Photo: Onegentlemanofverona · CC BY-SA 3.0Des Peres reports more crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Des Peres’ police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #136 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 Des Peres
3 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 3 Missouri towns on Des Peres’ borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Town and Country (B), Kirkwood (C+), Frontenac (C+). Neighbors ↓
A job center
Des Peres has 14,368 jobs based in town for 9,102 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
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 Des Peres’ grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Des Peres’ grade up; property crime pulls it down.
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, 2022–2025, against the rest of Missouri.
Show as a table
| Year | Des Peres property | Rest of Missouri property | Des Peres violent | Rest of Missouri violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 34.2 | 31.8 | 1.4 | 6.4 |
| 2023 | 37.3 | 28.8 | 0.3 | 5.9 |
| 2024 | 42.4 | 26.9 | 0.7 | 6.0 |
| 2025 | 50.2 | 22.8 | 0.8 | 5.5 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Des Peres’ police reported 16 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.6 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 | Des Peres | Rest of Missouri | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.4 | 6.4 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.3 | 5.9 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.7 | 6.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.8 | 5.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 50 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, 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.
467 crimes reported in 2025
7 violent and 460 property, as reported to the FBI by Des Peres’ police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Five people died in crashes on Des Peres’s roads in 2019–2023
Des Peres had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died. Most of these deaths (4 of 5) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
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 Des Peres’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Des Peres’s own rate (10.9) 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.
Des Peres and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Des Peres | D | 0.6 | 43.3 |
| Kirkwood | C+ | 1.7 | 14.0 |
| Town and Country | B | 0.5 | 12.8 |
| Frontenac | C+ | 0.6 | 21.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Missouri towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Des Peres | D | 0.6 | 43.3 |
| Pleasant Hill | B+ | 1.1 | 6.6 |
| Olivette | B | 0.8 | 10.1 |
| Sunset Hills | B− | 1.1 | 13.4 |
| Chillicothe | B− | 3.0 | 7.8 |
| Richmond Heights | D− | 5.2 | 73.2 |
The five graded Missouri towns closest to Des Peres’ population (9,102), 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 Des Peres. 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 Des Peres’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (9,167 in 2025); our figure for Des Peres is 9,102 (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 Des Peres
Is Des Peres, MO safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Des Peres reports more crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #136 of 172 in Missouri. Its police reported 0.6 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 Des Peres?
0.6 violent and 43.3 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 Des Peres?
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Des Peres safer than Kirkwood?
Kirkwood reports less crime per resident than Des Peres: Kirkwood grades C+ for safety and Des Peres D. Kirkwood’s police reported 1.7 violent and 14.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Des Peres?
Des Peres’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Des Peres”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Des Peres.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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.