Main Street Historic District · Photo: Teemu08 · CC BY-SA 3.0For violent crime, Lake Geneva beats 66% of U.S. towns per resident
Its letter overall is B− (#118 of 175 graded towns in Wisconsin): close to the middle of U.S. towns, from crimes its police reported through 2023 to 2025. Year on year, 1.1 violent crimes and 14.8 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 3.6 and 15.0 in the rest of Wisconsin. Both towns next door with figures record less crime per resident.
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 Lake Geneva
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 4 Wisconsin towns on Lake Geneva’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Geneva (A+), Linn (A). Lyons has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Bloomfield reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023. Neighbors ↓
Among Wisconsin towns, lower
Wisconsin’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Lake Geneva’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 33% of the 175 Wisconsin towns we grade, against 49% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Lake Geneva has 6,425 jobs based in town for 8,818 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 Lake Geneva’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Lake Geneva’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (14.8) 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
Show as a table
| Year | Lake Geneva | Rest of Wisconsin | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.4 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.0 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.0 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Lake Geneva’s police reported 28 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.6 in the rest of Wisconsin and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Lake Geneva 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 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Lake Geneva property | Rest of Wisconsin property | Lake Geneva violent | Rest of Wisconsin violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 17.0 | 18.2 | 1.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 15.1 | 16.0 | 1.0 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 16.3 | 15.4 | 1.0 | 3.8 |
| 2025 | 13.1 | 13.5 | 1.1 | 3.2 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
125 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.
10 violent and 115 property, as reported to the FBI by Lake Geneva’s police.
Three people died in crashes on Lake Geneva’s roads in 2019–2023
Lake Geneva had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three 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 Lake Geneva’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lake Geneva’s own rate (7.0) 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.
Lake Geneva and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Geneva | B− | 1.1 | 14.8 |
| Linn | A | 0.4 | 5.1 |
| Geneva | A+ | 0.4 | 1.2 |
| Lyons | — | — | — |
| Bloomfield | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Lyons has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Bloomfield reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023.
Wisconsin towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Geneva | B− | 1.1 | 14.8 |
| Cottage Grove | A | 0.8 | 3.2 |
| Plymouth | A− | 0.1 | 7.2 |
| Sheboygan Falls | B+ | 0.7 | 7.5 |
| St. Francis | B | 1.4 | 10.5 |
| Rice Lake | C | 3.6 | 12.6 |
The five graded Wisconsin towns closest to Lake Geneva’s population (8,818), 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 Lake Geneva. 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 Lake Geneva’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (8,789 in 2025); our figure for Lake Geneva is 8,818 (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 Lake Geneva
Is Lake Geneva, WI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lake Geneva reports more crime per resident than 51% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #118 of 175 in Wisconsin. Its police reported 1.1 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 Lake Geneva?
1.1 violent and 14.8 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 Lake Geneva safer than Linn?
Linn reports less crime per resident than Lake Geneva: Linn grades A for safety and Lake Geneva B−. Linn’s police reported 0.4 violent and 5.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Lake Geneva?
Lake Geneva’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lake Geneva”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Lake Geneva.
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.