Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY-SA 3.0Waukesha records less crime per resident than three in five U.S. towns
Typical years here bring 1.3 violent crimes plus 9.1 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 3.7 plus 15.1 in the rest of Wisconsin. What’s more, on crimes Waukesha’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades B for safety: #90 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 Waukesha
Among Wisconsin towns, closer to the middle
Wisconsin’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Waukesha’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 49% of the 175 Wisconsin towns we grade, against 61% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Waukesha’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
Show as a table
| Year | Waukesha | Rest of Wisconsin | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.0 | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.5 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.1 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Waukesha’s police reported 268 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.7 in the rest of Wisconsin and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Waukesha 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 | Waukesha property | Rest of Wisconsin property | Waukesha violent | Rest of Wisconsin violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.9 | 18.4 | 1.0 | 4.1 |
| 2023 | 9.4 | 16.1 | 1.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 8.7 | 15.6 | 1.1 | 3.8 |
| 2025 | 9.1 | 13.6 | 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.
734 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.
82 violent and 652 property, as reported to the FBI by Waukesha’s police.
13 people died in crashes on Waukesha’s roads in 2019–2023
Waukesha had 13 fatal crashes in five years, in which 13 people died. 2 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 3.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for Wisconsin towns of 25,000–100,000 people (3.7, 32 towns).
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.
Waukesha and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waukesha | B | 1.3 | 9.1 |
| Waukesha (village) | — | — | — |
| Pewaukee | — | — | — |
| Brookfield | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Waukesha (village), Pewaukee and Brookfield have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Wisconsin towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waukesha | B | 1.3 | 9.1 |
| Appleton | C+ | 2.2 | 12.3 |
| Janesville | C+ | 1.5 | 17.3 |
| Oshkosh | C+ | 2.5 | 14.6 |
| Eau Claire | C+ | 1.5 | 19.0 |
| Racine | C | 3.8 | 11.4 |
The five graded Wisconsin towns closest to Waukesha’s population (70,872), 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 Waukesha. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Waukesha’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (71,542 in 2025); our figure for Waukesha is 70,872 (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 Waukesha
Is Waukesha, WI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Waukesha reports less crime per resident than 61% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #90 of 175 in Wisconsin. Its police reported 1.3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.7 in the rest of Wisconsin and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Waukesha?
1.3 violent and 9.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Wisconsin reports 3.7 and 15.1; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Waukesha in 2025?
Waukesha’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Waukesha?
Waukesha’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Waukesha”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Waukesha.
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.