Photo: Don Ramey Logan · CC BY 4.0Crime in Coto de Caza: the figures, without a grade
The nearest town with a Safety Grade is Rancho Santa Margarita, 3 miles away, graded A−. Coto de Caza has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in Orange County. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office reports to the FBI for the parts of the county without police of their own, so there are no figures for Coto de Caza alone, and no Safety Grade. The surrounding 10 miles hold 8 graded places to compare with.
What stands out about safety in Coto de Caza
Policed by the county
Coto de Caza is a census-designated place, with no town government. Crimes there are reported to the FBI inside the Orange County Sheriff’s Office’s totals for the county. County police ↓
Counts, not rates
The FBI doesn’t publish how many people the Orange County Sheriff’s Office covers, so its totals can’t be turned into a per-resident rate or a grade for Coto de Caza. County police ↓
The nearest graded towns
The closest California towns with their own police figures are Rancho Santa Margarita (A−, 3 mi), Mission Viejo (B, 4 mi), Laguna Hills (B−, 6 mi). Nearby towns can differ a lot from Coto de Caza. Nearest ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What the Orange County Sheriff’s Office reports
Reports to the FBI for the parts of Orange County without police of their own, which include Coto de Caza.
Property crimes
Violent crimes
2025 offenses reported by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office
Counts, not rates: the FBI doesn’t publish how many people each agency covers. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Tables 10–11.
Crimes reported to the FBI for the whole area the department covers, by year.
The nearest California towns with a Safety Grade
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rancho Santa Margarita | A− | 3 mi | 0.8 | 4.7 |
| Mission Viejo | B | 4 mi | 1.2 | 11.0 |
| Laguna Hills | B− | 6 mi | 2.4 | 10.8 |
| Lake Forest | B | 7 mi | 1.5 | 8.3 |
| San Juan Capistrano | B− | 8 mi | 1.9 | 9.8 |
| Laguna Niguel | B+ | 8 mi | 1.1 | 8.4 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Coto de Caza. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Coto de Caza.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
One person died in crashes on Coto de Caza’s roads in 2019–2023
Coto de Caza had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died; 1 was a cyclist.
That is about what is typical for California towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (5.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Coto de Caza’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Coto de Caza’s own rate (1.3) is context, not a ranking.
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.
Coto de Caza and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rancho Mission Viejo | — | — | — |
| Rancho Santa Margarita | A− | 0.8 | 4.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Rancho Mission Viejo is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
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.
- A county agency covers a wide area. Its totals mix many communities, so they say little about any one of them.
- 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 Coto de Caza
Is Coto de Caza, CA safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Coto de Caza. The nearest California towns with a grade are Rancho Santa Margarita (A−, 3 mi), Mission Viejo (B, 4 mi), Laguna Hills (B−, 6 mi).
Who polices Coto de Caza?
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Coto de Caza is an unincorporated community, and the department reports to the FBI for the parts of Orange County without police of their own.
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 Coto de Caza.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 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.