Polk County, IA Sex Offender Registry
As of August 2026, we index about 1,041 registrants with a Polk County, IA address — about 21.1 per 10,000 residents. The figure is approximate and moves continuously — search below for the current picture on any specific person.
No code needed — type a name, get photographs and official registry records.
🎃 Trick-or-treating in Polk County this Halloween?
Check the streets on your route for registered sex offenders before you go. Search any address and see who is registered nearby, with photos and official record links.
Polk County sex offenders by the numbers
- About 1,041 registrants we index list a Polk County address — about 1 in 473 residents.
- That is 21.1 per 10,000 residents, about 6% below the Iowa average of 22.5.
- Polk County holds about 15% of the registrants we index in Iowa.
- It ranks 1st of the 4 Iowa counties we publish pages for by number of registrants we index, and 3rd of 4 by rate per resident.
Counts are registrants we index with a Polk County address as of August 2026, rounded and approximate — not an official figure. Rates use 2020 Census population.
How Polk County compares
Registrants we index per 10,000 residents, against the Iowa and national averages. All three rows come from the same continuously updated dataset, so the comparison divides like by like.
| Area | Registrants we index | Per 10,000 residents |
|---|---|---|
| Polk County, IA | 1,041 | 21.1 |
| Iowa average | 7,170 | 22.5 |
| United States average | 1,563,010 | 47.2 |
Search Polk County — and everywhere else at once
People move. A check limited to Polk County misses a registration anywhere else, so a search here covers every US registry — the 50 states, DC and the territories — and lets you narrow to a Polk County city or ZIP when that is the question. Every result is scored, carries its photographs, and links to the official registry record.
Try a live search
Search the Iowa registry — no account needed
A live demo returning sample data. Real, scored results across every US registry take a free account — 25 searches, no card.
Checking around a specific address? Search sex offenders near me by address or ZIP.
City pages in Polk County
Per-city counts and search for the Polk County cities we publish pages for.
| City | Records indexed | Per 10,000 residents |
|---|---|---|
| Des Moines | 908 | 42.4 |
How a Polk County sex offender search works
Iowa's registry publishes a full date of birth, so if you know the person's birthday a match can be confirmed precisely. With a common name, a matching date of birth is the fastest way to tell two people apart.
Registries in Iowa are kept at the state level, so there is no separate county registry to check. The state’s own public search is Iowa Sex Offender Registry (DPS).
People move across county and state lines, so a Polk County search is not bounded by the county line. It reaches Iowa, its neighbours (Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska) and every other US registry in the same pass — so someone who lived elsewhere before Polk County still surfaces, which a single-county or single-state search would miss.
Checking an address in Polk County
A county is a big area; the useful question is usually one street. Start from the address you care about — a home you are buying or renting, a school, a daycare, a relative’s house — or its ZIP code, and set the radius to match: a few blocks for one home, a mile or two for a neighborhood.
Each result is the full registry record — photograph, offenses, the address last reported and the official record link. Radius search sees registrants whose published address we have placed on a map coordinate, so search a name as well when you are checking a particular person.
Search by address or ZIP · Get a list for your area · How to read a record
Reading a Polk County result
Each Polk County result is one registry record: the registrant’s name and aliases, a photograph, the address they last reported, the offenses that carry a registration duty and their current registration status, usually with a physical description and often a risk level or tier.
Two things it is not. It is not a full criminal history — offenses that never required registration do not appear, which is what a criminal record search covers. And the address is where the person last reported living, not proof of where they are today, so check the record date and confirm the photograph before acting on it. How to read a record · Criminal record search
Polk County offender search FAQ
How many registered sex offenders are in Polk County?
As of August 2026, we index approximately 1,041 registrants with a Polk County, IA address — about 21.1 per 10,000 residents, or about 1 in 473 residents. Treat the figure as scale rather than a fixed number: the registered population moves continuously as people are added, move, or are released from the requirement. When you need an answer about a specific person, run a search.
How does Polk County compare with the rest of Iowa?
Polk County sits at about 21.1 registrants we index per 10,000 residents, against a Iowa average of about 22.5 and a national average of about 47.2. Density varies block by block inside any county, so use the ratio as context — and a search, not an average, to answer about a specific address or person.
How do I check a specific person in Polk County?
Type their last name and add whatever else you hold — first name, date of birth, or narrow to a Polk County city or ZIP. You get scored matches with photographs and official record links, and the search covers every US registry at once, so someone now in Polk County who was registered elsewhere still surfaces. Your first 25 searches are free, no card required.
How do I find sex offenders near a Polk County address?
Search outward from a street address or ZIP within Polk County. Each result is the full registry record — photograph, offense history and the official state link — and you can widen the radius from one mile to a hundred to cover a neighbourhood or the whole area. It is address-and-radius search rather than a map, and it sees registrants whose published address we hold and have placed on a coordinate.
Is there a Polk County sex offender list?
Yes — the list for Polk County is a search: we index about 1,041 registrants with a Polk County address, and narrowing a search to the county, one of its cities, or a ZIP code returns them with photographs and official record links. To keep an eye on a specific area rather than read a long list, search outward from an address instead.
Which Polk County city has the most registered sex offenders?
We publish a page for one Polk County city or none, so there is no city-by-city comparison here — search the county, a city, or a ZIP for the current picture.
Can I get alerts about sex offenders in Polk County?
Yes. A location monitor watches an address and radius you choose in Polk County and emails you when someone registered nearby is added or moves in, so you don't have to re-run the same search.
Is this the official Polk County sex offender registry?
Registries are maintained per state, not per county, so no single official "Polk County registry" list exists. What you search here is our continuously updated national dataset with every US registry in one place, and each record links back to the official state entry that published it — so you can verify any Polk County result at its source.
Standard results are not a consumer report; FCRA-covered decisions run through FCRA Partner Access, our separately enabled regulated service.
More Iowa counties
Embed this figure on your site
Free to use on any site. Paste the HTML below — the badge stays current automatically, and the link back to this page must remain intact. All badges and terms
<a href="https://offendersearch.app/sex-offender-registry/iowa"><img src="https://offendersearch.app/badge/state/ia.svg" alt="Iowa registered sex offenders — Offendersearch" height="40"></a>Get alerts for Polk County, IA
We'll email you when a registered offender is added or moves near your Polk County, IA address. A monitor is a recurring watch on our continuously updated data, checked every morning — set one on an address and radius, or on one person by name and date of birth.
Area monitoring is $10/mo; watching one person by name is $3/mo. Send the alerts to yourself and anyone else who should know, and turn a monitor off any time.
This is not a consumer report and must not be used for FCRA-governed hiring, tenancy, or credit decisions — those run through FCRA Partner Access.