Photo: Wernerradio · CC BY-SA 4.0Per resident, Waupaca records more violent crime than 67% of U.S. towns
Per resident, the graded crimes were down 25% from 2023 to 2025. Waupaca’s overall Safety Grade is C+ (#136 of 175 graded towns in Wisconsin): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Even so, recorded violent crimes ran at 2.6 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 12.0, against 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 Waupaca
Among Wisconsin towns, lower
Wisconsin’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Waupaca’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 22% of the 175 Wisconsin towns we grade, against 41% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Waupaca has 5,643 jobs based in town for 6,352 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Waupaca’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 violent rate (2.6) 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 (12.0) 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Waupaca property | Rest of Wisconsin property | Waupaca violent | Rest of Wisconsin violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 18.2 | 18.2 | 2.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 12.4 | 16.0 | 2.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 13.7 | 15.4 | 3.6 | 3.8 |
| 2025 | 9.8 | 13.5 | 1.4 | 3.2 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Wisconsin.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Waupaca | Rest of Wisconsin | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.4 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Waupaca’s police reported 49 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.6 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 Waupaca 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.
70 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.
9 violent and 61 property, as reported to the FBI by Waupaca’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Waupaca’s roads in 2019–2023
Waupaca had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people 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 Waupaca’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Waupaca’s own rate (6.4) 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.
Waupaca and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waupaca | C+ | 2.6 | 12.0 |
| Waupaca (township) | — | — | — |
| Farmington | — | — | — |
| Lind | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Waupaca (township), Farmington and Lind have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Wisconsin towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waupaca | C+ | 2.6 | 12.0 |
| Edgerton | A+ | 0.1 | 3.5 |
| Elm Grove | A | 0.2 | 5.3 |
| Fox Point | A− | 0.1 | 7.1 |
| Slinger | B+ | 1.3 | 4.9 |
| Lake Mills | B+ | 1.3 | 5.7 |
The five graded Wisconsin towns closest to Waupaca’s population (6,352), 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 Waupaca. 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 Waupaca’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (6,208 in 2025); our figure for Waupaca is 6,352 (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 Waupaca
Is Waupaca, WI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Waupaca reports more crime per resident than 59% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #136 of 175 in Wisconsin. Its police reported 2.6 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 Waupaca?
2.6 violent and 12.0 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 Waupaca?
Waupaca’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Waupaca”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Waupaca.
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.