The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Urbandale, IA
Urbandale is a city of 46,600 in Polk County, about 8 miles northwest of downtown Des Moines · Updated November 2026
Is Urbandale, IA safe?
Yes. Most US neighborhoods have little crime, and Urbandale has less than most of them: its overall CrimeGrade™ is A+, safer than the neighborhoods where 77% of Americans live. Violent crime grades A+ and property crime A. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Urbandale run from A+ to B, so check the map below.
A+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 928 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
77% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Urbandale as a whole, and 23% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Urbandale scores 928.
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 Urbandale, IA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Urbandale, 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 Urbandale
Burglaries and aggravated assaults both run low. In Urbandale, each runs at less than half the US rate: 0.98 burglaries and 1.1 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.4 and 2.6 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Urbandale
Every part of Urbandale where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Urbandale run from A+ to B; 95% 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 Urbandale, the northwest side has the least crime and the southeast side the most.
Is crime going up in Urbandale?
Reported crime in Urbandale has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 18% and property crime down 52%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.1 to 0.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 13 to 6.1 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 30% and property crime fell 14%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
UrbandaleUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police agencies that serve Urbandale. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Urbandale
Violent, US
Property, Urbandale
Property, US
2016
+49%
+4%
+25%
+15%
2017
+163%
+4%
+1%
+12%
2018
+14%
+0%
-29%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-4%
+4%
-22%
-8%
2021
+7%
+6%
-32%
-10%
2022
+0%
+5%
-48%
-6%
2023
+17%
+2%
-44%
-7%
2024
-18%
-4%
-52%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Urbandale
CrimeGrade™ estimates Urbandale has about 17 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 55% less than the US as a whole and 41% 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.
Theft makes up about 37% of crime reported in Urbandale. Assault is less common but 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 Urbandale
Urbandale has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Urbandale, 44% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 47% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (44%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (33%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (47%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (30%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (58%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Urbandale compares with nearby cities
Urbandale has less crime than 7 of its 10 nearest cities.
Two things set Urbandale apart: it has 3.7 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 66 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that 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.3.7 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 92% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.66 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 84% 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. 87% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (14 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 62% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.13.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 79% 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.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 77% 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.5% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 75% 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 Urbandale
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Urbandale about $427 a year per household, 65% 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 $19 million a year, or $402 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$500,000
$11
Rape
$320,000
$7
Robbery
$110,000
$2
Assault
$2.9 million
$62
Burglary
$410,000
$9
Theft
$1.5 million
$32
Vehicle theft
$1.1 million
$24
Arson
$32,000
$1
Vandalism
$770,000
$17
Total
$7.6 million
$164
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 Urbandale 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 Urbandale, IA average a SchoolGrade of B-: 74% of students test proficient, against 60% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Urbandale on SchoolGrade
