The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Des Moines, IA
The Des Moines metro area, the 82nd-largest in the US, is home to 731,100 residents; Des Moines itself is the capital and largest city of Iowa · Updated November 2026
Is Des Moines, IA safe?
Yes. Crime is low across most of the US, and lower still in the Des Moines area: an overall CrimeGrade™ of A, safer than the neighborhoods where 60% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A here. The city of Des Moines itself grades B. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within the Des Moines area run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 879 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
60% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than the Des Moines area as a whole, and 40% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Des Moines area scores 879.
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 Des Moines, IA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Des Moines area, 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 the Des Moines area
Robbery runs low. The Des Moines area has 0.27 robberies a year per 1,000 residents, less than half the US rate of 0.62.
One part of Des Moines stands out for vandalism. Acts of vandalism in River Bend, Capitol Park & East Village, in central Des Moines, run at about double the rate in the rest of the city.
The safest and most dangerous places in the Des Moines area
Low crime is the norm across the Des Moines area: 92% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 2% in areas graded D or F. Grades across the Des Moines area run from A+ to F; 69% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
92%
A or B 92%C 6%D or F 2%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhoods of Des Moines
1Southwestern Hills, Westwood & Arbor Peaks, southwestThefts run about 30% lower here than in the rest of Des Moines.B+762
2Fairmont Park, Douglas Acres & Sheridan Gardens, northeastCar thefts run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Des Moines.B+724
3Bloomfield-Allen & Pioneer Park, southeastCar thefts run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Des Moines.B+702
4Beaverdale, Lower Beaver & Merle Hay, northwestBurglaries run about 20% lower here than in the rest of Des Moines.B+698
5Highland Park, Union Park & Oak Park, northRobberies run about 40% higher here than in the rest of Des Moines.B623
6Fort des Moines, Indianola Hills & Greater South Side, southCar thefts run about 50% higher here than in the rest of Des Moines.B-606
7Drake & Waveland Park, westCar thefts run about 80% higher here than in the rest of Des Moines.B-562
8River Bend, Capitol Park & East Village, centralThefts run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Des Moines.B-544
9Fairground, Accent & Martin Luther King Jr Park, eastRobberies run about 80% higher here than in the rest of Des Moines.C+505
Neighborhood areas of the city of Des Moines, ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Cities and towns in the Des Moines metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Across the area, the Winterset, Van Meter, and Earlham areas have the least crime and the downtown Des Moines area the most.
Is crime going up in the Des Moines area?
Reported crime in the Des Moines area has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 15% and property crime down 32%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.6 to 3.1 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 23 to 16 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 10%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Des Moines areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the Des Moines area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Des Moines area
Violent, US
Property, Des Moines area
Property, US
2016
+2%
+4%
+6%
+15%
2017
+1%
+4%
+11%
+12%
2018
-3%
+0%
-8%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-4%
+4%
-12%
-8%
2021
-14%
+6%
-24%
-10%
2022
-4%
+5%
-28%
-6%
2023
-13%
+2%
-24%
-7%
2024
-15%
-4%
-32%
-15%
Crime rates and types in the Des Moines area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Des Moines area has about 33 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 10% less than the US as a whole and 18% 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.
Theft makes up about 36% of crime reported in the Des Moines area. Aggravated assault is less common but costs more, because each one does far more harm.
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 the Des Moines area
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across the Des Moines area, 2022 to 2024.
In the Des Moines area, 60% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 37% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (60%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (34%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (37%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (41%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (40%)
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 the Des Moines area compares with nearby metro areas
The Des Moines area has less crime than 9 of its 10 nearest metro areas; only the Madison area has less.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Des Moines area. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Des Moines area is safer than 99% of them.
Density, empty homes and transit in the Des Moines area
One thing sets the Des Moines area apart: it has 8% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report less robbery and car theft; here robbery and car theft sit near the national middle.
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 84% of Americans in metro areas
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary.5.6% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 67% of Americans in metro areas
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for the Des Moines area: D- (12 of 100).3 trips an hourUS: noneLower than for 58% of Americans in metro areas
Show all 4
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.88% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 51% of Americans in metro areas
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 the Des Moines area
Crime costs the Des Moines area about $911 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 24% less than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $256 million a year.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost rises to about $717 million a year, or $980 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$25 million
$35
Rape
$14 million
$18
Robbery
$6.1 million
$8
Aggravated assault
$52 million
$72
Simple assault
$51 million
$70
Burglary
$14 million
$19
Theft
$45 million
$61
Vehicle theft
$25 million
$34
Arson
$1.2 million
$2
Vandalism
$22 million
$31
Total
$256 million
$350
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 the Des Moines area 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. These figures cover the whole Des Moines metro area. 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 the Des Moines area average a SchoolGrade of C+: 71% of students test proficient, against 56% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in the Des Moines area on SchoolGrade
