Des Moines, IA crime rate
In 2025 the Des Moines Police Department reported 642.0 violent crimes and 2,838.0 property crimes per 100,000 residents it covers. The FBI's estimates for Iowa and the US for the same year are beside each number.
Data as of 2025 (FBI), checked October 30, 2026. How we got these numbers
Data notes.
- Arson, 2023: unusual change, check the source. 2022: 46, 2023: 75, 2024: 34 (over 160% of both neighbouring years). Changes to and from 2023 are not shown.
- Robbery, 2022: possibly incomplete. 147 reported; 4 of 12 months zero (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr) while other offenses were reported in those months; 2021: 165 reported. The count is shown; its rate is not compared.
- Rape, 2022: possibly incomplete. 103 reported; 3 of 12 months zero (Jan, Feb, Mar) while other offenses were reported in those months; 2021: 114 reported. The count is shown; its rate is not compared.
- Arson, 2022: possibly incomplete. 46 reported; 4 of 12 months zero (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr) while other offenses were reported in those months; 2021: 27 reported. The count is shown; its rate is not compared.
How does Des Moines compare with Iowa and the US?
Arson has no FBI state or US estimate, so its row shows Des Moines only.
What offenses were reported in Des Moines, 2025?
| Offense | Reported | Per 100k | Iowa | US | vs 2024 | vs 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | ||||||
| Violent crime | 1,367 | 642.0 | 233.9 | 327.6 | down 9.2% | up 1.6% |
| Murder | 3 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 4.1 | down 67.4% | up 55.6% |
| Rape | 103 | 48.4 | 35.8 | 36.1 | down 10.4% | down 9.5% |
| Robbery | 139 | 65.3 | 15.3 | 49.4 | down 13.5% | down 15.6% |
| Aggravated assault | 1,122 | 526.9 | 181.1 | 238.0 | down 8.1% | up 5.4% |
| Property crime | ||||||
| Property crime | 6,043 | 2,838.0 | 1,171.7 | 1,534.8 | down 10.1% | down 11.1% |
| Burglary | 824 | 387.0 | 170.4 | 193.6 | down 16.3% | up 11.7% |
| Larceny-theft | 4,265 | 2,003.0 | 883.9 | 1,144.1 | down 7.2% | down 7.0% |
| Motor vehicle theft | 931 | 437.2 | 117.3 | 197.0 | down 16.1% | down 35.5% |
| Arson | 23 | 10.8 | Not estimated | Not estimated | down 33.3% | down 15.0% |
Reported = offenses known to the Des Moines Police Department and sent to the FBI. Iowa and US are FBI estimates for the same year. Changes compare rates of full years only.
Violent crime rate, 2021 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Des Moines | United States | Iowa |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 631.7 | 387.0 | 295.0 |
| 2022 | 482.5 | 388.7 | 290.7 |
| 2023 | 714.0 | 379.5 | 273.6 |
| 2024 | 707.3 | 362.9 | 242.6 |
| 2025 | 642.0 | 327.6 | 233.9 |
Property crime rate, 2021 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Des Moines | United States | Iowa |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3,192.1 | 1,832.3 | 1,508.3 |
| 2022 | 2,210.8 | 1,973.8 | 1,401.8 |
| 2023 | 3,399.3 | 1,934.1 | 1,434.2 |
| 2024 | 3,157.1 | 1,761.1 | 1,295.4 |
| 2025 | 2,838.0 | 1,534.8 | 1,171.7 |
Is Des Moines safe?
We don't rate cities as safe or unsafe. What the FBI's numbers show: in 2025 the violent crime rate the Des Moines Police Department reported, 642.0 per 100,000 residents, was higher than Iowa's 233.9, and higher than the US rate of 327.6 (FBI estimates). It fell 9.2% from 2024.
What these numbers can't tell you:
- How crime differs between neighborhoods (the FBI publishes agency totals only).
- Crimes nobody reported to the police.
- How many offenses involved visitors and commuters, who are not in the population count.
Des Moines had a violent crime rate of 642.0 per 100,000 residents covered by the Des Moines Police Department in 2025, based on 1,367 offenses reported to the FBI. The Iowa estimate was 233.9 and the national rate 327.6, putting the city at 2.7 and 2.0 times those figures. The violent rate fell 9.2% in the last year.
It ended 1.6% higher than in 2021, when it was 631.7. Robbery fell the most of the violent offenses from 2021, 15.6%, and aggravated assault, 82% of violent crime, rose 5.4%. Police recorded 3 homicides in 2025, a rate of 1.4 per 100,000.
Property crime was 2,838.0 per 100,000, which is 2.4 times the state's 1,171.7 and 1.8 times the US 1,534.8, after falling 10.1% from 2024 and 11.1% from 2021. Motor vehicle theft fell the most of the property offenses since 2021, 35.5%, to 437.2 per 100,000. Burglary had the largest rise in the group across those years, 11.7%.
Larceny-theft accounted for 71% of property crime. The 2022 rape, robbery and arson counts are flagged as possibly incomplete, with early months sent as zero, and the 2023 arson count is flagged as an unusual change, so none of them is used here. The department reported all 12 months for each of the 5 years shown and has sent NIBRS data since 1991.
The Polk County and Warren County sheriff's offices report separately.
Written from the numbers on this page. Every figure and every comparison is checked against the stored FBI data before publishing.
Police employees, 2025: 2.23 per 1,000 residents (367 officers, 107 civilians), FBI Crime Data Explorer. Shown as context, not as a measure of crime.
Sources
- FBI Crime Data Explorer, Des Moines Police Department (ORI IA0770300), offenses known to law enforcement and police employees, 2021 to 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026. Crime Data Explorer
- FBI Crime Data Explorer, Iowa and United States estimated crime (Summary Reporting System estimates), 2021 to 2025.
- FBI, "UCR Statistics: Their Proper Use" (why we don't rank cities).
Every stored file behind this page (11)
- Des Moines Police Department (IA0770300): violent crime, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_IA0770300_violent_crime__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Des Moines Police Department (IA0770300): murder, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_IA0770300_homicide__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Des Moines Police Department (IA0770300): rape, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_IA0770300_rape__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Des Moines Police Department (IA0770300): robbery, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_IA0770300_robbery__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Des Moines Police Department (IA0770300): aggravated assault, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_IA0770300_aggravated_assault__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Des Moines Police Department (IA0770300): property crime, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_IA0770300_property_crime__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Des Moines Police Department (IA0770300): burglary, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_IA0770300_burglary__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Des Moines Police Department (IA0770300): larceny-theft, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_IA0770300_larceny__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Des Moines Police Department (IA0770300): motor vehicle theft, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_IA0770300_motor_vehicle_theft__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Des Moines Police Department (IA0770300): arson, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_IA0770300_arson__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Des Moines Police Department (IA0770300): police employees, 2021 to 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/pe_agency_IA0770300__from-2021-to-2025.json)