Photo: Travisthurston · CC BY-SA 3.0Policing Penn Valley: who reports, and what
For a graded neighbor, the nearest is Grass Valley (D), 8 miles away. Nearby, 2 communities within 10 miles carry a Safety Grade. Penn Valley has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in Nevada County. The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office reports to the FBI for the parts of the county without police of their own, so there are no figures for Penn Valley alone, and no Safety Grade.
What stands out about safety in Penn Valley
Policed by the county
Penn Valley is a census-designated place, with no town government. Crimes there are reported to the FBI inside the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office’s totals for the county. County police ↓
Counts, not rates
The FBI doesn’t publish how many people the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office covers, so its totals can’t be turned into a per-resident rate or a grade for Penn Valley. County police ↓
The nearest graded towns
The closest California towns with their own police figures are Grass Valley (D, 8 mi), Nevada City (D−, 10 mi), Wheatland (A−, 15 mi). Nearby towns can differ a lot from Penn Valley. Nearest ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office reports
Reports to the FBI for the parts of Nevada County without police of their own, which include Penn Valley.
Property crimes
Violent crimes
2025 offenses reported by the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office
Counts, not rates: the FBI doesn’t publish how many people each agency covers. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Tables 10–11.
Crimes reported to the FBI for the whole area the department covers, by year.
The nearest California towns with a Safety Grade
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grass Valley | D | 8 mi | 6.2 | 20.7 |
| Nevada City | D− | 10 mi | 15.4 | 14.1 |
| Wheatland | A− | 15 mi | 0.8 | 4.3 |
| Marysville | D | 21 mi | 7.1 | 18.6 |
| Auburn | B− | 22 mi | 3.1 | 7.4 |
| Lincoln | A− | 23 mi | 1.1 | 5.7 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Penn Valley. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Penn Valley.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
No one died in a crash on Penn Valley’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for California towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (7.0 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Penn Valley’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Penn Valley’s own rate (0.0) 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.
Penn Valley and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
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.
- A county agency covers a wide area. Its totals mix many communities, so they say little about any one of them.
- 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 Penn Valley
Is Penn Valley, CA safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Penn Valley. The nearest California towns with a grade are Grass Valley (D, 8 mi), Nevada City (D−, 10 mi), Wheatland (A−, 15 mi).
Who polices Penn Valley?
The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office. Penn Valley is an unincorporated community, and the department reports to the FBI for the parts of Nevada County without police of their own.
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 Penn Valley.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 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.