Crime Rate in Iowa (2025)
The FBI-based Crime Index for 11 cities in Iowa, plus the statewide average. Scores run 0–100 (higher = safer) and are built from FBI Crime Data Explorer reports for 2025.
Crime Index
Crime trend in Iowa
All 11 cities in Iowa
Ranked safest to most dangerous by Crime Index.
- 1AmesB1,368per 100k1.4homicide
- 2AnkenyB1,180per 100k0.0homicide
- 3West Des MoinesB1,673per 100k0.0homicide
- 4IowaB1,860per 100k2.6homicide
- 5Cedar RapidsC2,397per 100k2.9homicide
- 6DubuqueC1,930per 100k0.0homicide
- 7Council BluffsD2,756per 100k3.2homicide
- 8WaterlooD3,039per 100k7.4homicide
- 9SiouxD3,304per 100k2.3homicide
- 10Des MoinesD3,472per 100k1.4homicide
- 11DavenportE3,831per 100k7.0homicide
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No area has zero risk
A high Crime Index score means lower reported crime relative to other US cities — it is not a guarantee of safety. Reported crime is not the same as actual crime. Research on the gap between crime that occurs and crime that gets reported to police — often called the "dark figure" of crime — estimates that roughly 40% of violent crime and about a third of property crime go unreported each year. Every index built on official statistics, including this one, necessarily undercounts real crime. That gap is exactly why homicide — the offense with the smallest dark figure — anchors the calculation instead of a more commonly reported but less reliable category like theft.
Scores on this page reflect FBI-reported data for 2025. See the full methodology →