Willard Griffin House and Carriage House · Photo: Sanfranman59 · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime per resident in Los Altos Hills fell 64% from 2023 to 2025
The local count comes to 0.5 violent crime and 5.5 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 4.9 and 21.4 in the rest of California. All told, Los Altos Hills grades A− for safety (#5 of 416 graded towns in California): less crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. On top of that, its two neighbors with figures both record more crime per resident.
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 Los Altos Hills
Los Altos Hills reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 3 California towns on Los Altos Hills’ borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Los Altos (B), Palo Alto (C−). Loyola is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, higher
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Los Altos Hills’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 99% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 82% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Los Altos Hills is home to Foothill College, with 7,500 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 5% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. 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 Los Altos Hills’ 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; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Los Altos Hills property | Rest of California property | Los Altos Hills violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 9.5 | 24.8 | 0.2 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 9.6 | 25.0 | 0.9 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 3.6 | 20.8 | 0.5 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 3.6 | 18.5 | 0.2 | 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 | Los Altos Hills | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.2 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.9 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.5 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.2 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Los Altos Hills’ police reported 13 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.5 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 Los Altos Hills 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.
32 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.
2 violent and 30 property, as reported to the FBI by Los Altos Hills’ police.
Five people died in crashes on Los Altos Hills’s roads in 2019–2023
Los Altos Hills had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died. Most of these deaths (5 of 5) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is more 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 Los Altos Hills’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Los Altos Hills’s own rate (11.9) 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.
Los Altos Hills and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Altos Hills | A− | 0.5 | 5.5 |
| Los Altos | B | 0.7 | 10.9 |
| Loyola | — | — | — |
| Palo Alto | C− | 1.9 | 29.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Loyola is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Altos Hills | A− | 0.5 | 5.5 |
| Winters | A− | 0.7 | 4.7 |
| Gonzales | B− | 3.1 | 4.8 |
| Cloverdale | B− | 3.0 | 8.0 |
| Orland | C+ | 3.2 | 9.6 |
| Corning | C− | 6.8 | 14.8 |
The five graded California towns closest to Los Altos Hills’ population (8,419), 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 Los Altos Hills. 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 Los Altos Hills’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (8,422 in 2025); our figure for Los Altos Hills is 8,419 (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 Los Altos Hills
Is Los Altos Hills, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Los Altos Hills reports less crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #5 of 416 in California. Its police reported 0.5 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 Los Altos Hills?
0.5 violent and 5.5 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 Los Altos Hills safer than Los Altos?
Los Altos reports more crime per resident than Los Altos Hills: Los Altos grades B for safety and Los Altos Hills A−. Los Altos’s police reported 0.7 violent and 10.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Los Altos Hills?
Los Altos Hills’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Los Altos Hills”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Los Altos Hills.
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.