Mason City, IA carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 36% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Mason City, IA shows violent crime at 224 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,322.1 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 36% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade C from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
C safety grade
224/100K violent
2322.1/100K property
-36% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Mason City, IA
Comparable rate records
Mason City's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Iowa cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Mason City's 224.0 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Washington (221.6), Windsor Heights (219.5), Cherokee (213.3), Earlham (212.3). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 425.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 224.0 in 2024 (-47.3%). The highest observed value was 425.2 in 2020 and the lowest 201.8 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Mason City sits mid-pack among comparable Iowa cities
At 224.0 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Mason City ranks 49 of 148 — above 99 of the 147 other Iowa cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +57.0% against the cohort median of 142.7. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 8.8% of the 682 Part I offenses reported in Mason City for 2024, against a median of 15.9% across comparable Iowa cities — a gap of 7.1 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
Property counts dominate Mason City's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Mason City's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 28.2 Census sq mi, Mason City logged 22 property and 2.1 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Mason City's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (76% of 682 offenses; mix index 5,985).
Violent offenses are only 9% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (28.2 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-23%
3016.4 → 2322.1/100K
Violent Crime Rate
+11%
201.8 → 224/100K
Property offenses lead Mason City's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs IA
Property Crime
622
2322.1
1286.3
Larceny-Theft
519
1937.6
-
Burglary
84
313.6
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
19
70.9
-
Arson
4
14.9
-
Violent Crime
60
224
238.5
Aggravated Assault
29
108.3
-
Rape
27
100.8
-
Robbery
4
14.9
-
Murder
0
0
-
Mason City Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Mason City property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Mason City Police Department
Reporting agency for Mason City NIBRS-participating
Mason City Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Mason City's 682 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in Iowa
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Iowa cities closest to Mason City in population. Their populations run from 23,208 to 27,576, against 26,786 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Mason City reported 60 violent crimes and 622 property crimes, for a total of 682 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Mason City?
From 2023 to 2024, Mason City's violent crime rate increased by 11%, and the property crime rate decreased by 23%.
What is the most common crime in Mason City?
The most common crime type in Mason City is larceny-theft, accounting for 76.1% of all reported crimes (519 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Mason City figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Mason City, IA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.