Bourn-Roth Estate · Photo: Sukuru · CC BY-SA 3.0What is recorded in Emerald Lake Hills, and why there is no grade
For a graded neighbor, the nearest is Atherton (B), 4 miles away. Emerald Lake Hills has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in San Mateo County. The San Mateo 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 Emerald Lake Hills alone, and no Safety Grade. A 10-mile radius takes in 10 places that are graded.
What stands out about safety in Emerald Lake Hills
Policed by the county
Emerald Lake Hills is a census-designated place, with no town government. Crimes there are reported to the FBI inside the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office’s totals for the county. County police ↓
Counts, not rates
The FBI doesn’t publish how many people the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office covers, so its totals can’t be turned into a per-resident rate or a grade for Emerald Lake Hills. County police ↓
The nearest graded towns
The closest California towns with their own police figures are Atherton (B, 4 mi), Belmont (B−, 4 mi), Redwood City (C−, 4 mi). Nearby towns can differ a lot from Emerald Lake Hills. Nearest ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office reports
Reports to the FBI for the parts of San Mateo County without police of their own, which include Emerald Lake Hills.
Property crimes
Violent crimes
2025 offenses reported by the San Mateo 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atherton | B | 4 mi | 1.0 | 11.2 |
| Belmont | B− | 4 mi | 1.7 | 12.8 |
| Redwood City | C− | 4 mi | 4.4 | 17.5 |
| Menlo Park | C+ | 7 mi | 2.2 | 16.9 |
| Foster City | B+ | 7 mi | 0.6 | 8.3 |
| San Mateo | C | 7 mi | 2.5 | 17.6 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Emerald Lake Hills. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Emerald Lake Hills.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
No one died in a crash on Emerald Lake Hills’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for California towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (7.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Emerald Lake Hills’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Emerald Lake Hills’s own rate (0.0) 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.
Emerald Lake Hills and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Redwood City | C− | 4.4 | 17.5 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
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 Emerald Lake Hills
Is Emerald Lake Hills, CA safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Emerald Lake Hills. The nearest California towns with a grade are Atherton (B, 4 mi), Belmont (B−, 4 mi), Redwood City (C−, 4 mi).
Who polices Emerald Lake Hills?
The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. Emerald Lake Hills is an unincorporated community, and the department reports to the FBI for the parts of San Mateo 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 Emerald Lake Hills.
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.