Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0De Soto reports more crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by De Soto’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #142 of 172 graded towns in Missouri.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of MO” is every other Missouri 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 De Soto
Reported crime is rising
Crime reported per resident rose 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 De Soto’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 is rising
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2023–2025, against the rest of Missouri.
Show as a table
| Year | De Soto property | Rest of Missouri property | De Soto violent | Rest of Missouri violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 27.9 | 28.8 | 3.6 | 5.9 |
| 2024 | 34.0 | 27.0 | 5.4 | 6.0 |
| 2025 | 35.0 | 22.8 | 5.7 | 5.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 35 property crimes reported
And about 6 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
De Soto’s police reported 95 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.8 in the rest of Missouri and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | De Soto | Rest of Missouri | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 3.6 | 5.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.4 | 6.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 5.7 | 5.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
265 crimes reported in 2025
37 violent and 228 property, as reported to the FBI by De Soto’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Two people died in crashes on De Soto’s roads in 2019–2023
De Soto had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died.
That is about what is typical for Missouri towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (7.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of De Soto’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so De Soto’s own rate (6.2) 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.
De Soto and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| De Soto | D | 4.9 | 32.3 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Missouri towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| De Soto | D | 4.9 | 32.3 |
| Cottleville | A+ | 0.3 | 0.9 |
| Battlefield | B | 2.4 | 4.4 |
| Peculiar | B− | 1.5 | 10.8 |
| Bonne Terre | B− | 2.7 | 8.7 |
| St. John | D | 6.7 | 21.1 |
The five graded Missouri towns closest to De Soto’s population (6,527), by grade.
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 De Soto. 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 De Soto’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (6,517 in 2025); our figure for De Soto is 6,527 (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 De Soto
Is De Soto, MO safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, De Soto reports more crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #142 of 172 in Missouri. Its police reported 4.9 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.8 in the rest of Missouri and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in De Soto?
4.9 violent and 32.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Missouri reports 5.8 and 26.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in De Soto?
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices De Soto?
De Soto’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “De Soto”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in De Soto.
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.