Photo: Corey Coyle · CC BY 3.0More property crime is recorded per resident in Altoona than in 72% of U.S. towns
The rate the grade counts dropped 24% from 2023 to 2025. Even so, its letter overall is C+ (#67 of 105 graded towns in Iowa): more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, from crimes its police reported through 2023 to 2025. The local count comes to 1.6 violent crimes and 17.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 3.2 and 17.9 in the rest of Iowa.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of IA” is every other Iowa city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Altoona
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Altoona’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Altoona’s grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Altoona property | Rest of Iowa property | Altoona violent | Rest of Iowa violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.4 | 19.2 | 1.8 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 19.2 | 20.0 | 1.5 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 20.1 | 17.9 | 1.4 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 13.9 | 15.8 | 1.8 | 3.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Iowa.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Altoona | Rest of Iowa | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.8 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.5 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.4 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.8 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Altoona’s police reported 109 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.2 in the rest of Iowa and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Altoona per 1,000 residents
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
And about 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
369 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
43 violent and 326 property, as reported to the FBI by Altoona’s police.
Seven people died in crashes on Altoona’s roads in 2019–2023
Altoona had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which seven people died; 3 were pedestrians. Most of these deaths (5 of 7) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is more than is typical for Iowa towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (3.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Altoona’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Altoona’s own rate (6.5) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Altoona and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Altoona | C+ | 1.6 | 17.7 |
| Bondurant | — | — | — |
| Pleasant Hill | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Bondurant has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Pleasant Hill reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023.
Iowa towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Altoona | C+ | 1.6 | 17.7 |
| North Liberty | A− | 0.9 | 3.4 |
| Muscatine | C+ | 2.5 | 11.1 |
| Coralville | C | 1.5 | 20.8 |
| Burlington | C− | 4.1 | 18.0 |
| Clinton | D | 4.8 | 25.2 |
The five graded Iowa towns closest to Altoona’s population (22,796), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Altoona. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Altoona’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (23,376 in 2025); our figure for Altoona is 22,796 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Altoona
Is Altoona, IA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Altoona reports more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #67 of 105 in Iowa. Its police reported 1.6 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.2 in the rest of Iowa and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Altoona?
1.6 violent and 17.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Iowa reports 3.2 and 17.9; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Altoona?
Altoona’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Altoona”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Altoona.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.