Photo: Coolcaesar at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Los Altos reports less crime per resident than 63% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Los Altos’ police in 2023–2025, it grades B for safety: #42 of 416 graded towns in 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 Los Altos
1 of the 5 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 6 California towns on Los Altos’ borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Los Altos Hills (A−), Cupertino (B−), Sunnyvale (C), Palo Alto (C−), Mountain View (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’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 90% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 63% 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 Los Altos’ 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Los Altos’ police reported 61 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.7 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 | Los Altos | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.7 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.9 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.8 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.4 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
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 | Los Altos property | Rest of California property | Los Altos violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.1 | 24.8 | 0.7 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 10.4 | 25.0 | 0.9 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 12.1 | 20.8 | 0.8 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 10.2 | 18.5 | 0.4 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 10 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.
325 crimes reported in 2025
11 violent and 314 property, as reported to the FBI by Los Altos’ 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 Los Altos’s roads in 2019–2023
Los Altos had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 1 was a cyclist.
That is fewer than is typical for California towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (5.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Los Altos’s size would see about 9 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Los Altos’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.
Los Altos and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Altos | B | 0.7 | 10.9 |
| Palo Alto | C− | 1.9 | 29.0 |
| Los Altos Hills | A− | 0.5 | 5.5 |
| Loyola | — | — | — |
| Mountain View | C− | 2.5 | 26.6 |
| Sunnyvale | C | 2.3 | 18.9 |
| Cupertino | B− | 1.0 | 14.1 |
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 | B | 0.7 | 10.9 |
| Saratoga | A− | 0.7 | 5.6 |
| Seaside | C | 4.9 | 7.8 |
| El Paso de Robles (Paso Robles) | C | 3.7 | 16.5 |
| Bell | C− | 5.8 | 12.5 |
| Beverly Hills | D | 4.7 | 43.3 |
The five graded California towns closest to Los Altos’ population (30,965), by grade.
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. 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’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (30,747 in 2025); our figure for Los Altos is 30,965 (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
Is Los Altos, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Los Altos reports less crime per resident than 63% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #42 of 416 in California. Its police reported 0.7 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?
0.7 violent and 10.9 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 Los Altos?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Los Altos in 2025?
Los Altos’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Los Altos safer than Palo Alto?
Palo Alto reports more crime per resident than Los Altos: Palo Alto grades C− for safety and Los Altos B. Palo Alto’s police reported 1.9 violent and 29.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Los Altos?
Los Altos’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Los Altos”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Los Altos.
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.