The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Fort Madison, IA
Fort Madison is a city of 11,700 in Lee County, about 17 miles southwest of downtown Burlington · Updated November 2026
Is Fort Madison, IA safe?
Yes, crime in Fort Madison is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-. Because most US neighborhoods are safe as well, Fort Madison sits near the middle: safer than the neighborhoods where 51% of Americans live. Violent crime grades A and property crime A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Fort Madison run from A+ to B, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 842 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
51% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Fort Madison as a whole, and 49% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Fort Madison scores 842.
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 Fort Madison, IA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Fort Madison, 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 Fort Madison
Aggravated assaults run high for an A-graded city. Fort Madison has 3.0 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 1.2.
The safest and least safe parts of Fort Madison
Every part of Fort Madison where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Fort Madison run from A+ to B; 42% of residents live in areas with 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 Fort Madison, the northeast side has the least crime and the east side the most.
Is crime going up in Fort Madison?
Reported crime in Fort Madison has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 60% and property crime down 28%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 7.0 to 2.8 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 24 to 17 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 23%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Fort MadisonUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Fort Madison. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Fort Madison
Violent, US
Property, Fort Madison
Property, US
2016
-30%
+4%
+42%
+15%
2017
-10%
+4%
+42%
+12%
2018
-33%
+0%
+5%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-7%
+4%
-3%
-8%
2021
+4%
+6%
+15%
-10%
2022
-53%
+5%
-11%
-6%
2023
-51%
+2%
-7%
-7%
2024
-60%
-4%
-28%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Fort Madison
CrimeGrade™ estimates Fort Madison has about 41 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 11% more than the US as a whole and 46% 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.
Assault is the most common crime in Fort Madison, about 33% of everything reported, and it also accounts for 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 Fort Madison
Fort Madison has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Fort Madison, 57% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 34% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (57%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (45%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (34%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (45%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (72%)
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; they are over one in five for burglary, car theft, theft from cars, vandalism.
How Fort Madison compares with nearby cities
Fort Madison has the most crime of its 4 nearest cities.
Parking lots, density and walkability in Fort Madison
Two things set Fort Madison apart: it has 5.6 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 1% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places with a lot of parking-lot space tend to report more theft, yet theft runs lower here than that would suggest.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.5.6 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 98% 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.1% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 88% 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. 70% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (23 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 69% of US city residents
Show all 6
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 Fort Madison: F (3 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.12.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 74% 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.84% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 67% 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 Fort Madison
Crime costs Fort Madison about $1,030 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 15% 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 $13 million a year, or $1,130 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$210,000
$18
Rape
$520,000
$44
Robbery
$44,000
$4
Assault
$1.9 million
$163
Burglary
$260,000
$22
Theft
$620,000
$53
Vehicle theft
$370,000
$32
Arson
$36,000
$3
Vandalism
$980,000
$84
Total
$4.9 million
$422
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 Fort Madison 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 Fort Madison, IA average a SchoolGrade of C+: 73% of students test proficient, against 53% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Fort Madison on SchoolGrade
