Photo: Gnome70 · CC BY-SA 4.0Whitefish Bay records less violent crime per head than 95% of U.S. towns
Its police logs show 0.2 violent crime and 8.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the rest of Wisconsin the numbers are 3.6 and 15.0. Across all the graded crimes, Whitefish Bay lands on A− (#47 of 175 graded towns in Wisconsin): less crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. One of the 4 towns next door with figures records 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 Whitefish Bay
1 of the 4 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 4 Wisconsin towns on Whitefish Bay’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Fox Point (A−), Shorewood (B), Glendale (D), Milwaukee (D−). Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Whitefish Bay’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 | Whitefish Bay | Rest of Wisconsin | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.9 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.3 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.1 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Whitefish Bay’s police reported 8 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.2 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 Whitefish Bay 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 fewer than 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 | Whitefish Bay property | Rest of Wisconsin property | Whitefish Bay violent | Rest of Wisconsin violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 8.0 | 18.2 | 0.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 8.4 | 16.0 | 0.3 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 9.4 | 15.5 | 0.1 | 3.8 |
| 2025 | 7.3 | 13.5 | 0.1 | 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.
107 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.
2 violent and 105 property, as reported to the FBI by Whitefish Bay’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Whitefish Bay’s roads in 2019–2023
Whitefish Bay had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two 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 Whitefish Bay’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Whitefish Bay’s own rate (2.7) 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.
Whitefish Bay and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whitefish Bay | A− | 0.2 | 8.3 |
| Glendale | D | 2.7 | 40.6 |
| Milwaukee | D− | 13.4 | 25.9 |
| Shorewood | B | 0.3 | 13.8 |
| Fox Point | A− | 0.1 | 7.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Wisconsin towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whitefish Bay | A− | 0.2 | 8.3 |
| Grafton | B+ | 0.8 | 7.2 |
| Greendale | B | 0.8 | 10.5 |
| Chippewa Falls | B | 2.3 | 5.8 |
| Plover | B | 1.1 | 11.6 |
| Hudson | C+ | 1.4 | 16.0 |
The five graded Wisconsin towns closest to Whitefish Bay’s population (14,489), 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 Whitefish Bay. 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 Whitefish Bay’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (14,422 in 2025); our figure for Whitefish Bay is 14,489 (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 Whitefish Bay
Is Whitefish Bay, WI safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Whitefish Bay reports less crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #47 of 175 in Wisconsin. Its police reported 0.2 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 Whitefish Bay?
0.2 violent and 8.3 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 Whitefish Bay safer than Glendale?
Glendale reports more crime per resident than Whitefish Bay: Glendale grades D for safety and Whitefish Bay A−. Glendale’s police reported 2.7 violent and 40.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Whitefish Bay?
Whitefish Bay’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Whitefish Bay”. 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 Whitefish Bay.
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.