The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Altoona, IA
Altoona is a city of 22,700 in Polk County, about 8 miles northeast of downtown Des Moines · Updated November 2026
Is Altoona, IA safe?
Yes. Crime is low across most of the US, and lower still in Altoona: an overall CrimeGrade™ of A, safer than the neighborhoods where 65% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A here. Its neighborhoods are much alike, from A+ to A-; see the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 896 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
65% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Altoona as a whole, and 35% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Altoona scores 896.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Altoona, IA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Altoona, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Altoona
Thefts run high, though crime overall runs low. Crime overall in Altoona runs 20% below the US rate, but thefts run 33% above it: 17.4 a year per 1,000 residents, against 13.1 nationally.
Car thefts and aggravated assaults both run low. In Altoona, each runs at about half the US rate: 1.2 car thefts and 1.3 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 and 2.6 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Altoona
Every part of Altoona where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Altoona run from A+ to A-; every part of Altoona has less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Altoona, the southeast side has the least crime and the southwest side the most.
Is crime going up in Altoona?
Reported violent crime in Altoona peaked in 2020 and has fallen 49% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is down 18% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.3 to 1.4 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 25 to 20 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
AltoonaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Altoona. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Altoona
Violent, US
Property, Altoona
Property, US
2016
+31%
+4%
+18%
+15%
2017
-1%
+4%
+20%
+12%
2018
-6%
+0%
+15%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+113%
+4%
-9%
-8%
2021
+100%
+6%
-25%
-10%
2022
+50%
+5%
-37%
-6%
2023
+24%
+2%
-20%
-7%
2024
+8%
-4%
-18%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Altoona
CrimeGrade™ estimates Altoona has about 30 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 20% less than the US as a whole and close to Iowa.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
The largest share of crime reported in Altoona is theft, about 59% of the total. It also makes up the largest share of what crime costs here.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Altoona
Altoona has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Altoona, 54% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 48% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (54%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Car theft
Homes (41%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Homes (48%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (41%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (59%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Altoona compares with nearby cities
Of the 6 cities closest to Altoona, 4 have less crime. Mitchellville and Runnells have the least.
Parking lots, empty homes and walkability in Altoona
Two things set Altoona apart: it has 4.5 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 3.0% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places with a lot of parking-lot space tend to report more theft, and it runs high here.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.4.5 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 96% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.3.0% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 87% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault. 89% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (12 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 68% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.13.3 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 78% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.8% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 67% of US city residents
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.97% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 54% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Altoona on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Altoona
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Altoona about $654 a year per household, 46% less than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $12 million a year, or $509 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$270,000
$12
Rape
$140,000
$6
Robbery
$68,000
$3
Assault
$1.8 million
$79
Burglary
$270,000
$12
Theft
$2.0 million
$89
Vehicle theft
$430,000
$19
Arson
$15,000
$1
Vandalism
$380,000
$17
Total
$5.4 million
$238
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Altoona means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Altoona, IA average a SchoolGrade of B-: 75% of students test proficient, against 65% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Altoona on SchoolGrade
