The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Pleasant Hill, IA
Pleasant Hill is a city of 11,800 in Polk County, about 6 miles east of downtown Des Moines · Updated November 2026
Is Pleasant Hill, IA safe?
Yes. Crime is low across most of the US, and lower still in Pleasant Hill: an overall CrimeGrade™ of A, safer than the neighborhoods where 62% 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 885 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
62% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Pleasant Hill as a whole, and 38% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Pleasant Hill scores 885.
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 Pleasant Hill, IA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Pleasant Hill, 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 Pleasant Hill
Burglaries run high for an A-graded city. Pleasant Hill has 2.3 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 1.2.
Theft runs low. Pleasant Hill has 6.0 thefts a year per 1,000 residents, about half the US rate of 13.1.
The safest and least safe parts of Pleasant Hill
Every part of Pleasant Hill where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Pleasant Hill run from A+ to A-; every part of Pleasant Hill 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 Pleasant Hill, the east side has the least crime and the northwest side the most.
Crime rates and types in Pleasant Hill
CrimeGrade™ estimates Pleasant Hill has about 22 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 40% less than the US as a whole and 21% less 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 Pleasant Hill, about 39% 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.
The Pleasant Hill Police Department's 2024 report to the FBI was missing some months of simple assault, theft and vandalism; CrimeGrade™ filled them in from the department's own monthly pattern. The department's 2024 count of burglary fell far below its usual level, a sign of a reporting break, so CrimeGrade™ used the department's earlier years instead.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
How Pleasant Hill compares with nearby cities
Pleasant Hill has more crime than 5 of its 6 nearest cities. Mitchellville and Runnells have the least crime nearby.
Parking lots, shops and walkability in Pleasant Hill
Two things set Pleasant Hill apart: it has 4.7 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 5.2 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 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.4.7 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 97% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.5.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 91% 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. 100% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (6 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 88% of US city residents
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.27 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 76% 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.6% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 70% 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.5.1% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 58% 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 Pleasant Hill
Crime costs Pleasant Hill about $632 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 48% 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 $6.1 million a year, or $518 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$110,000
$10
Rape
$150,000
$13
Robbery
$35,000
$3
Assault
$1.1 million
$92
Burglary
$240,000
$20
Theft
$370,000
$31
Vehicle theft
$350,000
$30
Arson
$5,600
under $1
Vandalism
$270,000
$23
Total
$2.6 million
$222
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 Pleasant Hill 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 Pleasant Hill, IA average a SchoolGrade of C-: 69% of students test proficient, against 58% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Pleasant Hill on SchoolGrade
