Cresco is 20th safest Iowa city

CRESCO - Iowa ranks in the top 20 states for low violent and property crime rates, coming in at 18 for both. Part of Iowa’s  success could be a commitment to preventing crime before it happens. 

Cresco ranked 20th. Its previous rank was 36th. In the reporting year, 2015, Cresco had 0.26 violent crimes per 1,000 and 13.26 property crimes per 1,000.

Other towns and their rankings include:

1. Eldridge (previous  2)↑

2. Hampton (not ranked)

3. Waukon (1)↓

4. Garner (not ranked)

5. Humboldt (6)↑

6. West Liberty (16)↑

7. Williamsburg (4)

8. Orange City (3)

9. Vinton (24)

10. Algona (10)↔

11. North Liberty (21)↑

12.Dyersville (25)

13. Hiawatha (60)

14. Story City (9)↓

15. Johnston (13)

16. New Hampton (7)↓

17. Washington (34)

18. Bettendorf (31)

19. Carroll (18)

The state has an active slate of violent crime  prevention measures, including the Student Pledge Against Gun Violence, which in 2015, rallied 16,000 middle and high  schoolers to promise never to bring a gun to school or use one in an argument.

When it comes to the 20 cities on this year’s list, low violent crime rates were a trend. There were only two murders  reported to the FBI among all of our safest cities, and 90 percent reported zero counts of murder or non-negligent manslaughter. 

In addition, 45 percent saw no incidents of rape, and eight cities were free of both murder and rape during the most recent  reporting period. Regarding robberies, every city that made this year’s cut reported fewer than 10 incidents, and six percent had  no robberies at all.

Property crime is also kept to a minimum in Iowa’s safest cities. This year, 80 percent of the cities saw fewer than 100 total  property crimes, and all of them kept motor vehicle thefts under twenty incidents. Burglaries were held to fewer than 20  in 75 percent of these safe cities, and no city reported more than five counts of arson.

Overall, half the cities on this year’s list are being recognized as one of the top 20 safest places to live in Iowa for the  second year in a row. Whether you get to call one of these safe cities home or you live in another great Iowan town, you  can help your community prevent crime and improve safety. Use our Iowa Safety Directory to keep your pulse on local  safety resources, home security tips, and disaster and emergency preparedness strategies.

 

How were safest cities chosen?

To identify the 20 safest cities in Iowa, we reviewed the most recent FBI Crime Report statistics from 2015, along with  population data. We eliminated all cities with fewer than 3,000 residents as well as any cities that failed to submit a  complete crime report to the FBI.

From there, we evaluated the remaining cities. We narrowed it down based on the number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery) and property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft) in each city. To further level the playing field, we calculated the likelihood of these crimes occurring out of 1,000 people in each city.