What is recorded in Watkins, and why there is no grade
Within 10 miles, Marengo is the one town with a Safety Grade. Watkins has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in Benton County. The Benton County Sheriff’s Office reports to the FBI for the parts of the county without police of their own, so there are no figures for Watkins alone, and no Safety Grade. A 25-mile circle around it holds 9 towns with a grade.
What stands out about safety in Watkins
Policed by the county
Watkins is a census-designated place, with no town government. Crimes there are reported to the FBI inside the Benton County Sheriff’s Office’s totals for the county. County police ↓
Counts, not rates
The FBI doesn’t publish how many people the Benton County Sheriff’s Office covers, so its totals can’t be turned into a per-resident rate or a grade for Watkins. County police ↓
The nearest graded towns
The closest Iowa towns with their own police figures are Marengo (C+, 8 mi), Belle Plaine (C−, 15 mi), Williamsburg (B, 16 mi). Nearby towns can differ a lot from Watkins. Nearest ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What the Benton County Sheriff’s Office reports
Reports to the FBI for the parts of Benton County without police of their own, which include Watkins.
Property crimes
Violent crimes
2025 offenses reported by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office
Counts, not rates: the FBI doesn’t publish how many people each agency covers. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Tables 10–11.
Crimes reported to the FBI for the whole area the department covers, by year.
The nearest Iowa towns with a Safety Grade
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marengo | C+ | 8 mi | 1.9 | 13.3 |
| Belle Plaine | C− | 15 mi | 4.3 | 15.0 |
| Williamsburg | B | 16 mi | 1.9 | 8.0 |
| Cedar Rapids | C− | 16 mi | 2.7 | 25.6 |
| Vinton | B+ | 19 mi | 1.5 | 4.6 |
| Hiawatha | C | 19 mi | 3.9 | 11.4 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Watkins. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Watkins.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
No one died in a crash on Watkins’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 Watkins’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Watkins’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.
Watkins and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
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.
- A county agency covers a wide area. Its totals mix many communities, so they say little about any one of them.
- 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 Watkins
Is Watkins, IA safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Watkins. The nearest Iowa towns with a grade are Marengo (C+, 8 mi), Belle Plaine (C−, 15 mi), Williamsburg (B, 16 mi).
Who polices Watkins?
The Benton County Sheriff’s Office. Watkins is an unincorporated community, and the department reports to the FBI for the parts of Benton County without police of their own.
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 Watkins.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 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.