Iowa Crime Rates & City Safety Scores
Population-adjusted FBI reporting rates; see the city profiles below.
Key facts
- 01
Iowa displays a 30.78-point adjusted-score range in its 2025 source-year cohort: Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 49.58 points out of 100 versus Davenport, Iowa at 18.8.
- 02
Iowa displays 3 jurisdiction profiles from a scoring run containing 442 reportable jurisdictions in its 2025 source-year directory; 3 displayed profiles have scores.
- 03
Iowa has 0 displayed jurisdictions with decreasing reported trajectories versus 0 increasing and 3 stable, comparing weighted 2024 reporting with 2025.
- 04
Des Moines, Iowa has a reporting population of 212,464 residents versus 101,083 in Davenport, Iowa, in the 2025 source-year displayed cohort.
Quick answer
In the Safety Atlas 2026 public safety index, the highest-scoring city in Iowa is Cedar Rapids with an adjusted safety score of 49.58 out of 100, ranked across 3 tracked jurisdictions using 2025 FBI reporting.
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Iowa city safety rankings
Ranked by adjusted Safety Atlas score. The table lists the 3 most populous jurisdictions in this directory; each rank is calculated within this displayed 3-jurisdiction cohort.
| City / Jurisdiction | Cohort Rank | Population | Safety Score | Overall Trend | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar Rapids | #1 of 3 | 136,859 | 49.58 | → Stable | View Report → |
| Des Moines | #2 of 3 | 212,464 | 26.25 | → Stable | View Report → |
| Davenport | #3 of 3 | 101,083 | 18.8 | → Stable | View Report → |
* Trajectory trends compare weighted year-over-year reporting from 2024 to 2025. Scores describe relative reported rates, not personal risk. Cohort rank covers only the 3 jurisdictions listed above.
Iowa in 7 numbers
- Every major offense fell in 2025. Homicide -26% (144 to 106), robbery -17%, burglary -14%, motor vehicle theft -14%, larceny-theft -9%, aggravated assault -1%.
- Almost half of all reports are property crime. 73,820 of 181,834 reports (40.6%); larceny-theft alone is 45,881 (25.2%).
- Clearances skew toward violent crime. 92% of homicides cleared vs 21% of burglaries and 21% of motor vehicle thefts (2025, reports cleared divided by reports received, reporting agencies only).
- Homicides fell by nearly a fifth. 106 reports in 2025 vs 144 in 2024 (-26%) across reporting agencies.
- The biggest volume is not violent. Simple assault (31,000) alone outweighs the entire personal-safety total (12,863, 7.1% of reports).
- Watch the monthly shape. Larceny-theft peaked in Jul (4,373) and troughed in Dec (3,046), a 1.4× swing inside a single year.
- These are reporting-agency sums. 244 of 269 agencies reported homicide in December 2025 (vs 243 in January); totals reflect who reported, not a census of crime.
Takeaways are computed from summed FBI CDE reported counts (source year 2025, 269 agencies in file). They describe reported data, not forecasts; check the methodology and coverage notes before reuse.
Every number on this page ships in the Iowa workbook.
Iowa monthly trend: reporting-agency sums through December 2025
Annual totals hide timing. The bars below show 2025 reported counts per month summed across reporting agencies for three indicator offenses. Counts only; there is no honest monthly denominator at this grain, so no rates are shown.
Larceny-theft, month by month
→ Stable, 45881 reports vs 50290 in 2024 (about level in reported data).
| Month | Count | Agencies | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | 3,693 | 115 | Full |
| Feb 2025 | 3,292 | 115 | Full |
| Mar 2025 | 3,927 | 115 | Full |
| Apr 2025 | 3,877 | 115 | Full |
| May 2025 | 4,248 | 115 | Full |
| Jun 2025 | 4,058 | 115 | Full |
| Jul 2025 | 4,373 | 114 | Full |
| Aug 2025 | 4,194 | 115 | Full |
| Sep 2025 | 3,961 | 114 | Full |
| Oct 2025 | 3,923 | 115 | Full |
| Nov 2025 | 3,289 | 115 | Full |
| Dec 2025 | 3,046 | 115 | Full |
Simple assault, month by month
→ Stable, 31000 reports vs 31215 in 2024 (about level in reported data).
| Month | Count | Agencies | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | 2,291 | 115 | Full |
| Feb 2025 | 2,310 | 115 | Full |
| Mar 2025 | 2,638 | 115 | Full |
| Apr 2025 | 2,628 | 115 | Full |
| May 2025 | 2,935 | 115 | Full |
| Jun 2025 | 2,592 | 115 | Full |
| Jul 2025 | 2,552 | 114 | Full |
| Aug 2025 | 2,640 | 115 | Full |
| Sep 2025 | 2,817 | 114 | Full |
| Oct 2025 | 2,932 | 115 | Full |
| Nov 2025 | 2,448 | 115 | Full |
| Dec 2025 | 2,217 | 115 | Full |
Drug/Narcotic Violations, month by month
→ Stable, 25204 reports vs 23322 in 2024 (about level in reported data).
| Month | Count | Agencies | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | 2,070 | 131 | Full |
| Feb 2025 | 1,798 | 131 | Full |
| Mar 2025 | 2,368 | 131 | Full |
| Apr 2025 | 2,451 | 131 | Full |
| May 2025 | 2,114 | 131 | Full |
| Jun 2025 | 1,962 | 131 | Full |
| Jul 2025 | 2,076 | 130 | Full |
| Aug 2025 | 2,180 | 131 | Full |
| Sep 2025 | 2,034 | 130 | Full |
| Oct 2025 | 2,220 | 131 | Full |
| Nov 2025 | 2,121 | 131 | Full |
| Dec 2025 | 1,810 | 131 | Full |
Clearances: what got cleared in 2025
92% of homicides cleared vs 21% of burglaries, clearance follows violent crime, not volume.
| Offense | Reported | Cleared | Clearance rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 106 | 97 | 91.5% |
| Aggravated Assault | 9,564 | 6,121 | 64.0% |
| Robbery | 871 | 407 | 46.7% |
| Burglary | 8,774 | 1,875 | 21.4% |
| Larceny-theft | 45,881 | 13,039 | 28.4% |
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 6,243 | 1,341 | 21.5% |
Clearances ÷ reports received; clearances may concern earlier reports, so this is not a solve rate.
Monthly counts summed over reporting agencies, FBI CDE source year 2025. A hyphen (-) means not reported, not zero. Totals reflect who reported, not a census of crime.
Downloads: Iowa monthly series (JSON) · same data (CSV) · build manifest
Iowa city reports
- Cedar Rapids safety report: #1 of 3, population 136,859, score 49.58, and the displayed trajectory is → Stable.
- Des Moines safety report: #2 of 3, population 212,464, score 26.25, and the displayed trajectory is → Stable.
- Davenport safety report: #3 of 3, population 101,083, score 18.8, and the displayed trajectory is → Stable.
Reading the comparison
Scores compare reported rates; they do not predict personal risk. Methodology · Coverage
Monthly count comparisons
Iowa reporting agencies recorded 4,373 larceny-theft offenses in Jul 2025 versus 3,046 in Dec 2025, a difference of 1,327 reports; 114 agencies reported in the peak-count month compared with 115 in the minimum-count month, within 12 displayed months totaling 45,881 reports (FBI CDE reporting-agency sums, not statewide population rates).
Iowa reporting agencies recorded 2,935 simple assault offenses in May 2025 versus 2,217 in Dec 2025, a difference of 718 reports; 115 agencies reported in the peak-count month compared with 115 in the minimum-count month, within 12 displayed months totaling 31,000 reports (FBI CDE reporting-agency sums, not statewide population rates).
Iowa reporting agencies recorded 2,451 drug/narcotic violations offenses in Apr 2025 versus 1,798 in Feb 2025, a difference of 653 reports; 131 agencies reported in the peak-count month compared with 131 in the minimum-count month, within 12 displayed months totaling 25,204 reports (FBI CDE reporting-agency sums, not statewide population rates).
Iowa reporting agencies recorded 97 cleared homicide offenses against 106 reports received in 2025 (91.5%), compared with 1,875 cleared burglary offenses against 8,774 reports (21.4%), a 70.1-percentage-point difference between the displayed clearance ratios; clearances can concern earlier reports.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa records 49.58 adjusted score points out of 100 in the 2025 source-year directory, 18.04 points above the displayed scored-cohort mean of 31.54; its reporting population of 136,859 residents accounts for 30.4% of the 450,406 residents summed across the 3 displayed jurisdiction populations.
Davenport, Iowa records 18.8 adjusted score points out of 100 in the 2025 source-year directory, 12.74 points below the displayed scored-cohort mean of 31.54; its reporting population of 101,083 residents accounts for 22.4% of the 450,406 residents summed across the 3 displayed jurisdiction populations.
Des Moines, Iowa records 26.25 adjusted score points out of 100 in the 2025 source-year directory, 5.29 points below the displayed scored-cohort mean of 31.54; its reporting population of 212,464 residents accounts for 47.2% of the 450,406 residents summed across the 3 displayed jurisdiction populations.
Iowa reporting-agency sums contain 45,881 larceny-theft reports in 2025 versus 50,290 in 2024, 4,409 reports (8.8%) fewer across the two complete twelve-month source series; monthly reporting participation ranges from 112 to 115 agencies across those years, so the count change includes differences in participation and is not a population-adjusted rate change.
Iowa reporting-agency sums contain 31,000 simple assault reports in 2025 versus 31,215 in 2024, 215 reports (0.7%) fewer across the two complete twelve-month source series; monthly reporting participation ranges from 112 to 115 agencies across those years, so the count change includes differences in participation and is not a population-adjusted rate change.
Iowa reporting-agency sums contain 20,106 vandalism reports in 2025 versus 22,225 in 2024, 2,119 reports (9.5%) fewer across the two complete twelve-month source series; monthly reporting participation ranges from 131 to 135 agencies across those years, so the count change includes differences in participation and is not a population-adjusted rate change.
How to read the Iowa directory
The scoring run contains 442 reportable jurisdictions in Iowa. This public directory displays the 3 most populous jurisdictions in the current scored comparison set, and each displayed city's rank is calculated within this displayed 3-jurisdiction cohort.
Within the displayed cohort, Cedar Rapids has the highest adjusted score at 49.58, and Davenport has the lowest at 18.8. The public-cohort range is 30.78 points; use the offense-rate tables on each city profile to understand that spread.
Current trajectories in the displayed cohort: 0 decreasing, 3 stable, and 0 increasing. Trends compare weighted 2024 and 2025 reporting and do not forecast future incidents.
Review the scoring method, coverage report, and buyer checklist before citing or purchasing data.
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