?
Greendale reports more crime per resident than Franklin: Greendale grades B for safety and Franklin B+. Greendale’s police reported 0.8 violent and 10.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Franklin?
Franklin’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Franklin”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Franklin.
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.