West Des Moines, IA has a B safety grade (69/100) with a violent crime rate of 165 per 100,000, 53% below the national average.
FBI UCR 2024 · per-capita rates · large city
West Des Moines, IA Crime Rate & Safety
At 73,335 residents, West Des Moines is a large city: FBI UCR Table 8 rates (per 100,000) here are read against IA and U.S. averages before the offense-family breakdown.
West Des Moines, IA carries a PlainCrime B safety grade with violent crime 53% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, West Des Moines, IA shows violent crime at 165 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,714.1 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 53% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade B from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
B safety grade
165/100K violent
1714.1/100K property
-53% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for West Des Moines, IA
Comparable rate records
West Des Moines's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Iowa cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to West Des Moines's 165.0 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Ankeny (165.9), Marengo (167.2), Independence (160.7), Grinnell (169.3). 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.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 8.8% of the 1,378 Part I offenses reported in West Des Moines 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 145.8 per 100,000 in 2020 to 165.0 in 2024 (+13.1%). The highest observed value was 251.8 in 2022 and the lowest 139.2 in 2021. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property-offense composition
Larceny-theft dominates the property total more than it does across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 85.8% of reported property offenses in West Des Moines, against a cohort median of 76.1%. The remainder is burglary (84) and motor vehicle theft (94). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Position in the state cohort
West Des Moines sits mid-pack among comparable Iowa cities
At 165.0 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, West Des Moines ranks 68 of 148 — above 80 of the 147 other Iowa cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +15.6% 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.
Property counts dominate West Des Moines'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.
On a large city row, these are citywide reported offense totals - not neighbourhood advice. Conditions vary by place and time; reporting rates differ across jurisdictions.
West Des Moines's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 47.5 Census sq mi, West Des Moines logged 26.5 property and 2.5 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
West Des Moines's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (78% of 1,378 offenses; mix index 6,265).
Violent offenses are only 9% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (47.5 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
-22.8%
2221.2 → 1714.1/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-6.1%
175.8 → 165/100K
Property offenses lead West Des Moines's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs IA
Property Crime
1,257
1714.1
1286.3
Larceny-Theft
1,079
1471.3
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
94
128.2
-
Burglary
84
114.5
-
Arson
2
2.7
-
Violent Crime
121
165
238.5
Aggravated Assault
96
130.9
-
Rape
16
21.8
-
Robbery
9
12.3
-
Murder
0
0
-
West Des Moines Crime Trend (2020-2024)
West Des Moines 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
West Des Moines Police Department
Reporting agency for West Des Moines NIBRS-participating
West Des Moines Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind West Des Moines's 1,378 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 West Des Moines in population. Their populations run from 47,119 to 85,711, against 73,335 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
West Des Moines at 165/100K violent and 1,714.1/100K property - matched below outside Iowa (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, West Des Moines reported 121 violent crimes and 1,257 property crimes, for a total of 1,378 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in West Des Moines?
From 2023 to 2024, West Des Moines's violent crime rate decreased by 6.1%, and the property crime rate decreased by 22.8%.
What is the most common crime in West Des Moines?
The most common crime type in West Des Moines is larceny-theft, accounting for 78.3% of all reported crimes (1,079 incidents in 2024).
Large-city read: West Des Moines's rates come from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, CIUS Table 8, vintage 2024.
Incomplete reporters stay out of rate rankings. Cross-check population with Census ACS; state UCR programs for statewide context. Primary verify links: FBI.gov UCR, Census QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (large city): informational crime rates only - not legal, insurance, or personal-safety advice. Source: FBI UCR. Ask a qualified professional before acting.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 West Des Moines, IA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.