Photo: David Wilson · CC BY 2.0More violent crime is recorded per resident in Belle Plaine than in 84% of U.S. towns
Per 1,000 residents a year, 4.3 violent crimes and 15.0 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 3.2 and 17.9 in the rest of Iowa. Overall, it grades C− for safety.
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’s behind Belle Plaine’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its property rate (15.0) 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.
Crime in Belle Plaine 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 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Belle Plaine | Rest of Iowa | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.4 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 5.2 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.8 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.9 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Belle Plaine’s police reported 30 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.2 in the rest of Iowa and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Belle Plaine property | Rest of Iowa property | Belle Plaine violent | Rest of Iowa violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.7 | 19.2 | 3.4 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 17.6 | 20.0 | 5.2 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 15.8 | 17.9 | 3.8 | 3.1 |
| 2025 | 11.6 | 15.8 | 3.9 | 2.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Iowa.
36 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.
9 violent and 27 property, as reported to the FBI by Belle Plaine’s police.
No one died in a crash on Belle Plaine’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for Iowa towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (0.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Belle Plaine’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Belle Plaine’s own rate (0.0) 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.
Belle Plaine and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belle Plaine | C− | 4.3 | 15.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Iowa towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belle Plaine | C− | 4.3 | 15.0 |
| Colfax | A | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| Peosta | A− | 0.5 | 5.6 |
| Postville | B− | 2.9 | 5.4 |
| Marengo | C+ | 1.9 | 13.3 |
| Eldora | D− | 22.9 | 8.8 |
The five graded Iowa towns closest to Belle Plaine’s population (2,346), 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 Belle Plaine. 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 Belle Plaine’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (2,337 in 2025); our figure for Belle Plaine is 2,346 (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 Belle Plaine
Is Belle Plaine, IA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Belle Plaine reports more crime per resident than 76% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade. Its police reported 4.3 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 Belle Plaine?
4.3 violent and 15.0 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 Belle Plaine?
Belle Plaine’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Belle Plaine”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Belle Plaine.
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.