The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Brown Deer, WI
Brown Deer is a village of 12,500 in Milwaukee County, about 10 miles north of downtown Milwaukee · Updated November 2026
Is Brown Deer, WI safe?
Mostly, yes. Crime in Brown Deer is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-, but most US neighborhoods are safer still: Brown Deer has more crime than the neighborhoods where 61% of Americans live. Violent crime grades A- and property crime B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Brown Deer run from A to B, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 775 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
39% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Brown Deer as a whole, and 61% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Brown Deer scores 775.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Brown Deer, WI at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Brown Deer, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Brown Deer
Burglaries run high for an A-graded city. Brown Deer has 3.8 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 1.2.
Car thefts happen in parking lots and garages far more often than nationally. In Brown Deer, 59% of reported car thefts happen in parking lots and garages, against 23% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Brown Deer
Every part of Brown Deer where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Brown Deer run from A to B; 23% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Brown Deer, the northeast side has the least crime and the southeast side the most.
Crime rates and types in Brown Deer
CrimeGrade™ estimates Brown Deer has about 46 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 23% more than the US as a whole and 88% more than Wisconsin.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Theft makes up about 44% of crime reported in Brown Deer. Assault is less common but costs more, because each one does more harm.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Brown Deer
Brown Deer has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 61% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (59%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (61%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (48%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (67%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Brown Deer compares with nearby cities
Of the 10 cities closest to Brown Deer, 9 have less crime. Mequon and Thiensville have the least.
Night lighting, jobs and walkability in Brown Deer
Two things set Brown Deer apart: it has 78 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 3.2 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft and robbery, and theft runs high here.
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 92% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.78 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 91% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault. 94% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (13 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 67% of US city residents
Show all 6
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 88% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.7.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 77% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Brown Deer: D+ (22 of 100).4 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 65% of US city residents
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Brown Deer
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Brown Deer about $1,013 a year per household, 16% less than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $15 million a year, or $1,198 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$640,000
$51
Rape
$260,000
$21
Robbery
$190,000
$15
Assault
$1.7 million
$135
Burglary
$430,000
$34
Theft
$1.3 million
$103
Vehicle theft
$390,000
$31
Arson
$5,100
under $1
Vandalism
$700,000
$56
Total
$5.6 million
$447
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Brown Deer means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Brown Deer, WI average a SchoolGrade of B: 36% of students test proficient, against 37% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Brown Deer on SchoolGrade
