Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railroad Passsenger Station · Photo: TheCatalyst31 · CC0On violent crime, Rice Lake has a higher rate per resident than 79% of U.S. towns
Taking everything together, Rice Lake scores C (#152 of 175 graded towns in Wisconsin): more crime per resident than 68% of U.S. towns, measured on crimes its police reported between 2023 and 2025. Behind the grade sit 3.6 violent crimes and 12.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 3.6 and 15.0 in the rest of 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 Rice Lake
Among Wisconsin towns, lower
Wisconsin’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Rice Lake’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 13% of the 175 Wisconsin towns we grade, against 32% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Rice Lake is home to Northwood Technical College, with 2,012 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 6% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
A job center
Rice Lake has 8,442 jobs based in town for 8,882 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 Rice Lake’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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its property rate (12.6) 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.
Crime in Rice Lake 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 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Rice Lake | Rest of Wisconsin | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.9 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.4 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.4 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.0 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Rice Lake’s police reported 98 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.6 in the rest of Wisconsin and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Rice Lake property | Rest of Wisconsin property | Rice Lake violent | Rest of Wisconsin violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 16.2 | 18.2 | 4.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 14.3 | 16.0 | 4.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 13.4 | 15.4 | 2.4 | 3.8 |
| 2025 | 9.9 | 13.5 | 4.0 | 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.
36 violent and 89 property, as reported to the FBI by Rice Lake’s police.
One person died in crashes on Rice Lake’s roads in 2019–2023
Rice Lake had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
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 Rice Lake’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Rice Lake’s own rate (2.2) 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.
Rice Lake and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rice Lake | C | 3.6 | 12.6 |
| Rice Lake (township) | — | — | — |
| Stanley | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Rice Lake (township) and Stanley have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Wisconsin towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rice Lake | C | 3.6 | 12.6 |
| 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 |
| Lake Geneva | B− | 1.1 | 14.8 |
The five graded Wisconsin towns closest to Rice Lake’s population (8,882), 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 Rice Lake. 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 Rice Lake’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (8,948 in 2025); our figure for Rice Lake is 8,882 (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 Rice Lake
Is Rice Lake, WI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Rice Lake reports more crime per resident than 68% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #152 of 175 in Wisconsin. Its police reported 3.6 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 Rice Lake?
3.6 violent and 12.6 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.
Who polices Rice Lake?
Rice Lake’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Rice Lake”. 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 Rice Lake.
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.