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If you’re looking for thrilling places within the Iowa borders, the state has its share of fun spots to visit. However, many appreciate Iowa for being a really solid place to live. There are excellent schools, the cost of living is lower than in most places in the U.S., and it’s one of the safest states in the country.
And in the latest Saturday Night Science here at the Movoto Real Estate Blog, we set out to hunt down the safest of the safe in the Hawkeye State.
So, without further ado, here are the 10 safest places in Iowa:
1. City of Waukee
2. City of Johnston
3. City of Ankeny
4. City of Cedar Falls
5. City of North Liberty
6. City of Marion
7. City of Urbandale
8. City of Bettendorf
9. City of Clive
10. City of Spencer
If you’re starting to feel like you have déjà vu, that may be because just last year we released a list of safest places in Iowa that looked very similar to this one. Even though this updated list reflects the latest FBI numbers, many of these cities are repeats, and Waukee even came in on top twice!
We’ll go into more detail about both our rookies and newcomers later. First, let’s take a look at how we came up with this list in the first place.
Our Methodology
Just like our other Big Deal Lists, we needed the cold, hard facts in order to create this list, not just opinions or hearsay. So we went straight to the pros at the FBI, and used their newly released 2013 FBI Uniform Crime Report to look at all of the places in Iowa with populations of over 10,000 people in terms of the following criteria:
- Murders
- Rapes
- Robberies
- Assaults
- Burglaries
- Thefts
- Vehicle Thefts
Then we divided these crimes into four categories:
- Murders
- Violent Crimes
- Property Crimes
- Total Crimes
Because we wanted to keep a level playing field here, we calculated the crime rates per person in each category, to better compare both large and small places. Then we ranked each of our 36 places with a score from one to 36 in each category. The lower the score, the better.
Next, we weighted these rankings so that murders, violent crimes, and property crimes each made up 30 percent of the overall score, where the total number of crimes accounted for just 10 percent.
And lastly, we averaged these weighted rankings into one overall Big Deal Score, where the lowest score went to our winner and safest city (two years running!), Waukee.
So, that’s how we came up with this list. Now, let’s take a closer look at each of our winners.
1. Waukee
Once again, this Dallas County city reigns king when it comes to safety. In 2013, it had the lowest number of total crimes per person in the state, with just 144 for its population of 16,633. That’s even fewer than in 2012 when it had 154—and the population has since grown by over 2,000 people!
It also had just 10 violent crimes in 2013 (with no murders) and 134 property crimes, which ranked it second in both categories.
All in all, Waukee residents were the least likely in the state to be the victim of a crime, with just a 1 in 115 chance.
2. Johnston
Just like last year, Johnston comes in as the second safest place in Iowa, due to its low total number of crimes—violent crimes in particular.
In 2013, Johnston had just seven violent crimes. For the entire year. With its population of just under 20,000 people, this made Johnston the least violent place in the state.
Or for some more perspective, just compare this to the similarly sized Muscatine, where in 2013 there were 146 violent crimes, ranking it No. 34 in this category.
All in all, Johnston had the second fewest crimes per person in our analysis, and residents had just a 1 in 104 chance of being the victim of a crime.
3. Ankeny
Ankeny is another city returning to our list. The only difference is this year it’s in third place rather than fourth.
The reason for this bump on our list is that Ankeny’s number of crimes per person went down in all of the categories. For example, in 2012, it had 34 total violent crimes, where in 2013 it had 43. But when you consider the fact that the population grew by nearly 4,000 people over that year, it’s no wonder it ranked higher this year.
All told, it had the third fewest violent crimes, the sixth fewest property crimes, and the fifth fewest total crimes per person in the state.
4. Cedar Falls
All right, Cedar Falls: we have good news and we have even better news. The good news is, you made our list two years in a row for your consistently low crime rates. The better news, your city is even safer this year than it was last year.
That’s because Cedar Falls had just 547 total crimes in 2013. With its population of over 40,200 residents, this gave it the fourth fewest crimes per person. These were made up of the fifth fewest property crimes and the sixth fewest violent crimes per person—none of which were murders.
5. North Liberty
Going from eighth place to fifth in just a year—that’s the way to do it, North Liberty! The reason this city ranked so much better in this year was for its impressively low number of property crimes.
With 11 vehicle thefts, 93 thefts, and 15 burglaries, North Liberty had a total of 119 property crimes for its population of 14,821, giving it the very lowest number of property crimes per person in the state.
Additionally, North Liberty had 44 violent crimes (15 rapes and 29 assaults), which added up to a total of 163 crimes, or the third fewest crimes per person.
6. Marion
This city in the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan area is yet another repeat on our list (seriously—déjà vu much?). The only real difference in its crime numbers from 2012 to 2013 was actually a decrease in crimes, going from a total of 670 in 2012 to 629 in 2013.
Specifically, these included 56 violent crimes and 573 property crimes.
These low numbers, plus an increase in population over the year, means that there were actually fewer crimes per person in 2013 overall, even though Marion ranked the same both years in a row.
7. Urbandale
This Iowa city went all the way from seventh place on our last year’s list to seventh place on this year’s list. It would appear consistency is key in Urbandale.
Anyway, Urbandale had zero reported murders, 67 violent crimes, and just 670 property crimes. With its population of 41,499, this gave Urbandale the 10th fewest violent and property crimes per person, and the ninth fewest crimes per person overall.
8. Bettendorf
This isn’t the first time we’ve listed Bettendorf on our safest places list. It came in at No. 9 in last year’s list as well. The reason it ranked so well again (in fact, even a bit better) was mostly its low number of property crimes—just 581 for the year.
With its population just shy of 35,000 people, this meant that Bettendorf had the seventh fewest property crimes per person. Add in the 15th fewest violent crimes (none of which were murders, of course) and you’ve got yourself the sixth fewest crimes per person in the state.
9. Clive
What’s this? A city on our list that wasn’t here last year? It is! Congratulations to Clive, the first newbie in our 2015 rankings.
This naturally beautiful city made our list for ranking well in pretty much every one of of our categories. It had the 11th fewest total number of crimes per person, with just 366 for its population of 16,467.
This was made up of 338 property crimes and 28 violent crimes, both of which were the 12th fewest per person in the state.
10. Spencer
The final spot on our list goes to the City of Spencer. Of course, this isn’t the first time Spencer’s name has been mentioned in the media—it has been named one of the best places to live and even one of the best small towns for art in America—and underlying all that charm is its safety.
In 2013, Spencer had just 265 crimes for the year. With its population of 11,186, this meant it had the 12th fewest crimes per person. These were made up of 246 property crimes and 19 violent crimes, none of which were murders.
Hunting for Safety
Hunting down a safe place to live in the Hawkeye State shouldn’t be too hard. After all, it’s one of the safest states in the nation. But as you’ve seen with this list, there are some places that are even safer than the rest.
So, if you’re feeling like it might be time to make a change, let us know. Aside from creating lists like this one (and not to mention some other really awesome articles), we sell houses.
We hear Waukee is just lovely this time of year.
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