Crime Grade · FBI UCR Data · 2025
Ames, IA Crime Grade
How Ames grades for violent crime against every other reporting U.S. city — and against the rest of Iowa — based on the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting data.
National
4/10
vs. all U.S. cities ≥ 25,000 population
Iowa
3/10
vs. Iowa cities ≥ 10,000 population
In 2025, the violent crime rate in Ames, IA was 101.9 per 100,000 residents (71 incidents over a population of 69,676). That puts Ames Infinity% above the U.S. rate of 0.0 and 57% below the Iowa statewide rate of 236.6.
That ranks Ames #1,153 of 3,771 ranked U.S. cities, safer than 69% of them, and #12 of 40 in Iowa. Violent crime is down 33% year over year and down 49% over the last five years.
Ames, IA crime — key facts
- National Crime Grade
- B (4/10)
- Iowa Grade
- A (3/10)
- Violent crime rate
- 101.9 / 100k
- National rank
- #1,153 of 3,771
- IA rank
- #12 of 40
- Safer than
- 69% of U.S. cities
- Year over year
- down 33%
- 5-year change
- down 49%
- Population
- 69,676
- Reporting agency
- Ames Police Department
- Data year
- 2025 · FBI UCR
Reported by Ames Police Department (FBI ORI IA0850100) to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Download the full dataset (CSV) · methodology.
About Ames, IA
History
Founded in 1864 and incorporated in 1869. Named for US Congressman Oakes Ames from Massachusetts.
Name history sourced from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) — public-domain federal geographic-names data.
Violent crime rate, 5-year trend
Per 100,000 residents. Ames (red), Iowa (blue), U.S. average (gray dashed).
Ames vs. U.S., 2025 — by offense
Rates per 100,000 residents for each offense category.
Full data, last 5 years
Rates per 100,000 residents. Raw counts in parentheses.
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | 200.3(136) | 210.9(141) | 172.7(116) | 152.8(100) | 101.9(71) |
| Murder | 5.9(4) | 3.0(2) | 0.0(0) | 1.5(1) | 1.4(1) |
| Rape | 91.3(62) | 88.3(59) | 75.9(51) | 73.4(48) | 56.0(39) |
| Robbery | 16.2(11) | 18.0(12) | 10.4(7) | 7.6(5) | 0.0(0) |
| Aggravated assault | 86.9(59) | 101.7(68) | 86.3(58) | 70.3(46) | 44.5(31) |
| Property crime | 1347.8(915) | 1298.4(868) | 1390.2(934) | 1514.7(991) | 1263.0(880) |
| Burglary | 197.4(134) | 119.7(80) | 168.2(113) | 174.2(114) | 162.2(113) |
| Larceny | 1037.0(704) | 1090.5(729) | 1163.9(782) | 1248.7(817) | 1004.7(700) |
| Motor vehicle theft | 106.1(72) | 79.3(53) | 55.1(37) | 88.6(58) | 93.3(65) |
How the Crime Grade is calculated
- What is the source of the Ames, IA Crime Grade?
- FBI Uniform Crime Reporting via the Crime Data Explorer. Agency-level data, pulled directly. No third-party aggregators, no proprietary score.
- What metric does the Ames Crime Grade use?
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 residents (murder + rape + robbery + aggravated assault), most recent fully-reported year.
- How is the national decile for Ames calculated?
- Ames's rate placed against all FBI-reporting U.S. cities with population ≥ 25,000. 1 = safest.
- How is the Iowa state decile calculated?
- Same calculation restricted to Iowa cities with population ≥ 10,000.
- How do decile scores convert to a letter grade?
- 1–3 = A · 4–5 = B · 6–7 = C · 8 = D · 9–10 = F.
- How often is the Ames Crime Grade refreshed?
- Twice a year. The FBI typically releases the prior year's full data each September.
- What are the limits of this Crime Grade?
- The FBI relies on local agency reporting. Rates reflect what was reported, not what occurred.
Nearby cities in Iowa
Comparable Iowa cities by population.
Compare Ames to other places
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