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Madison County, Iowa CourthousePhoto: en:User:Cburnett · CC BY-SA 3.0
Safety in Winterset · Not graded

No grade for Winterset, but its recorded crime is here

The nearest town with a Safety Grade is Earlham, 12 miles away, graded A−. Winterset’s police reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023, so there is no Safety Grade: the grade needs all three years, 2023–2025. Within a 25-mile drive lie 12 towns that have a grade.

Violent crimes
11
reported to the FBI, 2025
Property crimes
29
reported to the FBI, 2025
Nearest graded town
12 mi
Earlham (A−)
1,000 neighbors · one year

For every 1,000 residents, about 5 property crimes reported

Property crime (5.3)Violent crime (2)Everyone else

Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025

Winterset2.0
Rest of IA2.9
U.S. (FBI)3.3

Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025

Winterset5.3
Rest of IA15.9
U.S. (FBI)15.5

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.

By year

The years Winterset’s police reported

Show as a table
YearWintersetRest of IowaWintersetRest of Iowa
2022not reported19.2not reported3.7
2023not reported20.0not reported3.6
20247.317.91.93.1
20255.315.92.02.9

Crimes per 1,000 residents

Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents, against the rest of Iowa. A year the department didn’t report in full is a gap, not a zero.

What gets reported

40 crimes reported in 2025

2025 offenses reported

Larceny / theft24
Burglary3
Vehicle theft2
Aggravated assault3
Robbery1
Rape7
Homicide0
Arson0
11
violent crimes
29
property crimes

Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.

11 violent and 29 property, as reported to the FBI by Winterset’s police.

Nearest with figures

The nearest Iowa towns with a Safety Grade

TownGradeDistanceViolentProperty
EarlhamA−12 mi1.23.1
Van MeterA+13 mi0.60.6
WaukeeB+18 mi1.56.8
AdelB+18 mi0.98.2
West Des MoinesC+19 mi1.618.1
NorwalkA19 mi0.72.9

Straight-line distance from the center of Winterset. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Winterset.

Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.

On the roads

No one died in a crash on Winterset’s roads in 2019–2023

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 Winterset’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Winterset’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.

0
people died in crashes, 2019–2023
0
pedestrians among them
0
cyclists among them
0.0
per 100,000 a year · Iowa towns of 5,000–25,000: 3.2

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.

Next door

Winterset and its neighbors

Winterset
A rangeB rangeC rangeD rangeNot graded
TownGradeViolentProperty

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.

How to read these numbers

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 Winterset. 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 Winterset’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
  • Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,429 in 2025); our figure for Winterset is 5,520 (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 Winterset

Is Winterset, IA safe?

There is no Safety Grade for Winterset. The nearest Iowa towns with a grade are Earlham (A−, 12 mi), Van Meter (A+, 13 mi), Waukee (B+, 18 mi).

Who polices Winterset?

Winterset’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Winterset”. Its figures are the ones on this page.

Heads-up board

Town Square →
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.

Neighbors looking out for each other in Winterset.

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.