Photo: dwhartwig · CC BY 2.0On property crime, Mason City has a higher rate per resident than 87% of U.S. towns
In a usual year, 2.6 violent crimes and 26.2 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of Iowa, 3.2 and 17.8. Even so, the overall Safety Grade is C− (#92 of 105 graded towns in Iowa), which means more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, judged on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 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’s behind Mason City’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; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.6) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Crime in Mason City 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 | Mason City | Rest of Iowa | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.9 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.0 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.2 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.5 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Mason City’s police reported 209 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.6 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 | Mason City property | Rest of Iowa property | Mason City violent | Rest of Iowa violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 26.7 | 19.0 | 2.9 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 29.9 | 19.9 | 2.0 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 23.2 | 17.8 | 2.2 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 25.5 | 15.7 | 3.5 | 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.
779 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.
95 violent and 684 property, as reported to the FBI by Mason City’s police.
Seven people died in crashes on Mason City’s roads in 2019–2023
Mason City had 7 fatal crashes in five years, in which seven people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what 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 Mason City’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Mason City’s own rate (5.2) 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.
Mason City and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mason City | C− | 2.6 | 26.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Iowa towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mason City | C− | 2.6 | 26.2 |
| Johnston | B+ | 0.9 | 7.1 |
| Marshalltown | C | 3.5 | 16.6 |
| Ottumwa | C− | 3.6 | 26.1 |
| Clinton | D | 4.8 | 25.2 |
| Fort Dodge | D− | 8.9 | 31.1 |
The five graded Iowa towns closest to Mason City’s population (26,853), 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 Mason City. 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 Mason City’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (26,866 in 2025); our figure for Mason City is 26,853 (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 Mason City
Is Mason City, IA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Mason City reports more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #92 of 105 in Iowa. Its police reported 2.6 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 Mason City?
2.6 violent and 26.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Iowa reports 3.2 and 17.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Mason City in 2025?
Mason City’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Mason City?
Mason City’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Mason City”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Mason City.
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.