Photo: w_lemay · CC BY-SA 2.0Sioux City has more crime per resident than nine in ten U.S. towns
The crimes the grade counts fell 20% per resident from 2023 to 2025. On crimes reported by Sioux City’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #99 of 105 graded towns in Iowa. Police counts work out at 5.4 violent crimes and 32.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the rest of Iowa they are 3.1 and 17.2.
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 Sioux City
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 Sioux 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Sioux City property | Rest of Iowa property | Sioux City violent | Rest of Iowa violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 29.4 | 18.6 | 5.2 | 3.6 |
| 2023 | 35.5 | 19.3 | 5.7 | 3.5 |
| 2024 | 33.2 | 17.2 | 5.6 | 3.0 |
| 2025 | 28.0 | 15.3 | 4.9 | 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 Sioux 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 5 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 | Sioux City | Rest of Iowa | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.2 | 3.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 5.7 | 3.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.6 | 3.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.9 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Sioux City’s police reported 1,393 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 5.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.1 in the rest of Iowa and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
2,871 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.
429 violent and 2,442 property, as reported to the FBI by Sioux City’s police.
30 people died in crashes on Sioux City’s roads in 2019–2023
Sioux City had 28 fatal crashes in five years, in which 30 people died; 5 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists. 2 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 7.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Iowa towns of 25,000–100,000 people (3.8, 16 towns).
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.
Sioux City and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sioux City | D | 5.4 | 32.2 |
| Sergeant Bluff | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Sergeant Bluff has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Iowa towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sioux City | D | 5.4 | 32.2 |
| Ankeny | B− | 1.5 | 10.8 |
| Ames | B− | 1.4 | 13.8 |
| West Des Moines | C+ | 1.6 | 18.1 |
| Iowa City | C | 3.1 | 17.2 |
| Davenport | D | 6.4 | 35.0 |
The five graded Iowa towns closest to Sioux City’s population (86,356), 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 Sioux City. 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 Sioux City’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (87,125 in 2025); our figure for Sioux City is 86,356 (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 Sioux City
Is Sioux City, IA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Sioux City reports more crime per resident than 92% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #99 of 105 in Iowa. Its police reported 5.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.1 in the rest of Iowa and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Sioux City?
5.4 violent and 32.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Iowa reports 3.1 and 17.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Sioux City in 2025?
Sioux City’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 1.1 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Sioux City?
Sioux City’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Sioux City”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Sioux 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.