Photo: Gary gary gary at en.wikipedia · CC BY 3.0In Hillsborough, the kinds of crime the grade counts fell 44% per resident from 2023 to 2025
Hillsborough grades B+ for safety overall (#19 of 416 graded towns in California): less crime per resident than 74% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. What’s more, it has less violent crime than 68% of U.S. towns, and less property crime than 72%. The local count comes to 1.0 violent crime and 6.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 4.9 and 21.4 in the rest of California.
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 Hillsborough
Hillsborough reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 4 California towns on Hillsborough’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: San Mateo (C), Burlingame (C). Baywood Park and Highlands are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, higher
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Hillsborough’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 95% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 74% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Hillsborough’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the stronger of the two.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Hillsborough property | Rest of California property | Hillsborough violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.7 | 24.8 | 0.5 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 7.5 | 25.0 | 1.6 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 6.8 | 20.8 | 0.9 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 4.7 | 18.5 | 0.4 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of California.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Hillsborough | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.5 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.6 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.9 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.4 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Hillsborough’s police reported 32 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Hillsborough 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 fewer than 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
57 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.
5 violent and 52 property, as reported to the FBI by Hillsborough’s police.
No one died in a crash on Hillsborough’s roads in 2019–2023
That is fewer than 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 Hillsborough’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Hillsborough’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.
Hillsborough and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hillsborough | B+ | 1.0 | 6.3 |
| Burlingame | C | 1.8 | 22.1 |
| San Mateo | C | 2.5 | 17.6 |
| Baywood Park | — | — | — |
| Highlands | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Baywood Park and Highlands are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hillsborough | B+ | 1.0 | 6.3 |
| Canyon Lake | A− | 0.6 | 6.7 |
| Calimesa | C+ | 1.5 | 19.1 |
| Healdsburg | C+ | 3.3 | 12.2 |
| Anderson | D | 7.1 | 18.2 |
| Signal Hill | D− | 7.1 | 54.4 |
The five graded California towns closest to Hillsborough’s population (11,206), 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 Hillsborough. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Hillsborough’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (11,126 in 2025); our figure for Hillsborough is 11,206 (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 Hillsborough
Is Hillsborough, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Hillsborough reports less crime per resident than 74% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #19 of 416 in California. Its police reported 1.0 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 Hillsborough?
1.0 violent and 6.3 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.
Is Hillsborough safer than Burlingame?
Burlingame reports more crime per resident than Hillsborough: Burlingame grades C for safety and Hillsborough B+. Burlingame’s police reported 1.8 violent and 22.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Hillsborough?
Hillsborough’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Hillsborough”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Hillsborough.
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.