Special Report

How the Property Crime Rate in Wisconsin Compares to the Nation

Samuel Stebbins

Published: December 30, 2021 8:00 am

Communities and police departments across the United States are grappling with rising rates of deadly violence, as the U.S. murder rate reached its highest level in nearly two and a half decades in 2020. Despite the recent surge in homicides, however, most Americans face a far higher risk of being the victim of crimes that do not involve violence.

Property crimes, a broad category of theft-related offenses, are by far the most commonly reported of all major crimes in the United States, accounting for over 80% of the most serious offenses tracked and reported by the FBI. Property crimes fall into one of three categories: larceny, burglary, and vehicle theft.

Larceny is defined as the unlawful taking of property — pickpocketing and shoplifting being two common examples. Burglary, defined as the illegal entry of a structure to commit a crime, such as theft, is the most severe form of property crime tracked by the FBI. Vehicle-theft, meanwhile, is a crime that can be either the theft, or the attempted theft, of a vehicle, such a car, motorcycle, or ATV.

There were a total of 86,654 property crimes reported in Wisconsin in 2020. Adjusting for population, there were 1,486 property crimes for every 100,000 people, the 12th lowest property crime rate among states and lower than the national rate of 1,958 per 100,000 people.

Larceny is by far the most commonly reported property crime nationwide. The same pattern holds in Wisconsin, where larceny accounted for about 74% of all major nonviolent offenses in 2020. Burglary, meanwhile, comprised about 15% of reported property crimes in the state, and motor vehicle theft accounted for 11%.

All data in this story, including population estimates used to calculate crime rates, are from the FBI.