Photo: Abby Lanes · CC BY-SA 3.0Violent crime per resident is lower in Palos Verdes Estates than in 94% of U.S. towns
Its letter overall is B+ (#21 of 416 graded towns in California): less crime per resident than 73% of U.S. towns, from crimes its police reported through 2023 to 2025. What’s more, each of the 3 towns on its borders with figures records more crime per resident. Police counts work out at 0.2 violent crime and 9.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the rest of California they are 4.9 and 21.4. The graded rate fell 39% from 2023 to 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 Palos Verdes Estates
Palos Verdes Estates reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 3 California towns on Palos Verdes Estates’ borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Rancho Palos Verdes (B+), Rolling Hills Estates (C+), Torrance (C−). Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, higher
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Palos Verdes Estates’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 95% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 73% 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 Palos Verdes Estates’ 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 | Palos Verdes Estates property | Rest of California property | Palos Verdes Estates violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 10.8 | 24.8 | 0.3 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 13.2 | 25.0 | 0.1 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 7.9 | 20.8 | 0.2 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 7.8 | 18.5 | 0.3 | 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 | Palos Verdes Estates | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.3 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.1 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.2 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.3 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Palos Verdes Estates’ police reported 8 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.2 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 Palos Verdes Estates 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.
101 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.
4 violent and 97 property, as reported to the FBI by Palos Verdes Estates’ police.
One person died in crashes on Palos Verdes Estates’s roads in 2019–2023
Palos Verdes Estates had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
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 Palos Verdes Estates’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Palos Verdes Estates’s own rate (1.5) 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.
Palos Verdes Estates and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palos Verdes Estates | B+ | 0.2 | 9.6 |
| Rancho Palos Verdes | B+ | 1.1 | 8.4 |
| Rolling Hills Estates | C+ | 1.5 | 16.6 |
| Torrance | C− | 2.9 | 26.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palos Verdes Estates | B+ | 0.2 | 9.6 |
| Newman | B+ | 1.9 | 4.1 |
| Solana Beach | B | 1.0 | 11.5 |
| Grover Beach | B− | 2.4 | 11.3 |
| Carpinteria | C+ | 2.2 | 13.7 |
| Lindsay | C− | 4.5 | 15.6 |
The five graded California towns closest to Palos Verdes Estates’ population (12,559), 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 Palos Verdes Estates. 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 Palos Verdes Estates’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (12,512 in 2025); our figure for Palos Verdes Estates is 12,559 (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 Palos Verdes Estates
Is Palos Verdes Estates, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Palos Verdes Estates reports less crime per resident than 73% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #21 of 416 in California. Its police reported 0.2 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 Palos Verdes Estates?
0.2 violent and 9.6 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 Palos Verdes Estates safer than Rancho Palos Verdes?
Rancho Palos Verdes reports more crime per resident than Palos Verdes Estates: Rancho Palos Verdes grades B+ for safety and Palos Verdes Estates B+. Rancho Palos Verdes’s police reported 1.1 violent and 8.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Palos Verdes Estates?
Palos Verdes Estates’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Palos Verdes Estates”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Palos Verdes Estates.
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.