Photo: Dicklyon · CC BY-SA 4.0Mountain View reports more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Mountain View’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #288 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 Mountain View
2 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 3 California towns on Mountain View’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Los Altos (B), Sunnyvale (C), Palo Alto (C−). Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, closer to the middle
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Mountain View’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 31% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 19% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Mountain View has 86,219 jobs based in town for 85,438 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 Mountain View’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 higher than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.5) 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.
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 | Mountain View property | Rest of California property | Mountain View violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 29.6 | 24.8 | 2.8 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 28.4 | 24.9 | 2.5 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 27.7 | 20.8 | 3.1 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 23.9 | 18.5 | 2.1 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 24 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Mountain View’s police reported 636 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.5 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 | Mountain View | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.8 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.5 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.1 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.1 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
2,295 crimes reported in 2025
182 violent and 2,113 property, as reported to the FBI by Mountain View’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
15 people died in crashes on Mountain View’s roads in 2019–2023
Mountain View had 14 fatal crashes in five years, in which 15 people died; 5 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 3.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for California towns of 25,000–100,000 people (5.6, 231 towns).
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.
Mountain View and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain View | C− | 2.5 | 26.6 |
| Palo Alto | C− | 1.9 | 29.0 |
| Sunnyvale | C | 2.3 | 18.9 |
| Los Altos | B | 0.7 | 10.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain View | C− | 2.5 | 26.6 |
| San Ramon | B | 1.1 | 10.0 |
| Lake Forest | B | 1.5 | 8.3 |
| Citrus Heights | C− | 4.1 | 20.2 |
| Whittier | C− | 4.4 | 22.1 |
| San Leandro | D | 5.8 | 42.8 |
The five graded California towns closest to Mountain View’s population (85,438), 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 Mountain View. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Mountain View’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (88,504 in 2025); our figure for Mountain View is 85,438 (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 Mountain View
Is Mountain View, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Mountain View reports more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #288 of 416 in California. Its police reported 2.5 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 Mountain View?
2.5 violent and 26.6 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 Mountain View?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Mountain View in 2025?
Mountain View’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 1.1 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Mountain View safer than Palo Alto?
Palo Alto reports more crime per resident than Mountain View: Palo Alto grades C− for safety and Mountain View C−. Palo Alto’s police reported 1.9 violent and 29.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Mountain View?
Mountain View’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Mountain View”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Mountain View.
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.