Waterloo statements and facts about this city. (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids: low crime, neighborhoods)

[green_mariner]

I have been on this forum and I notice alot of negativity. I am not here to tell everyone that Waterloo is perfect. No community is. Every large community has crime and Waterloo is no exception. At the same time, I look at Waterloo and look at other communities. In 2005, Waterloo has 1 murder and a crime index of 396.1:http://www.city-data.com/city/Waterloo-Iowa.html. Actually, it also has a lower murder rate than Des Moines considering the fact that if Des Moines and Waterloo both had the same number of murders Des Moines would have a lower murder rate. Des Moines crime index of 2005:525.8. Number of murders in 2005:5. It seems like Waterloo gets the reputation for being to crime-ridden city and yet there are other places in Iowa that have higher crime rates.

[Pearlbob]

Des Moines is way bigger than Waterloo though. ??? So, more people are going to give you more crime and more murders. Now, if NYC only had 5 murders a year.... Des Moines is about 5x bigger than Waterloo, so they have 5x as many murders. Right?

My view of Waterloo, what little I know of it, is not that it is crime-ridden. More like poverty-striken or something like that. Very blue collar, industrial, nothing going on there, sort of stuck in a rut. Which can lead to more crime. The more educated, well-to-do people that I know there really hate it and are only there for their jobs. Which is something that I have heard people on her talk about - the lack of culture and activities there.

[green_mariner]

68,000 people in Waterloo. 198,000 in Des Moines. Des Moines has three times as many people and five times the murder number, but smaller cities would have less murders.

Marietta,GA, a suburb of Atlanta had six murders in 2005 and it's population is around 60,000.

[Pearlbob]

What is the point? That Des Moines is dangerous because it had 5 murders? My city is a little more than 3x the size of DSM and we had 166 murders last year. Either way you look at it, DSM and Waterloo are a resident's dream regarding crime.

But again, at least my point is not that Waterloo is crime-ridden, although crime can be anything, not just murders.

[Luke9686]

Size doesn't always determine crime rate. I live in San Jose California. Population is around 975,000. Crime rate 247.1 with 29 murders. Murder rate of 2.9 per 100,000 population. That's very low crime, expecially by big cities standards.

Now on the flip side, look at Youngstown Ohio. Population 82,000 with a crime rate of 752.9. 34 murders in 2005. Thats crime.

Pearl bob nailed it, murders aren't the only crime. You can be beaten within an inch of your life, and not be counted in the murder column. But the area may have been crime ridden.

Also in most big cities, Des Moines being no exception, the crime is usually concentrated to a few bad areas. You probably won't get much crime over in Beaverdale, but might get jumped off of 13th and Forest.

[themojos]

Great info, peops.

My family --hubby & 2year old-- and I are considering a move --for my job-- to Waterloo. Ideally, we have been looking for a small city with room for the little one to grow without the constant "noise" --physical and mental-- of the big city.

So, really. What is Waterloo like? I went to school at Cedar Falls, have lived in the Twin Cities for 20+ years, and now want to raise my son and have a real life with my family. What are the ups and downs of Waterloo relative to those priorities?

[green_mariner]

I have never lived in Waterloo, but looking at Waterloo, it doesn't sound like the worse place to live. It is certainly safer than some of Atlanta's suburbs.

[metro223]

Ive lived in Waterloo the past 2.5 yrs and of course people blow many things out of proportion, our crime being one of them. Like a previous poster said, the crime is in certain neighborhoods, obviously if you use common sense you can stay away from crime anywhere. Many popular places for newcomers in the W'loo are though as an alternative are Cedar Falls, Hudson, ****, and Waverly, all pretty nice areas within short commute.

[metro223]

"D i k e" is the ****, i'm not being dirty.... its really a town west of here out on 20!

[Stevie]

I agree with Bob. When I think of Waterloo the first thing that comes to mind is poverty, not crime. When I've heard other people's opinions on the city they always say something like "It's in bad shape" which could mean anything. But they always say how it's dying or that the area around downtown is in bad shape or how the "east side" is treacherous and from what I've seen there driving through I would agree.

As for murders, those can be committed by anyone, whether it is a homeless person in Waterloo or a rich yuppie from West Des Moines. And like Luke said you can *almost* be murdered and not get counted in the stats. Also when we're comparing 1 murder to 5 murders in cities of TENS of THOUSANDS of people it is silly to suggest that one is "safer" than the other. I mean those are only a few murders. If a serial killer lived in a small town he could commit dozens of murders each year without getting caught and each of those murders would be counted in the stats for that town.

Obviously the crime stats here on city-data are not going to tell the whole picture. Many of the people who state that Waterloo has high crime have probably heard it elsewhere like on the news or in the newspaper. It may not be that bad but the stats here on city-data are not enough. They're not going to tell you the story of each crime or what caused the crime. They're just numbers.

With all that said I just want to add that Waterloo is certainly not the only city in Iowa that gets such a bad reputation. People are always talking about how Davenport is crime-ridden, Cedar Rapids smells, etc.

P.S. I'd take an Atlanta suburb over Waterloo any day.