Puget Sound · Washington
Is Des Moines Safe? Crime Rates, Safest Neighborhoods & Local Reality (2026)
Des Moines, Washington occupies a peculiar middle ground in the regional safety conversation — it's neither the concerning headline case nor the spotless suburb some buyers expect when they see the waterfront and the marina. The honest picture is one of contrast: violent crime here runs close to or below state and national averages, while property crime — particularly vehicle theft — sits well above both. That distinction matters enormously, and collapsing it into a single letter grade or composite index will give you a distorted read on what daily life actually feels like here.
What the numbers mean in practice is this: you are unlikely to be a victim of a violent crime in Des Moines, and many residents live here for years without a single incident of any kind. The property crime picture is more complicated, and the concentration of that activity near commercial corridors and transit-adjacent areas means your experience will vary significantly depending on where you live and what precautions you take. The city has also seen a meaningful trend line moving in the right direction — overall crime declined roughly 22% in a recent year, with both violent and property offenses falling.
This guide breaks down the actual numbers, the neighborhood-by-neighborhood variation, how Des Moines compares to surrounding cities, and what residents who've lived here for years know that the aggregate statistics don't capture. If you're evaluating a purchase or a rental and trying to cut through the noise, you're in the right place.
The first thing to understand about crime data in Des Moines is that different platforms produce wildly different verdicts — and the reason is almost entirely property crime. Composite scoring tools that weight total crime volume heavily will give Des Moines a failing grade, placing it in the bottom percentile of cities nationally. Narrowing the lens to violent crime only produces something much closer to average, with Des Moines ranking around the 36th percentile for safety on that metric alone. Neither number is wrong; they're just answering different questions, and buyers deserve to know which question they're actually asking.
Looking at FBI-sourced data from the most recently available reporting period, Des Moines logged roughly 99 violent incidents in a year — a rate of approximately 304 per 100,000 residents, which runs about 17–18% below the national average. Property crimes tell a different story, with around 1,136 incidents recorded in the same period, translating to a rate roughly 78% above the U.S. average. Vehicle theft is the primary driver of that gap: Des Moines has one of the higher motor vehicle theft rates in the country, a problem shared across much of the greater Seattle metro but particularly pronounced here given proximity to I-5 and several transit hubs.
Structurally, some of that property crime concentration is predictable. Areas near commercial strips, bus lines, and parking facilities generate activity that shows up in city-wide totals but doesn't reflect residential street-level reality for most neighborhoods. Owner-occupied neighborhoods farther from the commercial core — particularly the northwest and southwest quadrants — see significantly lower victimization rates. The city's crime trend also matters: year-over-year, violent crime fell roughly 8% and property crime dropped nearly 4%, continuing a multi-year pattern of decline.
Local police data suggests Des Moines' violent crime rate sits around 3 per 1,000 residents in a typical year — a figure that places it safer than the Washington state average on this specific metric. For daily life, that translates to a city where violent incidents are statistically uncommon; the probability of being a victim in any given year runs roughly 1 in 317. Aggravated assault makes up the bulk of violent incidents, concentrated in specific corridors rather than distributed evenly across the city. The southwest portion of Des Moines consistently registers the lowest violent crime exposure, while the east side sees somewhat higher activity relative to the city's own internal geography.
Vehicle theft is the defining property crime story in Des Moines. The chance of car theft in a given year runs roughly 1 in 76 — a number that will get your attention if you own a newer Kia or Hyundai, both of which have been disproportionately targeted across the Seattle metro. Larceny and vandalism round out the property crime picture, with both rated high relative to national comparisons. The west side of the city — where commercial density and visitor traffic are highest — sees the largest share of total property crime incidents, which is partly a function of activity volume rather than purely residential risk.
The Marina District occupies the most visited and most photographed stretch of Des Moines, and that visibility cuts both ways on safety. Foot traffic around the waterfront is generally high during daylight hours, which creates natural surveillance and a sense of activity that most residents find reassuring. Evening hours are quieter, and vehicle break-ins near parking areas have been reported by locals — leaving valuables visible in cars near the beach park and pier is the kind of mistake residents learn to avoid quickly. What you give up here is less about personal safety and more about property precautions in a high-visibility area.
North Hill sits among the more stable residential sections of Des Moines from a crime standpoint, sitting on elevated terrain north of the city's commercial activity. The housing stock here trends toward owner-occupied single-family homes, and that ownership density tends to correlate with lower property crime across most Pacific Northwest cities. Residents describe the neighborhood as quiet on a day-to-day basis, with crime incidents rare enough that they generate genuine community conversation when they do occur.
Woodmont occupies the northeastern edge of Des Moines where the city borders Normandy Park, and it benefits from that adjacency. The residential character is consistent — established homes, relatively low through-traffic, and a community that has historically had a strong sense of shared space around Woodmont Beach. Property crime in this area runs below the city average, and the violent crime exposure here is low enough to be largely theoretical for most households. It's one of the neighborhoods local agents frequently mention when safety is a buyer's primary concern.
Zenith presents the same split-picture dynamic as Des Moines overall, just concentrated at the neighborhood level. The overall crime rate within Zenith runs higher than city-wide figures, but that composite number is driven heavily by property crime rather than violent incidents — on violent crime alone, Zenith scores well above average for Washington state. The central section of the neighborhood is generally considered its safest zone, while the southwest edge sees higher property crime exposure. Buyers focused on personal safety metrics will find Zenith more reassuring than the headline grade implies.
Redondo sits at the southern edge of Des Moines near the boardwalk area, and its safety profile reflects a mix of residential stability and proximity to transit-connected commercial activity. The boardwalk draws visitors year-round, and that foot traffic brings the usual precautions around vehicle security that apply throughout the coastal sections of the city. Residential streets away from the waterfront commercial area are generally quiet, and the neighborhood has a tight-knit character that tends toward informal self-policing — neighbors who know each other's routines and notice when something is off.
Pacific Ridge — identified by NeighborhoodScout as one of Des Moines' distinct neighborhoods — has a profile that tilts toward quieter residential activity. It sits inland from the waterfront commercial strip, insulated from the vehicle traffic patterns that contribute to property crime in more commercially adjacent areas. Families with children are a common presence here, and the day-to-day reality is one where most residents have no meaningful crime interaction in a given year. It's one of the neighborhoods where the gap between the city-wide statistics and actual lived experience is most pronounced.
| City | Violent Crime / 1K | Property Crime / 1K | Overall Safety Profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Des Moines | ~3.0 | ~35 | Below avg property; near avg violent |
| Federal Way | ~4.5 | ~45 | Higher on both metrics |
| Kent | ~5.2 | ~48 | Among higher in region |
| SeaTac | ~5.8 | ~52 | One of the higher-risk profiles regionally |
| Burien | ~4.0 | ~38 | Comparable to Des Moines overall |
| Normandy Park | ~1.2 | ~18 | Significantly lower; quieter residential |
When buyers ask me about Des Moines, Washington, the neighborhood question comes up almost immediately — and it absolutely should, because location within this city has real implications for long-term value. Areas like the Marina District and Woodmont tend to draw serious buyer interest, and well-priced homes there move quickly, often within days of listing. North Hill offers a quieter residential feel that appeals to families prioritizing stability, and values there have reflected that demand. If your budget is under $750,000, knowing which pockets align with both your comfort level and your financial goals helps you focus your search before competition forces a rushed decision.
The piece most buyers underestimate is what a home actually costs each month beyond the loan payment. Property taxes, homeowner's insurance, and any HOA dues stack on top of principal and interest, and the full picture can look meaningfully different than what an online calculator shows. I always encourage buyers to have a real conversation with a lender before they start touring — not to find out the maximum you qualify for, but to identify a payment range that genuinely fits your life. That clarity means when the right home appears in the right neighborhood, you're ready to move with confidence
The thing no crime app will tell you about Des Moines is that the 1st Avenue South corridor — particularly the stretch running through the commercial center toward SeaTac — concentrates a disproportionate share of the city's property crime activity. Residents who live east of Pacific Highway and within walking distance of transit stops learn relatively quickly to be deliberate about vehicle security, not because incidents are constant, but because the odds are meaningfully higher in that specific geography than elsewhere in the city. Installing a steering wheel lock or a visible deterrent in your car is standard practice for long-term residents near that corridor, not an overreaction.
What surprises most people after six months of living in Des Moines is how little the waterfront neighborhoods and the inland residential sections feel connected to the crime statistics they read before moving. The gap between the headline composite grade and street-level experience in North Hill, Pacific Ridge, or Woodmont is wide enough that several buyers have told me they almost talked themselves out of a purchase based on aggregate scores — only to feel slightly embarrassed by how quiet their block turned out to be. The city's public safety spending situation is worth tracking: a levy that would have added four patrol officers and a crime analyst to the department failed in the 2024 primary, leaving the department operating with approximately 1.4 officers per 1,000 residents — below both state and national staffing averages. That staffing context doesn't define daily safety, but it shapes response times and proactive patrol capacity.
One practical tool Des Moines residents actually use: the DMPD's public crime mapping tool, available on the city's website, lets you search by neighborhood, crime type, and date range before you make any decision about where to live. Buyers who spend 20 minutes with that tool before writing an offer have a fundamentally better picture of a specific block than any ranking site provides. The department also publishes regular crime analysis reports broken down by category — crimes against people, crimes against property, and community care — which gives you a trend view rather than a single-year snapshot.
Local Expert Takeaway: If safety is your primary concern in Des Moines, prioritize the northwest residential neighborhoods — particularly Woodmont, North Hill, and Pacific Ridge — over the areas within a few blocks of Pacific Highway South. Run the DMPD's public crime map for any specific address before making an offer, and focus your comparison on violent crime rates rather than composite scores; on that metric, Des Moines holds up well against most of its South King County neighbors.
✅ Violent crime in Des Moines runs close to or below state and national averages — a meaningfully different picture than the composite scores suggest.
⚠️ Vehicle theft is the real story — Des Moines has one of the higher car theft rates nationally, concentrated near commercial corridors and transit areas. Standard deterrents matter here.
📍 Where you live within Des Moines matters more than the city-wide headline — the northwest and southwest residential sections consistently show the lowest victimization rates, while areas adjacent to Pacific Highway see higher activity.
Is Des Moines, WA a safe place to live?
Des Moines is safer than many buyers initially expect on the measure that most directly affects daily life: violent crime. Property crime — especially vehicle theft — is a genuine concern and runs well above national averages. Residents who take basic vehicle security precautions and choose neighborhoods away from the main commercial corridor generally report feeling comfortable and settled here.
What neighborhoods in Des Moines have the lowest crime?
The northwest and southwest portions of the city — including Woodmont, North Hill, and Pacific Ridge — consistently show the lowest crime exposure in local police data. The Marina District and waterfront areas are active and generally safe during the day, with property precautions recommended near parking areas. The corridor along Pacific Highway South sees the highest concentration of property crime incidents.
How does Des Moines compare to nearby cities like Federal Way and Kent?
Des Moines' violent crime rate is meaningfully lower than Federal Way, Kent, and SeaTac — all of which run higher on that metric. On property crime, Des Moines is comparable to Burien and sits below Federal Way and Kent's figures. The outlier in the region is Normandy Park, which posts significantly lower numbers across the board as a small, primarily residential city with minimal commercial traffic.
Explore the full Des Moines series: The Ultimate Des Moines Relocation Guide · Is Des Moines Safe? · Cost of Living in Des Moines · Best Neighborhoods in Des Moines · Des Moines Schools & Family Life · Des Moines Youth Sports · Des Moines Parks & Recreation · Retiring in Des Moines · 1031 Tax-Deferred Exchange in Des Moines · Des Moines First-Time Homebuyers Guide · Des Moines Down Payment Assistance Guide · Moving to Des Moines from California