Photo: Dirk DBQ · CC BY 2.0Ames sits close to the middle of U.S. towns for reported crime
Overall, Ames grades B− for safety (#53 of 105 graded towns in Iowa): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Ames
A college town
Ames is home to Iowa State University, with 29,194 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 42% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
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 Ames’ grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Ames’ grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (13.8) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Ames’ police reported 282 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.3 in the rest of Iowa and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Ames | Rest of Iowa | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.2 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.7 | 3.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.5 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Reported crime is falling
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Ames property | Rest of Iowa property | Ames violent | Rest of Iowa violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.8 | 19.4 | 2.2 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 13.8 | 20.2 | 1.7 | 3.7 |
| 2024 | 15.1 | 18.0 | 1.5 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 12.6 | 15.9 | 1.0 | 3.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 13 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
950 crimes reported in 2025
71 violent and 879 property, as reported to the FBI by Ames’ police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Three people died in crashes on Ames’s roads in 2019–2023
Ames had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is fewer than is typical for Iowa towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (3.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Ames’s size would see about 13 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Ames’s own rate (0.9) 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.
Ames and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Nevada has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Iowa towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ames | B− | 1.4 | 13.8 |
| Ankeny | B− | 1.5 | 10.8 |
| West Des Moines | C+ | 1.6 | 18.1 |
| Iowa City | C | 3.1 | 17.2 |
| Waterloo | D | 5.1 | 23.6 |
| Council Bluffs | D | 4.6 | 25.8 |
The five graded Iowa towns closest to Ames’ population (68,220), by grade.
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 Ames. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Ames’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (69,676 in 2025); our figure for Ames is 68,220 (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 Ames
Is Ames, IA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Ames reports more crime per resident than 52% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #53 of 105 in Iowa. Its police reported 1.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.3 in the rest of Iowa and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Ames?
1.4 violent and 13.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Iowa reports 3.3 and 18.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Ames?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Ames in 2025?
Ames’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 1.4 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Ames?
Ames’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Ames”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Ames.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.