Photo: David Wilson · CC BY 2.0For property crime, West Branch beats 86% of U.S. towns per resident
In a usual year, 1.4 violent crimes and 3.9 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of Iowa, 3.2 and 17.9. The overall Safety Grade is A− (#16 of 105 graded towns in Iowa), which means less crime per resident than 76% of U.S. towns, judged on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025.
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 West Branch’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | West Branch | Rest of Iowa | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.1 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.0 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
West Branch’s police reported 12 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.4 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 West Branch 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 2 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 | West Branch property | Rest of Iowa property | West Branch violent | Rest of Iowa violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2.2 | 20.0 | 1.1 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 3.2 | 17.9 | 1.1 | 3.1 |
| 2025 | 6.0 | 15.8 | 2.0 | 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, 2023–2025, against the rest of Iowa.
24 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.
6 violent and 18 property, as reported to the FBI by West Branch’s police.
Three people died in crashes on West Branch’s roads in 2019–2023
West Branch had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which three people died. Most of these deaths (3 of 3) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is more than 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 West Branch’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so West Branch’s own rate (23.1) 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.
West Branch and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Branch | A− | 1.4 | 3.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Iowa towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Branch | A− | 1.4 | 3.9 |
| Grundy Center | A+ | 0.4 | 2.3 |
| Mitchellville | A | 0.8 | 3.3 |
| Bloomfield | A− | 1.7 | 2.6 |
| Clarion | B+ | 2.1 | 4.0 |
| Tipton | B | 1.9 | 6.0 |
The five graded Iowa towns closest to West Branch’s population (2,956), 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 West Branch. 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 West Branch’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (2,976 in 2025); our figure for West Branch is 2,956 (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 West Branch
Is West Branch, IA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, West Branch reports less crime per resident than 76% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #16 of 105 in Iowa. Its police reported 1.4 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 West Branch?
1.4 violent and 3.9 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 West Branch?
West Branch’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “West Branch”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in West Branch.
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.