State crime profile · 2024

Iowa Crime Rates: Safest & Most Dangerous Cities

Crime data for 148 cities and 87 of 99 counties in Iowa (IA), ranked safest to most dangerous from 282 reporting agencies.

Data updated 2026-09-05

238.5
Violent / 100K
1,286.3
Property / 100K
148
Cities
87
Counties

Iowa violent crime is 238.5 per 100,000, 32% below the U.S. average

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Iowa records 238.5 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, 32% below the national average (about the 16th-safest of 51 states and D.C.). Statewide averages hide city and county variation; UCR participation is voluntary.

  • 238.5 violent crimes per 100K
  • -32% vs. the U.S. average
  • 16th safest of 51 states & DC
  • 1,286.3 property crimes per 100K

How safe is Iowa? FBI UCR data snapshot

Iowa (IA) reported 7,730 violent crimes and 41,694 property crimes in 2024, based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program submissions from 282 law enforcement agencies. That translates to a statewide violent crime rate of 238.5 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 1286.3 per 100,000 against a reporting population of 3,241,488. The PlainCrime dataset indexes 148 Iowa cities and 87 counties, each with their own detail pages and local crime figures drawn from FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10.

The FBI's state-level summary reports violent and property crime as aggregate totals rather than broken out by individual offense type (murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson). For an offense-by-offense breakdown, see the individual city and county pages for Iowa below, which draw on FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10 and do report each offense type separately.

Across 11 years of state-level UCR history (2014–2024), the violent crime rate moved from 264.7 to 238.5 per 100,000, a decline of 9.9%. City-level detail pages within Iowa include safety grades (A+ to F), benchmarks against national averages, per-capita risk estimates, and multi-year trend tables for users comparing specific jurisdictions. All figures above are drawn from FBI UCR 2024 submissions; reporting completeness varies by agency, and the FBI periodically restates prior-year figures as late submissions arrive.

How Iowa ranks nationally

Iowa vs. every U.S. state

Violent crime per 100,000 residents, FBI UCR 2024. Lower is safer.

239 Safer than 69% among 51 U.S. states

IA 0 1,100+ every state & DC, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band of values; taller bars hold more U.S. states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · 2024

Safest cities · Most dangerous cities · Crime trends

Crime Trends

Year Population Violent Crime Rate Property Crime Rate
2024 3,241,488 7,730 238.5 41,694 1286.3
2023 3,207,004 8,524 265.8 45,366 1414.6
2022 3,200,517 8,885 277.6 43,637 1363.4
2021 3,193,079 9,024 282.6 46,812 1466
2020 3,163,561 9,621 304.1 53,462 1689.9
2019 3,155,070 8,914 282.5 57,810 1832.3
2018 3,156,145 7,023 222.5 47,944 1519.1
2017 3,145,711 8,950 284.5 65,326 2076.7
2016 3,134,693 9,012 287.5 65,386 2085.9
2015 3,123,899 8,488 271.7 64,126 2052.8
2014 3,107,126 8,226 264.7 63,714 2050.6

Cities in Iowa

Safest cities in Iowa

Cities with 25,000+ residents, lowest violent crime per 100,000, FBI UCR 2024. Hover a bar for the exact rate.

/100K

What this shows Urbandale is the safest sizeable city in Iowa, at 89.1 violent crimes per 100,000.

Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program As of 2024

Highest violent-crime cities in Iowa

Cities with 25,000+ residents, highest violent crime per 100,000, FBI UCR 2024. Hover a bar for the exact rate.

/100K

What this shows Des Moines reports the highest big-city violent-crime rate in Iowa, at 703 per 100,000.

Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program As of 2024

Des Moines is both volume #1 and rate #1 among 18 Iowa cities with 25,000+ residents in FBI UCR 2024. That non-invert is disclosed, not hidden.

Iowa's largest cities, violent vs. property crime. X axis violent crime per 100K, Y axis property crime per 100K, split by the national averages. 14 cities; the anchor is ringed. Iowa's largest cities, violent vs. property crime 80 759 Violent crime per 100K → 448 3,824 Property crime per 100K → Des Moines Cedar Rapids Davenport Sioux City SAFEST HIGHEST CRIME PROPERTY-HEAVY VIOLENT-HEAVY Safety grade A / B C D / F
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are Iowa's statewide averages · the four largest cities are labeled
Read the chart as a list
  • Des Moines: 703 violent, 3127 property per 100,000 (grade F)
  • Cedar Rapids: 262 violent, 2689 property per 100,000 (grade C)
  • Davenport: 581 violent, 3541 property per 100,000 (grade F)
  • Sioux City: 555 violent, 3324 property per 100,000 (grade F)
  • Ankeny: 166 violent, 1022 property per 100,000 (grade A)
  • Iowa City: 321 violent, 1674 property per 100,000 (grade C)
  • West Des Moines: 165 violent, 1714 property per 100,000 (grade B)
  • Waterloo: 476 violent, 2445 property per 100,000 (grade D)
  • Ames: 148 violent, 1506 property per 100,000 (grade B)
  • Council Bluffs: 421 violent, 2452 property per 100,000 (grade D)
  • Dubuque: 401 violent, 1435 property per 100,000 (grade C)
  • Urbandale: 89 violent, 635 property per 100,000 (grade A)
  • Marion: 123 violent, 497 property per 100,000 (grade A)
  • Bettendorf: 105 violent, 868 property per 100,000 (grade A)
C

Iowa safety livability score: 73/100

Percentile-benchmarked against all 51 tracked states, 2024 FBI UCR data.

  • Violent crime rate

    238.5/100K · C (69th percentile)

  • Property crime rate

    1286.3/100K · B (78th percentile)

  • Murder rate

    N/A, dropped from score, weight redistributed

City Population Violent / 100K Grade
Des Moines 209,245
703
F
Cedar Rapids 135,363
261.5
C
Davenport 99,926
581.4
F
Sioux City 85,711
555.4
F
Ankeny 76,547
165.9
A
Iowa City 75,934
321.3
C
West Des Moines 73,335
165
B
Waterloo 66,385
476
D
Ames 65,426
148.3
B
Council Bluffs 62,269
420.8
D
Dubuque 58,620
400.9
C
Urbandale 47,119
89.1
A
Marion 42,420
122.6
A
Bettendorf 40,105
104.7
A
Waukee 34,520
141.9
A
Marshalltown 27,576
297.4
C
Mason City 26,786
224
C
Ottumwa 25,185
397.1
D
Johnston 24,819
76.6
A
Fort Dodge 24,502
1,061.1
F
Clinton 24,171
359.9
C
Coralville 24,033
133.2
B
Burlington 23,444
413.8
C
Muscatine 23,208
245.6
B
Altoona 22,422
142.7
B
North Liberty 21,635
69.3
A+
Clive 19,124
209.2
B
Indianola 16,104
273.2
B
Newton 15,611
384.3
C
Norwalk 15,588
109.1
A
Spencer 11,501
52.2
A
Storm Lake 11,494
287.1
C
Oskaloosa 11,419
140.1
A
Pella 10,940
109.7
A
Le Mars 10,624
94.1
A
Waverly 10,611
141.4
A
Carroll 10,118
39.5
A
Fort Madison 9,964
281
C
Grinnell 9,451
169.3
B
Keokuk 9,392
287.5
C
Fairfield 9,251
140.5
A
Sioux Center 8,643
46.3
A+
Mount Pleasant 8,371
47.8
A
Denison 8,037
124.4
A
Perry 8,022
398.9
C
Webster City 7,679
286.5
B
Decorah 7,578
118.8
A
Clear Lake 7,536
252.1
B
Knoxville 7,387
324.9
C
Creston 7,345
272.3
B
Hiawatha 7,230
359.6
C
Washington 7,221
221.6
B
Charles City 7,177
320.5
B
Eldridge 6,886
43.6
A+
Atlantic 6,778
368.8
C
Adel 6,577
76
A
Polk City 6,557
30.5
A+
Orange City 6,438
46.6
A+
Independence 6,221
160.7
A
Maquoketa 6,029
248.8
C
Asbury 6,022
99.6
A
Estherville 5,808
275.5
B
Anamosa 5,791
103.6
A
Oelwein 5,753
208.6
B
Osceola 5,617
160.2
B
DeWitt 5,611
249.5
B
Spirit Lake 5,557
341.9
C
Red Oak 5,417
276.9
B
Sheldon 5,396
370.6
C
Winterset 5,373
186.1
A
Centerville 5,323
263
B
Algona 5,298
94.4
A
Manchester 5,295
132.2
A
Clarinda 5,286
283.8
B
Glenwood 5,218
57.5
A
Cherokee 5,158
213.3
A
Windsor Heights 5,011
219.5
C
Iowa Falls 4,974
201
B
Vinton 4,960
60.5
A+
Shenandoah 4,872
656.8
D
Le Claire 4,755
126.2
A
Huxley 4,746
21.1
A+
Dyersville 4,575
21.9
A+
Mount Vernon-Lisbon 4,555
197.6
A
Camanche 4,546
198
A
Evansdale 4,468
134.3
B
Carlisle 4,381
114.1
A
Hampton 4,253
94.1
A
Jefferson 4,074
98.2
A
Monticello 4,059
0
A+
Rock Valley 4,038
0
A+
Cresco 3,895
102.7
A
Waukon 3,761
26.6
A+
Carter Lake 3,749
560.1
F
West Liberty 3,688
379.6
B
Albia 3,640
576.9
D
Emmetsburg 3,599
305.6
B
Osage 3,505
114.1
A
Story City 3,403
58.8
A
New Hampton 3,399
88.3
A+
Showing the 100 largest of 148 reporting cities. Browse all 148 cities → Or see the safest and most dangerous rankings.

Counties in Iowa

87 of 99 Census county-equivalents (87.9%) appear in FBI Table 10 for this vintage. Missing counties are absent from the FBI source for this year, not dropped by PlainCrime. See national county coverage and methodology.

Largest counties in Iowa, violent crime per 100K

The 7 of the 8 largest counties with complete FBI agency coverage, violent crime per 100,000 residents. Hover a bar for the exact rate.

/100K
Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program As of 2024

Not charted (Incomplete report): Black Hawk. Its 2024 FBI agency coverage fails this site's completeness screen, so a rate here would read as unusually safe only because agencies did not report.

Adair
Adams
Allamakee
Appanoose
Benton
Black Hawk
Boone
Bremer
Buchanan
Buena Vista
Butler
Cass
Cedar
Cerro Gordo
Cherokee
Chickasaw
Clarke
Clay
Clayton
Clinton
Crawford
Dallas
Davis
Delaware
Des Moines
Dubuque
Emmet
Fayette
Floyd
Franklin
Fremont
Greene
Grundy
Guthrie
Hamilton
Hancock
Hardin
Henry
Humboldt
Ida
Iowa
Jackson
Jasper
Jefferson
Johnson
Jones
Keokuk
Kossuth
Lee
Linn
Louisa
Lucas
Lyon
Madison
Mahaska
Marion
Mills
Mitchell
Monona
Muscatine
O'Brien
Osceola
Page
Palo Alto
Plymouth
Pocahontas
Polk
Pottawattamie
Poweshiek
Sac
Scott
Shelby
Sioux
Story
Tama
Taylor
Union
Van Buren
Wapello
Warren
Washington
Wayne
Webster
Winneshiek
Woodbury
Worth
Wright

Nationwide peers for Iowa

Similar violent rate (~238.5/100K)

Similar property rate (~1,286.3/100K)

Nearby States

Illinois
IL
Indiana
IN
Kansas
KS
Kentucky
KY
Louisiana
LA

Safest cities · Most dangerous · Trends · National rankings · Crime grades · Compare · Methodology

Primary source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, Crime in the United States annual release. State-level trends cross-check against the FBI Crime Data Explorer (CDE) API.

Population figures for rate calculations reference U.S. Census Bureau estimates where FBI-reported populations are unavailable. Verify with Census.gov QuickFacts.

Read our methodology , how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Put this to use

Put the Iowa FBI UCR state file to work: open a city, a county, or a national ranking built from the same vintage.

Look up a city Municipal rates inside Iowa Safest states ranking How this state sits on the national violent-rate ladder Compare cities Side-by-side rates for up to 4 cities

A statewide average hides city and county variation: open a local profile before treating the state figure as a place-level verdict.

Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.