Crime in Des Moines, Iowa
Major crime in Des Moines is 1.6 times the U.S. rate per resident: 2.1 times for persons crimes and 1.5 times for property crimes. Expected major crimes are down 20.6% from a year earlier.
Modeled estimates per resident, not counts of incidents. How we calculated this
Index: crimes per resident compared with the U.S., where 100 is the U.S. rate and 200 is twice it.
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Intimidation stands out most, at 2.9 times the U.S. rate
Expected crimes per year in Des Moines for each type, and the index against the U.S. rate per resident.
Citywide indexWhere the middle half of residents live
Property crimes
Social disorder
How crime varies across Des Moines
The middle half of Des Moines residents live in neighborhoods with a major-crime index between 52 and 187; the typical (median) resident's is 108. The citywide figure (164) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.
- 0–5021.2%
- 50–10025.2%
- 100–20029.7%
- 200–40014.7%
- 400+9.2%
Share of residents by the index of their census block group, a neighborhood of roughly 600 to 3,000 people.
Highest on weekday daytimes and on Friday and Saturday nights
Major-crime index by time of week, against the U.S. rate for the same hours.
Major crime fell 20.6% in a year; across Iowa it fell 10.5%
Change in expected crimes, with Iowa as a whole in gray. The past year uses the reporting agencies' year-to-date FBI data; 2031 is the model's projection.
Des Moines against U.S. places with 100,000 to 250,000 residents
60 of the 268 other places of this size have a higher major-crime index than Des Moines; the middle of the group is 109. The 9 nearest in population:
Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; residents in gray.
Des Moines has a higher major-crime index than 7 of its 8 nearest neighbors
The 8 nearest cities and towns we cover, by major-crime index. The closest, Windsor Heights (5 mi), is 44% above Des Moines's rate.
Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; distances between where residents live, in miles.
Questions about crime in Des Moines
What are the most common crimes in Des Moines?
By expected count, the most common persons and property crimes are other larceny (about 1,360 a year), shoplifting (about 1,170 a year) and aggravated assault (about 1,170 a year). Compared with the U.S., intimidation stands out most: 2.9 times the U.S. rate per resident.
How we calculated this
Each police agency's crimes, as reported to the FBI, are spread across the census block groups it serves using population, jobs, points of interest and, where available, local incident records. Des Moines's figures add up its 183 block groups. The index compares crimes per resident with the U.S. rate.
- Des Moines's published incident records inform the estimate for every neighborhood.
- 58.9% of residents live in block groups whose estimate has high confidence (80% interval within about 5x).
- Rates are per resident, so places where many people work or visit but few live, such as downtowns, airports and stadiums, can read high.
- Disorderly conduct and trespassing are modeled, because the FBI records them only through arrests.
- Residents: 214,654. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2
Full method and validation·Data sources
CrimeMetric. "Crime in Des Moines, Iowa." Vorp Labs, model updated Oct 20, 2026. https://crimemetric.com/ia/des-moines
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Major-crime index, U.S. = 100
- Windsor Heights5 mi236
- Pleasant Hill6 mi37
- Norwalk8 mi18
- West Des Moines8 mi80
- Altoona8 mi44
- Urbandale8 mi40
- Johnston8 mi41
- Clive9 mi62