Which is the safest city in Iowa this year? Waukon held on to the number one spot, but Washington ranked in the top 40. The City of Washington is the 34th safest city in Iowa. The 2016 Safest Cities list has been announced by SafeWise. To determine the list of safest cities across Iowa, the most recent FBI Crime Report statistics and population data were taken into account and all towns with fewer than 3,000 residents were eliminated. Both property crimes and violent crimes were taken into consideration. Area cities on the safe cities list include Iowa City at 71, Mt. Pleasant at 78 and Fairfield comes in 80th place.