Photo: Patrick Pelster · CC BY-SA 3.0Reported crime per resident in Indian Wells fell 52% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Indian Wells grades C+ for safety (#112 of 416 graded towns in California): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Indian Wells
Indian Wells reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 2 California towns on Indian Wells’ borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: La Quinta (C), Palm Desert (C−). Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, closer to the middle
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Indian Wells’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 73% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 43% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Indian Wells has 3,543 jobs based in town for 4,992 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
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 Indian Wells’ grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Indian Wells’ grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (16.2) 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.
Reported crime is falling
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Indian Wells property | Rest of California property | Indian Wells violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 28.9 | 24.8 | 2.2 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 23.0 | 25.0 | 1.6 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 14.1 | 20.8 | 2.0 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 11.7 | 18.5 | 0.2 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Indian Wells’ police reported 19 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Indian Wells | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.2 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.6 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.0 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.2 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 12 property crimes reported
And fewer than 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
60 crimes reported in 2025
1 violent and 59 property, as reported to the FBI by Indian Wells’ police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Two people died in crashes on Indian Wells’s roads in 2019–2023
Indian Wells had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 2 were pedestrians.
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 Indian Wells’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Indian Wells’s own rate (8.2) 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.
Indian Wells and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indian Wells | C+ | 1.3 | 16.2 |
| Palm Desert | C− | 2.5 | 28.4 |
| La Quinta | C | 1.7 | 20.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
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 Indian Wells. 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 Indian Wells’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,042 in 2025); our figure for Indian Wells is 4,992 (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 Indian Wells
Is Indian Wells, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Indian Wells reports more crime per resident than 57% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #112 of 416 in California. Its police reported 1.3 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 Indian Wells?
1.3 violent and 16.2 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 crime going up or down in Indian Wells?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Indian Wells safer than Palm Desert?
Palm Desert reports more crime per resident than Indian Wells: Palm Desert grades C− for safety and Indian Wells C+. Palm Desert’s police reported 2.5 violent and 28.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Indian Wells?
Indian Wells’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Indian Wells”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Indian Wells.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.