Photo: Billwhittaker · CC BY-SA 3.0For violent crime, Waverly trails 71% of U.S. towns per resident
The crimes the grade counts fell 26% per resident from 2023 to 2025. In sum, crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025 put Waverly at C+ (#61 of 105 graded towns in Iowa): close to the middle of U.S. towns. Per 1,000 residents a year, 2.9 violent crimes and 10.1 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 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 stands out about safety in Waverly
A college town
Waverly is home to Wartburg College, with 1,450 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 16% 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 Waverly’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Waverly’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (2.9) 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 | Waverly property | Rest of Iowa property | Waverly violent | Rest of Iowa violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 10.7 | 19.2 | 6.6 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 9.9 | 20.1 | 6.5 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 8.9 | 17.9 | 1.4 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 11.4 | 15.9 | 0.8 | 3.0 |
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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Waverly | Rest of Iowa | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.6 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 6.5 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.4 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Waverly’s police reported 92 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.9 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 Waverly 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 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
129 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.
8 violent and 121 property, as reported to the FBI by Waverly’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Waverly’s roads in 2019–2023
Waverly had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
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 Waverly’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Waverly’s own rate (3.8) 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.
Waverly and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waverly | C+ | 2.9 | 10.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Iowa towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waverly | C+ | 2.9 | 10.1 |
| Pella | B+ | 0.9 | 7.5 |
| Spencer | B | 0.8 | 10.1 |
| Le Mars | B | 2.0 | 7.2 |
| Carroll | B | 0.7 | 12.6 |
| Fort Madison | C | 3.1 | 18.8 |
The five graded Iowa towns closest to Waverly’s population (10,561), 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 Waverly. 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 Waverly’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (10,616 in 2025); our figure for Waverly is 10,561 (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 Waverly
Is Waverly, IA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Waverly reports more crime per resident than 57% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #61 of 105 in Iowa. Its police reported 2.9 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 Waverly?
2.9 violent and 10.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Iowa reports 3.2 and 17.9; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Waverly?
Waverly’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Waverly”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Waverly.
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.