Crime in La Crosse, Wisconsin
Major crime in La Crosse is 1.9 times the U.S. rate per resident: 20% higher for persons crimes and 2.1 times for property crimes. Expected major crimes are down 11.0% from a year earlier.
Modeled estimates per resident, not counts of incidents. How we calculated this
Index: crimes per resident compared with the U.S., where 100 is the U.S. rate and 200 is twice it.
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Shoplifting and drugs and alcohol stand out most, at about 2.9 times the U.S. rate
Expected crimes per year in La Crosse for each type, and the index against the U.S. rate per resident.
Citywide indexWhere the middle half of residents live
Property crimes
Social disorder
How crime varies across La Crosse
The middle half of La Crosse residents live in neighborhoods with a major-crime index between 89 and 201; the typical (median) resident's is 123. The citywide figure (194) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.
- 0–507.6%
- 50–10026.0%
- 100–20041.2%
- 200–40015.2%
- 400+10.0%
Share of residents by the index of their census block group, a neighborhood of roughly 600 to 3,000 people.
Highest on Friday and Saturday nights
Major-crime index by time of week, against the U.S. rate for the same hours.
Major crime fell 11.0% in a year; across Wisconsin it fell 11.2%
Change in expected crimes, with Wisconsin as a whole in gray. The past year uses the reporting agencies' year-to-date FBI data; 2031 is the model's projection.
La Crosse against U.S. places with 50,000 to 100,000 residents
38 of the 540 other places of this size have a higher major-crime index than La Crosse; the middle of the group is 92. The 9 nearest in population:
Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; residents in gray.
La Crosse has a higher major-crime index than all of its 8 nearest neighbors
The 8 nearest cities and towns we cover, by major-crime index. The closest, French Island (4 mi), is 72% below La Crosse's rate.
Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; distances between where residents live, in miles.
Questions about crime in La Crosse
What are the most common crimes in La Crosse?
By expected count, the most common persons and property crimes are other larceny (about 516 a year), shoplifting (about 473 a year) and theft from vehicle (about 344 a year). Compared with the U.S., shoplifting stands out most: 2.9 times the U.S. rate per resident.
How we calculated this
Each police agency's crimes, as reported to the FBI, are spread across the census block groups it serves using population, jobs, points of interest and, where available, local incident records. La Crosse's figures add up its 48 block groups. The index compares crimes per resident with the U.S. rate.
- La Crosse has no published incident records in our data, so its estimate relies on agency totals and neighborhood characteristics.
- 38.2% of residents live in block groups whose estimate has high confidence (80% interval within about 5x).
- Rates are per resident, so places where many people work or visit but few live, such as downtowns, airports and stadiums, can read high.
- Disorderly conduct and trespassing are modeled, because the FBI records them only through arrests.
- Residents: 51,074. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2
Full method and validation·Data sources
CrimeMetric. "Crime in La Crosse, Wisconsin." Vorp Labs, model updated Oct 20, 2026. https://crimemetric.com/wi/la-crosse
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Get a free API keyNearest cities we publish
Major-crime index, U.S. = 100
- French Island4 mi55
- Onalaska6 mi118
- West Salem10 mi36
- Holmen10 mi26
- Sparta22 mi116
- Viroqua24 mi51
- Winona, MN27 mi123
- Tomah38 mi59