The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Polk County, IA
Polk County, the most populous county in Iowa, is home to 503,200 residents and includes Des Moines and Ankeny · Updated November 2026
Is Polk County, IA safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Polk County is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Polk County sits near the middle: 44% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 56% in neighborhoods with less. Violent and property crime both grade A- here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Polk County run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 807 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
44% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Polk County as a whole, and 56% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Polk County scores 807.
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 Polk County, IA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Polk County, 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 Polk County
Vehicle theft stands out among A-graded counties. For the typical resident of an A-graded US county, the figure is 1.1 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; Polk County has 2.9.
Murder is less common here. Polk County has about 11 murders a year, a rate less than half the national one.
The safest and most dangerous places in Polk County
Low crime is the norm across Polk County: 88% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 4% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Polk County run from A+ to F; 60% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
88%
A or B 88%C 8%D or F 4%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Cities and towns in Polk County 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 county, the Johnston and Grimes areas have the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Polk County?
Reported crime in Polk County has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 12% and property crime down 30%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.2 to 3.7 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 28 to 20 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Polk CountyUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across Polk County. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Polk County
Violent, US
Property, Polk County
Property, US
2016
+0%
+4%
+1%
+15%
2017
-1%
+4%
+4%
+12%
2018
-7%
+0%
-11%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-4%
+4%
-10%
-8%
2021
-13%
+6%
-24%
-10%
2022
-2%
+5%
-26%
-6%
2023
-9%
+2%
-23%
-7%
2024
-12%
-4%
-30%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Polk County
CrimeGrade™ estimates Polk County has about 41 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 9% more than the US as a whole and 43% 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 is the most common crime in Polk County, about 36% of everything reported, but assault costs more, because each one does 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 Polk County
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across Polk County, 2022 to 2024.
In Polk County, 60% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 38% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (60%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (33%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (38%)
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 (57%)
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 Polk County compares with nearby counties
Polk County has the most crime of its 10 nearest counties.
Jobs, night lighting and walkability in Polk County
Polk County looks like a typical county on the traits that tend to go with crime.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.61 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 91% of Americans
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.96% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 71% of Americans
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. 79% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (19 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 61% of Americans
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.10.9 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 63% of Americans
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 Polk County: D (16 of 100).4 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 63% of Americans
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.11% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 62% of Americans
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 Polk County
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Polk County about $1,084 a year per household, 10% less than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $213 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 $591 million a year, or $1,174 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$21 million
$42
Rape
$10 million
$20
Robbery
$5.7 million
$11
Assault
$85 million
$169
Burglary
$12 million
$23
Theft
$38 million
$76
Vehicle theft
$22 million
$44
Arson
$990,000
$2
Vandalism
$19 million
$37
Total
$213 million
$424
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 Polk County 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 Polk County, IA average a SchoolGrade of C-: 67% of students test proficient, against 52% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Polk County on SchoolGrade
