Photo: Visitor7 · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Palm Desert records more property crime than 89% of U.S. towns
The rate the grade counts dropped 43% from 2023 to 2025. Add to that, typical years here bring 2.5 violent crimes plus 28.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 4.9 plus 21.4 in the rest of California. Overall, Palm Desert grades C− for safety (#300 of 416 graded towns in California): more crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Both towns next door with figures record less 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 Palm Desert
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 4 California towns on Palm Desert’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Indian Wells (C+), Rancho Mirage (C−). Thousand Palms and Bermuda Dunes are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Neighbors ↓
A college town
Palm Desert is home to College of the Desert, with 7,129 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 6% 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 Palm Desert’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 per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Palm Desert property | Rest of California property | Palm Desert violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 39.0 | 24.8 | 3.5 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 36.3 | 24.9 | 2.8 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 28.3 | 20.8 | 3.2 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 20.9 | 18.5 | 1.4 | 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.
Crime in Palm Desert 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 about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Palm Desert | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.5 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.8 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.2 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.4 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Palm Desert’s police reported 387 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.
1,193 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.
74 violent and 1,119 property, as reported to the FBI by Palm Desert’s police.
26 people died in crashes on Palm Desert’s roads in 2019–2023
Palm Desert had 22 fatal crashes in five years, in which 26 people died; 10 were pedestrians. 2 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 10.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above 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.
Palm Desert and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palm Desert | C− | 2.5 | 28.4 |
| Indian Wells | C+ | 1.3 | 16.2 |
| Rancho Mirage | C− | 2.1 | 25.3 |
| Thousand Palms | — | — | — |
| Bermuda Dunes | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Thousand Palms and Bermuda Dunes are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palm Desert | C− | 2.5 | 28.4 |
| Cathedral City | C+ | 3.0 | 12.4 |
| Delano | C+ | 3.3 | 11.2 |
| Novato | C+ | 2.6 | 14.4 |
| Arcadia | C− | 2.4 | 27.7 |
| Colton | C− | 3.8 | 24.1 |
The five graded California towns closest to Palm Desert’s population (53,259), 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 Palm Desert. 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 Palm Desert’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (53,647 in 2025); our figure for Palm Desert is 53,259 (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 Palm Desert
Is Palm Desert, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Palm Desert reports more crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #300 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 Palm Desert?
2.5 violent and 28.4 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.
How many homicides were there in Palm Desert in 2025?
Palm Desert’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 Palm Desert safer than Indian Wells?
Indian Wells reports less crime per resident than Palm Desert: Indian Wells grades C+ for safety and Palm Desert C−. Indian Wells’s police reported 1.3 violent and 16.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Palm Desert?
Palm Desert’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Palm Desert”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Palm Desert.
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.