Although violent crime went up in Wisconsin’s largest cities during 2018, the state remains one of the safest in the Midwest: Wisconsin’s 2018 violent crime rate of 2.95 per 1K was considerably below the national average. Let’s take a closer look at Wisconsin’s five safest cities.
Cedarburg, a modestly sized community of 11.5K, is Wisconsin’s safest city. The city, located around 20 miles north of Milwaukee, logged a mere 3 violent crimes in 2018, which adds up to a violent crime rate of 0.26 per 1K.
Next on the list is the Fox Valley Metropolitan area, which comprises a number of small communities based along the Fox River. With a violent crime rate of 0.73 per 1K, and a property crime rate of 3.73 per 1K, Fox Valley metro residents can be well assured of their safety.
Muskego isn’t far behind. The city of about 25K in Waukesha County was originally inhabited by the Potawatomi Indian tribe, and today boasts one of the lowest violent crime rates in the state.
Port Washington, located on Lake Michigan in Ozaukee County, is #4 on the list of Wisconsin’s safest cities. Port Washington’s violent crime rate of 1.61 per 1K, while impressive, is a bit higher than the other entries in the state’s top 5, however the city earns its spot through a low property crime rate, and a high rate of law enforcement personnel to residents.
Completing the list of Wisconsin’s top five safest cities is Caledonia, a village of 25K located in Racine County, near the state’s border with Illinois. Caledonia recorded just 172 total crimes in 2018, or about one crime every two days.
Wisconsin’s Safest Cities
WI City Population Violent
crimeProperty
crimeLaw enforcement
employeesTotal crimes Crime rate per 1,000 Violent crimes per 1,000 Property crimes per 1,000 Law enforcement per 1,000
1 Cedarburg 11,469 3 54 26 57 4.97 0.26 4.71 2.27
2 Fox Valley Metro 22,006 16 82 28 98 4.45 0.73 3.73 1.27
3 Muskego 25,118 9 143 47 152 6.05 0.36 5.69 1.87
4 Port Washington 11,831 19 73 25 92 7.78 1.61 6.17 2.11
5 Caledonia 25,047 21 151 35 172 6.87 0.84 6.03 1.40
6 Hobart-Lawrence 14,667 7 69 11 76 5.18 0.48 4.70 0.75
7 Oconomowoc 16,850 7 133 30 140 8.31 0.42 7.89 1.78
8 Waunakee 14,000 20 92 21 112 8.00 1.43 6.57 1.50
9 Oregon 10,549 4 97 21 101 9.57 0.38 9.20 1.99
10 Mequon 24,311 5 241 49 246 10.12 0.21 9.91 2.02
11 Monroe 10,575 11 127 33 138 13.05 1.04 12.01 3.12
12 Watertown 23,628 46 220 54 266 11.26 1.95 9.31 2.29
13 Waupun 11,260 12 92 17 104 9.24 1.07 8.17 1.51
14 Deforest 10,557 9 98 19 107 10.14 0.85 9.28 1.80
15 De Pere 25,199 38 205 40 243 9.64 1.51 8.14 1.59
16 Kaukauna 16,172 25 135 27 160 9.89 1.55 8.35 1.67
17 New Berlin 39,763 15 432 81 447 11.24 0.38 10.86 2.04
18 Grafton 11,662 7 136 28 143 12.26 0.60 11.66 2.40
19 Waukesha 72,672 92 750 152 842 11.59 1.27 10.32 2.09
20 Burlington 11,039 15 108 21 123 11.14 1.36 9.78 1.90
21 Fox Crossing 19,323 20 189 32 209 10.82 1.04 9.78 1.66
22 Menomonee Falls 37,712 21 408 67 429 11.38 0.56 10.82 1.78
23 Cudahy 18,290 24 221 39 245 13.40 1.31 12.08 2.13
24 Everest Metropolitan 17,392 19 198 31 217 12.48 1.09 11.38 1.78
25 Two Rivers 11,077 36 136 29 172 15.53 3.25 12.28 2.62
26 Hartford 15,183 17 204 31 221 14.56 1.12 13.44 2.04
27 Franklin 36,251 13 527 73 540 14.90 0.36 14.54 2.01
28 Chippewa Falls 14,084 26 175 26 201 14.27 1.85 12.43 1.85
29 Middleton 19,970 52 276 48 328 16.42 2.60 13.82 2.40
30 Beaver Dam 16,394 25 239 37 264 16.10 1.52 14.58 2.26
31 Fort Atkinson 12,495 25 169 26 194 15.53 2.00 13.53 2.08
32 Portage 10,496 25 156 26 181 17.24 2.38 14.86 2.48
33 Plover 12,853 14 175 23 189 14.70 1.09 13.62 1.79
34 Greendale 14,181 12 251 40 263 18.55 0.85 17.70 2.82
35 Marinette 10,561 9 182 28 191 18.09 0.85 17.23 2.65
36 Stevens Point 26,233 40 392 48 432 16.47 1.52 14.94 1.83
37 Verona 13,490 19 207 25 226 16.75 1.41 15.34 1.85
38 West Bend 31,651 56 528 71 584 18.45 1.77 16.68 2.24
39 Kenosha 99,948 338 1495 207 1833 18.34 3.38 14.96 2.07
40 Wausau 38,682 119 626 85 745 19.26 3.08 16.18 2.20
41 Appleton 74,931 165 1151 135 1316 17.56 2.20 15.36 1.80
42 Marshfield 18,309 12 382 48 394 21.52 0.66 20.86 2.62
43 Stoughton 13,149 22 238 29 260 19.77 1.67 18.10 2.21
44 River Falls 15,578 16 259 27 275 17.65 1.03 16.63 1.73
45 Platteville 12,642 31 208 25 239 18.91 2.45 16.45 1.98
46 South Milwaukee 20,972 35 366 41 401 19.12 1.67 17.45 1.95
47 Oshkosh 66,736 115 1107 118 1222 18.31 1.72 16.59 1.77
48 Oak Creek 36,643 46 739 82 785 21.42 1.26 20.17 2.24
49 Menomonie 16,450 28 306 33 334 20.30 1.70 18.60 2.01
50 Sun Prairie 33,390 27 676 72 703 21.05 0.81 20.25 2.16
51 Sheboygan 48,195 183 826 102 1009 20.94 3.80 17.14 2.12
52 Germantown 20,014 8 422 43 430 21.48 0.40 21.09 2.15
53 Manitowoc 32,557 71 661 74 732 22.48 2.18 20.30 2.27
54 Green Bay 105,281 483 1798 220 2281 21.67 4.59 17.08 2.09
55 Brookfield 38,065 28 815 82 843 22.15 0.74 21.41 2.15
56 Pleasant Prairie 20,911 36 390 37 426 20.37 1.72 18.65 1.77
57 Mount Pleasant 26,571 23 569 56 592 22.28 0.87 21.41 2.11
58 Racine 77,373 435 1662 229 2097 27.10 5.62 21.48 2.96
59 Fitchburg 30,151 86 581 59 667 22.12 2.85 19.27 1.96
60 Menasha 17,788 45 367 38 412 23.16 2.53 20.63 2.14
61 Wauwatosa 48,562 55 1249 120 1304 26.85 1.13 25.72 2.47
62 Ashwaubenon 17,316 13 528 58 541 31.24 0.75 30.49 3.35
63 Onalaska 18,841 6 415 31 421 22.34 0.32 22.03 1.65
64 Greenfield 36,850 64 898 76 962 26.11 1.74 24.37 2.06
65 Fond du Lac 42,777 101 1012 81 1113 26.02 2.36 23.66 1.89
66 Baraboo 12,178 24 358 33 382 31.37 1.97 29.40 2.71
67 West Allis 59,887 195 1673 157 1868 31.19 3.26 27.94 2.62
68 Madison 258,455 1043 6722 595 7765 30.04 4.04 26.01 2.30
69 Shorewood 13,368 18 374 29 392 29.32 1.35 27.98 2.17
70 Eau Claire 68,923 199 1688 130 1887 27.38 2.89 24.49 1.89
71 Hudson 13,848 19 383 28 402 29.03 1.37 27.66 2.02
72 Beloit 36,746 171 979 79 1150 31.30 4.65 26.64 2.15
73 Milwaukee 595,619 8416 17699 2305 26115 43.85 14.13 29.72 3.87
74 Janesville 64,471 167 1800 114 1967 30.51 2.59 27.92 1.77
75 Grand Chute 22,865 52 683 39 735 32.15 2.27 29.87 1.71
76 La Crosse 51,901 145 1924 116 2069 39.86 2.79 37.07 2.24
77 Superior 26,054 76 1114 66 1190 45.67 2.92 42.76 2.53
78 Brown Deer 11,963 51 548 33 599 50.07 4.26 45.81 2.76
79 Glendale 12,710 53 965 47 1018 80.09 4.17 75.92 3.70
Methodology
To identify the safest cities, we reviewed the most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics. We eliminated any cities that failed to submit a complete crime report to the FBI and cities with populations under 10,000. This left 3,381 cities (out of a total of 9,251).
There are two broad classifications of crimes: violent crimes and non-violent crimes. According to the FBI, “Violent crime is composed of four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Violent crimes are defined in the UCR Program as those offenses that involve force or threat of force. Property crime includes the offenses of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. The object of the theft-type offenses is the taking of money or property, but there is no force or threat of force against the victims. ”
We computed the total number of crimes reported by each city by adding violent crimes and property crimes. We then created a crime rate as the number of crimes per 1,000 population. Then we transformed the total crime rate variable so that the skewness was reduced and normalized.
Data from 2,831 law enforcement agencies was then collected to determine police adequacy (TotalCrimes / Number of police employees). We consider that the smaller the police adequacy statistic is, the safer the city is. This variable was also transformed and normalized.
Finally, the two variables were combined to create a safety score for each city.
