This paper investigates the homology of the Brauer algebras, interpreted as appropriate $${{\,\mathrm{Tor}\,}}$$
Tor
-groups, and shows that it is closely related to the homology of the symmetric group. Our main results show that when the defining parameter $$\delta $$
δ
of the Brauer algebra is invertible, then the homology of the Brauer algebra is isomorphic to the homology of the symmetric group, and that when $$\delta $$
δ
is not invertible, this isomorphism still holds in a range of degrees that increases with n.