Every city has safe neighborhoods and dangerous neighborhhods. We believe you should know which neighborhoods in Des Moines are the safest before you move.
Every year, more than 30 million Americans move. Sometimes, its for a job, other times its to escape the big city. But no matter where you move, you want a neighborhood thats family friendly, clean, and most importantly, safe.
Weve analyzed the FBI crime reports data on violent and property crimes for every single neighborhood in Des Moines. Then, we calculated your chances of being the victim of a crime in each one.
What Des Moines neighborhoods can you leave your doors unlocked at night? Heres the list.
Which neighborhood is the safest in Des Moines in 2025? That would be Woodland Heights. Thats according to the most recent FBI crime data, which takes into account everything from thefts and robberies to assaults and murders.
If you dont see a neighborhood youre looking for in our top , scroll down to the bottom, where we have all Des Moines neighborhoods listed in order from safest to most dangerous.
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Table Of Contents: Top 10 | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Safest Neighborhoods To Live In Des Moines For 2025
/10
Population: 2,179
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 181
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,155
/10
Population: 2,817
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 210
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,340
/10
Population: 9,066
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 304
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,110
/10
Population: 322
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 3,056
Property Crime Per 100k: 11,724
/10
Population: 441
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 283
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,340
/10
Population: 641
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 283
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,340
/10
Population: 1,101
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 283
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,340
/10
Population: 1,209
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 283
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,340
/10
Population: 5,951
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 265
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,480
/10
Population: 2,802
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,826
Property Crime Per 100k: 2,246
Methodology: How We Determined The Safest Des Moines Hoods In 2025
You can ask people which neighborhoods are the safest, or you can look at the unbiased raw data. We choose data.
Instead of relying on speculation and opinion, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the numbers from the FBI’s most recent crime report for every neighborhood in Des Moines.
To be more specific, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. We then ran an analysis to calculate each neighborhood’s property and violent crimes per capita. We used the following criteria:
- Total Crimes Per Capita
- Violent Crimes Per Capita
- Property Crimes Per Capita
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 51 in each category, where 1 was the safest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a safe neighborhood index.
Finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest safest neighborhood index the “Safest City Neighborhood In Des Moines.” We’re lookin’ at you, Woodland Heights.
We updated this article for 2025. This is our fourth time ranking the safest neighborhoods in Des Moines.
Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from safest to most expensive.
Summary: The Safest Places In Des Moines
Looking at the data, you can tell that Woodland Heights is as safe as they come, according to science and data.
The safest neighborhoods in Des Moines are Woodland Heights, Waterbury, Bloomfield-Allen, Laurel Hill, Linden Heights, Ingersoll Park, Greenwood, Salisbury Oaks, Lower Beaver, and Martin Luther King Jr Park.
But as most Iowa residents would agree, almost every place here has its safe and not safe parts. So make sure you’re informed ahead of time.
The most dangerous neighborhoods in Des Moines are Fairground, Arbor Peaks, Douglas Acres, Oak Park, and Capitol View South.
We ranked the neighborhoods from safest to most dangerous in the chart below.
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