Every city has safe neighborhoods and dangerous neighborhoods. 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, it’s for a job, other times it’s to escape the big city. But no matter where you move, you want a neighborhood that’s family friendly, clean, and most importantly, safe.
We’ve analyzed the FBI crime report’s 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? Here’s the list.
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Iowa’s statewide median.
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the safest Des Moines hoods in 2026
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 2026. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from safest to most dangerous.
The full plate
Detailed list of the safest neighborhoods to live in Des Moines for 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by neighborhood name.
| Rank | Neighborhood | Crime Per 100K |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Woodland Heights | |
| 2 | Waterbury | |
| 3 | Bloomfield-Allen | |
| 4 | Ingersoll Park | |
| 4 | Linden Heights | |
| 4 | Greenwood | |
| 4 | Salisbury Oaks | |
| 8 | Lower Beaver | |
| 9 | Meredith | |
| 10 | Sherman Hill | |
| 11 | Drake | |
| 12 | Chautauqua Park | |
| 13 | Waveland Park | |
| 14 | Waveland Woods | |
| 14 | Southwestern Hills | |
| 16 | Somerset | |
| 16 | Beaverdale | |
| 18 | Gray’s Woods | |
| 19 | Westwood | |
| 20 | Union Park | |
| 21 | South Park | |
| 22 | Valley High Manor | |
| 22 | King-Irving Park | |
| 24 | North Of Grand | |
| 25 | Kirkwood Glen | |
| 25 | Merle Hay | |
| 27 | Martin Luther King Jr Park | |
| 28 | Garton West | |
| 29 | Greater South Side | |
| 30 | Capitol View South | |
| 31 | Oak Park | |
| 32 | Fairmont Park | |
| 32 | Douglas Acres | |
| 34 | Capitol East | |
| 35 | New Vision | |
| 36 | Arbor Peaks | |
| 37 | Mondamin Presidentia | |
| 38 | Fairground | |
| 39 | Highland Park | |
| 40 | Drake Park | |
| 41 | Downtown Des Moines | |
| 42 | Cheatom Park | |
| 43 | Magnolia Park | |
| 44 | East Village | |
| 44 | Indianola Hills | |
| 44 | Accent | |
| 47 | Capitol Park | |
| 48 | McKinley School | |
| 49 | River Bend | |
| 50 | Jordan Park | |
| 51 | Laurel Hill |
Source: FBI UCR. All 51 Des Moines neighborhoods.
Summary
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, Ingersoll Park, Linden Heights, Greenwood, Salisbury Oaks, Lower Beaver, Meredith, and Sherman Hill.
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.
We ranked the neighborhoods from safest to most dangerous in the chart below. Not sold on Iowa? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Safest Neighborhoods In Des Moines FAQs
What is the safest neighborhood in Des Moines?
Woodland Heights is the safest neighborhood in Des Moines for 2026, based on FBI crime data. Waterbury and Bloomfield-Allen are next.
What are the safest neighborhoods in Des Moines?
The safest neighborhoods in Des Moines are Woodland Heights, Waterbury, Bloomfield-Allen, Ingersoll Park, Linden Heights, Greenwood, Salisbury Oaks, Lower Beaver, Meredith, and Sherman Hill. We ranked all 51 neighborhoods in the city.
How do you measure neighborhood safety?
Neighborhoods are ranked on violent and property crimes per capita, using FBI crime data mapped to each neighborhood. The lowest combined crime rate wins.
Which neighborhood ranked last for safety?
Laurel Hill posts the highest crime rate of the 51 Des Moines neighborhoods we scored. Our separate worst neighborhoods in Des Moines ranking digs into that end of the list.
Does a low crime rate guarantee safety?
No. Crime rates are averages across a whole neighborhood, and conditions change block by block and hour by hour. The numbers tell you where the odds are best, not that anywhere is risk-free.
