On violent crime, Cathedral City has a higher rate per resident than 73% of U.S. towns
Each of the 3 towns on its borders with figures records more crime per resident. All told, Cathedral City grades C+ for safety (#143 of 416 graded towns in California): more crime per resident than 63% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Police counts work out at 3.0 violent crimes and 12.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the rest of California they are 4.9 and 21.4.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of CA” is every other California city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Cathedral City
Cathedral City reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 5 California towns on Cathedral City’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Desert Hot Springs (C), Rancho Mirage (C−), Palm Springs (D). Thousand Palms and Garnet are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, closer to the middle
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Cathedral City’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 66% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 37% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Cathedral City’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (3.0) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns. Its property rate (12.4) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Crime in Cathedral City per 1,000 residents
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
And about 3 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Cathedral City | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 3.0 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.8 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.3 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Cathedral City’s police reported 481 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Cathedral City property | Rest of California property | Cathedral City violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 13.5 | 25.0 | 3.0 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 12.2 | 20.8 | 2.8 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 11.4 | 18.5 | 3.3 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2023–2025, against the rest of California.
774 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
175 violent and 599 property, as reported to the FBI by Cathedral City’s police.
31 people died in crashes on Cathedral City’s roads in 2019–2023
Cathedral City had 30 fatal crashes in five years, in which 31 people died; 11 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 3 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 11.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for California towns of 25,000–100,000 people (5.6, 231 towns).
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Cathedral City and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cathedral City | C+ | 3.0 | 12.4 |
| Rancho Mirage | C− | 2.1 | 25.3 |
| Palm Springs | D | 5.6 | 32.7 |
| Thousand Palms | — | — | — |
| Garnet | — | — | — |
| Desert Hot Springs | C | 4.9 | 12.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Thousand Palms and Garnet are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cathedral City | C+ | 3.0 | 12.4 |
| Diamond Bar | C+ | 1.1 | 18.1 |
| Delano | C+ | 3.3 | 11.2 |
| Novato | C+ | 2.6 | 14.4 |
| Palm Desert | C− | 2.5 | 28.4 |
| Huntington Park | D | 6.7 | 33.8 |
The five graded California towns closest to Cathedral City’s population (52,375), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Cathedral City. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Cathedral City’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (52,742 in 2025); our figure for Cathedral City is 52,375 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Cathedral City
Is Cathedral City, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Cathedral City reports more crime per resident than 63% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #143 of 416 in California. Its police reported 3.0 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Cathedral City?
3.0 violent and 12.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of California reports 4.9 and 21.4; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Cathedral City in 2025?
Cathedral City’s police reported 3 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 5.7 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Cathedral City safer than Rancho Mirage?
Rancho Mirage reports more crime per resident than Cathedral City: Rancho Mirage grades C− for safety and Cathedral City C+. Rancho Mirage’s police reported 2.1 violent and 25.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Cathedral City?
Cathedral City’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Cathedral City”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Cathedral City.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.