Dahlonega School #1 · Photo: Jim Roberts · CC BY-SA 4.0Ottumwa has more property crime per resident than 87% of U.S. towns
The graded rate fell 28% from 2023 to 2025. Typical years here bring 3.6 violent crimes plus 26.1 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 3.2 plus 17.8 in the rest of Iowa. Counting crimes Ottumwa’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades C− for safety: #94 of 105 graded towns in 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 Ottumwa
A college town
Ottumwa is home to Indian Hills Community College, with 2,813 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 4% 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 Ottumwa’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 (3.6) 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Ottumwa property | Rest of Iowa property | Ottumwa violent | Rest of Iowa violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 36.8 | 18.9 | 7.8 | 3.6 |
| 2023 | 30.4 | 19.9 | 4.0 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 26.2 | 17.8 | 4.0 | 3.1 |
| 2025 | 21.9 | 15.8 | 2.8 | 2.9 |
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.
Crime in Ottumwa 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Ottumwa | Rest of Iowa | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.8 | 3.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.0 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Ottumwa’s police reported 272 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.2 in the rest of Iowa and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
634 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.
71 violent and 563 property, as reported to the FBI by Ottumwa’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Ottumwa’s roads in 2019–2023
Ottumwa had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died.
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 Ottumwa’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Ottumwa’s own rate (3.9) 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.
Ottumwa and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ottumwa | C− | 3.6 | 26.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Iowa towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ottumwa | C− | 3.6 | 26.1 |
| Johnston | B+ | 0.9 | 7.1 |
| Coralville | C | 1.5 | 20.8 |
| Mason City | C− | 2.6 | 26.2 |
| Clinton | D | 4.8 | 25.2 |
| Fort Dodge | D− | 8.9 | 31.1 |
The five graded Iowa towns closest to Ottumwa’s population (25,319), 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 Ottumwa. 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 Ottumwa’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (25,696 in 2025); our figure for Ottumwa is 25,319 (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 Ottumwa
Is Ottumwa, IA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Ottumwa reports more crime per resident than 84% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #94 of 105 in Iowa. Its police reported 3.6 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 Ottumwa?
3.6 violent and 26.1 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 Ottumwa in 2025?
Ottumwa’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 Ottumwa?
Ottumwa’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Ottumwa”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Ottumwa.
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.