Storm Lake, IA carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 18% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Storm Lake, IA shows violent crime at 287.1 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,679.1 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 18% 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
287.1/100K violent
1679.1/100K property
-18% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Storm Lake, IA
Comparable rate records
Storm Lake's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Iowa cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Storm Lake's 287.1 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Keokuk (287.5), Webster City (286.5), Clarinda (283.8), Fort Madison (281.0). 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.
Position in the state cohort
Storm Lake reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Iowa cities
At 287.1 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Storm Lake ranks 35 of 148 — above 113 of the 147 other Iowa cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +101.2% 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 398.8 per 100,000 in 2020 to 287.1 in 2024 (-28.0%). The highest observed value was 398.8 in 2020 and the lowest 238.3 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Storm Lake'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.
Storm Lake's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 5.4 Census sq mi, Storm Lake logged 35.6 property and 6.1 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Storm Lake's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (67% of 226 offenses; mix index 4,813).
Violent offenses are only 15% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (5.4 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
+20.5%
238.3 → 287.1/100K
Property Crime Rate
+2.8%
1632.7 → 1679.1/100K
Property offenses lead Storm Lake's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs IA
Property Crime
193
1679.1
1286.3
Larceny-Theft
151
1313.7
-
Burglary
32
278.4
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
10
87
-
Arson
1
8.7
-
Violent Crime
33
287.1
238.5
Aggravated Assault
25
217.5
-
Rape
4
34.8
-
Robbery
4
34.8
-
Murder
0
0
-
Storm Lake Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Storm Lake property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Storm Lake Police Department
Reporting agency for Storm Lake NIBRS-participating
Storm Lake Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Storm Lake's 226 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 Storm Lake in population. Their populations run from 9,451 to 11,501, against 11,494 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Storm Lake reported 33 violent crimes and 193 property crimes, for a total of 226 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Storm Lake?
From 2023 to 2024, Storm Lake's violent crime rate increased by 20.5%, and the property crime rate increased by 2.8%.
What is the most common crime in Storm Lake?
The most common crime type in Storm Lake is larceny-theft, accounting for 66.8% of all reported crimes (151 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Storm Lake 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 Storm Lake, IA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.