The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Council Bluffs, IA
Council Bluffs is the tenth-largest city in Iowa, with 71,000 residents in Pottawattamie County, about 5 miles east of downtown Omaha · Updated November 2026
Is Council Bluffs, IA safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Council Bluffs is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Council Bluffs sits near the middle: 46% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 54% in neighborhoods with less. Violent and property crime both grade A- here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Council Bluffs run from A+ to C+, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 820 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
46% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Council Bluffs as a whole, and 54% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Council Bluffs scores 820.
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 Council Bluffs, IA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Council Bluffs, 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 Council Bluffs
Robbery stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.13 robberies a year per 1,000 residents; Council Bluffs has 0.61.
Burglary at about double the US rate. Council Bluffs has 4.3 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.4 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Council Bluffs
Low crime is the norm across Council Bluffs: 90% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Council Bluffs run from A+ to C+; 43% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
90%10%
A or B 90%C 10%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Council Bluffs, the northeast side has the least crime and the west side the most.
Crime rates and types in Council Bluffs
CrimeGrade™ estimates Council Bluffs has about 40 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 7% more than the US as a whole and 40% more than 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 Council Bluffs is theft, about 38% 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 Council Bluffs
Council Bluffs has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Council Bluffs, 61% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 51% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (61%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (35%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (51%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (36%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (34%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (53%)
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 Council Bluffs compares with nearby cities
Of the 8 cities closest to Council Bluffs, 6 have less crime. Mineola and Crescent have the least.
Parking lots, transit and walkability in Council Bluffs
One thing sets Council Bluffs apart: it has 4.0 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft; here theft sits near the national middle.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.4.0 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 94% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Council Bluffs: D- (10 of 100).under 1 trip an hourUS: noneLower than for 65% 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. 81% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (17 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 53% of US city residents
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.10% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 61% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.48 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 60% 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.91% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 59% of US city residents
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 Council Bluffs
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Council Bluffs about $1,073 a year per household, 11% 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 $85 million a year, or $1,192 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.8 million
$39
Rape
$2.8 million
$39
Robbery
$1.3 million
$19
Aggravated assault
$5.0 million
$70
Simple assault
$5.0 million
$71
Burglary
$2.7 million
$39
Theft
$5.4 million
$77
Vehicle theft
$3.2 million
$45
Arson
$170,000
$2
Vandalism
$2.0 million
$28
Total
$30 million
$429
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 Council Bluffs 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 Council Bluffs, IA average a SchoolGrade of C: 71% of students test proficient, against 56% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Council Bluffs on SchoolGrade
