Photo: Jim Roberts · CC BY-SA 4.0Oelwein has less property crime than most U.S. towns, but more violence
Oelwein’s overall Safety Grade is B− (#53 of 105 graded towns in Iowa): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. What’s more, the local count comes to 3.3 violent crimes and 6.4 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’s behind Oelwein’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Oelwein’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (3.3) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Oelwein | Rest of Iowa | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.8 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Oelwein’s police reported 57 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.3 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 Oelwein 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 3 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Oelwein property | Rest of Iowa property | Oelwein violent | Rest of Iowa violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.3 | 19.2 | 4.0 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 5.5 | 20.0 | 4.8 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 5.6 | 17.9 | 2.1 | 3.1 |
| 2025 | 8.0 | 15.8 | 3.0 | 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.
63 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.
17 violent and 46 property, as reported to the FBI by Oelwein’s police.
No one died in a crash on Oelwein’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what 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 Oelwein’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Oelwein’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.
Oelwein and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oelwein | B− | 3.3 | 6.4 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Iowa towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oelwein | B− | 3.3 | 6.4 |
| Anamosa | B+ | 1.3 | 4.9 |
| Estherville | B | 2.8 | 3.2 |
| Sheldon | C+ | 3.8 | 5.8 |
| Osceola | C+ | 1.6 | 18.5 |
| DeWitt | C+ | 3.6 | 11.1 |
The five graded Iowa towns closest to Oelwein’s population (5,757), 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 Oelwein. 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 Oelwein’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,759 in 2025); our figure for Oelwein is 5,757 (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 Oelwein
Is Oelwein, IA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Oelwein reports more crime per resident than 52% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #53 of 105 in Iowa. Its police reported 3.3 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 Oelwein?
3.3 violent and 6.4 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 Oelwein?
Oelwein’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Oelwein”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Oelwein.
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.