Photo: Raleigh Littles · CC BY-SA 4.0Morro Bay sits close to the middle of U.S. towns for reported crime
Overall, Morro Bay grades B− for safety (#91 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 Morro Bay
Among California towns, closer to the middle
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Morro Bay’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 78% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 48% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Morro Bay’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Morro Bay’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (2.6) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Morro Bay’s police reported 81 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.6 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 | Morro Bay | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.8 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.9 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.9 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 10 property crimes reported
And about 2 violent crimes, 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.
Reported crime is steady
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of California.
Show as a table
| Year | Morro Bay property | Rest of California property | Morro Bay violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 13.9 | 24.8 | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 9.3 | 25.0 | 2.8 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 7.9 | 20.8 | 2.9 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 10.0 | 18.5 | 1.9 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
126 crimes reported in 2025
20 violent and 106 property, as reported to the FBI by Morro Bay’s 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 Morro Bay’s roads in 2019–2023
Morro Bay had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what 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 Morro Bay’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Morro Bay’s own rate (3.7) 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.
Morro Bay and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Cayucos 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morro Bay | B− | 2.6 | 9.1 |
| Sierra Madre | B | 2.2 | 6.8 |
| Rio Vista | B | 2.5 | 5.5 |
| Sonoma | B | 1.5 | 10.3 |
| Placerville | C− | 5.9 | 13.7 |
| Piedmont | C− | 1.4 | 31.9 |
The five graded California towns closest to Morro Bay’s population (10,613), 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 Morro Bay. 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 Morro Bay’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (10,549 in 2025); our figure for Morro Bay is 10,613 (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 Morro Bay
Is Morro Bay, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Morro Bay reports more crime per resident than 52% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #91 of 416 in California. Its police reported 2.6 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 Morro Bay?
2.6 violent and 9.1 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 Morro Bay?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices Morro Bay?
Morro Bay’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Morro Bay”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Morro Bay.
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.