Crime in Des Moines, Washington
Major crime in Des Moines is about the U.S. rate per resident: 31% lower for persons crimes and about the same for property crimes. Expected major crimes are down 28.7% 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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Motor vehicle theft stands out most, at 1.7 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 42 and 116; the typical (median) resident's is 65. The citywide figure (97) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.
- 0–5041.0%
- 50–10033.9%
- 100–2007.6%
- 200–40017.5%
- 400+0.0%
Share of residents by the index of their census block group, a neighborhood of roughly 600 to 3,000 people.
Highest on weeknights
Major-crime index by time of week, against the U.S. rate for the same hours.
Major crime fell 28.7% in a year; across Washington it fell 10.1%
Change in expected crimes, with Washington 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 25,000 to 50,000 residents
329 of the 960 other places of this size have a higher major-crime index than Des Moines; the middle of the group is 77. 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 3 of its 8 nearest neighbors
The 8 nearest cities and towns we cover, by major-crime index. The closest, Normandy Park (3 mi), is 10% below 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 163 a year), shoplifting (about 106 a year) and motor vehicle theft (about 85 a year). Compared with the U.S., motor vehicle theft stands out most: 1.7 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 21 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.
- 16.2% 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: 31,518. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2
Full method and validation·Data sources
CrimeMetric. "Crime in Des Moines, Washington." Vorp Labs, model updated Oct 20, 2026. https://crimemetric.com/wa/des-moines
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Major-crime index, U.S. = 100
- Normandy Park3 mi88
- SeaTac3 mi105
- Lakeland North4 mi53
- Kent5 mi115
- Tukwila6 mi593
- Federal Way6 mi130
- Burien6 mi148
- Vashon7 mi44