Photo: ECTran71 · CC BY-SA 4.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Moses Lake than in 91% of U.S. towns
Violent crime here is higher than in 82% of U.S. towns; property crime, higher than in 95%. Scored on crimes Moses Lake’s police reported across 2023 to 2025, the town lands on D for safety: #110 of 130 graded towns in Washington. The rate the grade counts dropped 37% from 2023 to 2025. The yearly rates were 4.1 violent crimes and 36.8 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 4.0 and 32.0 in the rest of Washington.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of WA” is every other Washington 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 Moses Lake
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 Moses Lake’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 per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Moses Lake property | Rest of Washington property | Moses Lake violent | Rest of Washington violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 54.4 | 43.6 | 5.2 | 4.8 |
| 2023 | 42.4 | 37.5 | 4.6 | 4.4 |
| 2024 | 42.4 | 32.8 | 3.9 | 4.1 |
| 2025 | 25.9 | 25.8 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
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 Washington.
Crime in Moses Lake 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 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Moses Lake | Rest of Washington | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.2 | 4.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.6 | 4.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Moses Lake’s police reported 325 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.0 in the rest of Washington and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
807 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.
99 violent and 708 property, as reported to the FBI by Moses Lake’s police.
Three people died in crashes on Moses Lake’s roads in 2019–2023
Moses Lake had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what is typical for Washington towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (5.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Moses Lake’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Moses Lake’s own rate (2.3) 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.
Moses Lake and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moses Lake | D | 4.1 | 36.8 |
| Cascade Valley | — | — | — |
| Moses Lake North | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Cascade Valley and Moses Lake North are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Washington towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moses Lake | D | 4.1 | 36.8 |
| Camas | B+ | 0.4 | 8.5 |
| Mercer Island | B | 0.6 | 11.2 |
| Maple Valley | B | 0.9 | 12.4 |
| Mountlake Terrace | C | 1.7 | 22.0 |
| Tumwater | C | 2.4 | 20.2 |
The five graded Washington towns closest to Moses Lake’s population (27,469), 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 Moses Lake. 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 Moses Lake’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (27,367 in 2025); our figure for Moses Lake is 27,469 (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 Moses Lake
Is Moses Lake, WA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Moses Lake reports more crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #110 of 130 in Washington. Its police reported 4.1 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.0 in the rest of Washington and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Moses Lake?
4.1 violent and 36.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Washington reports 4.0 and 32.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Moses Lake in 2025?
Moses Lake’s police reported 3 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 11.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Moses Lake?
Moses Lake’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Moses Lake”. 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 Moses Lake.
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.