Photo: Colin Marquardt, Colin Marquardt · Public domainPetaluma sits close to the middle of U.S. towns for reported crime
Overall, Petaluma grades C+ for safety (#121 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 Petaluma
Among California towns, closer to the middle
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Petaluma’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 71% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 41% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Petaluma’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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. 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. Its property rate (12.0) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) 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
Petaluma’s police reported 457 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 | Petaluma | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.8 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.7 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.3 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 12 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 | Petaluma property | Rest of California property | Petaluma violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.1 | 24.8 | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 12.4 | 25.0 | 2.8 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 11.7 | 20.9 | 2.7 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 11.9 | 18.5 | 2.3 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
839 crimes reported in 2025
135 violent and 704 property, as reported to the FBI by Petaluma’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Nine people died in crashes on Petaluma’s roads in 2019–2023
Petaluma had 9 fatal crashes in five years, in which nine people died; 3 were pedestrians.
That is fewer than is typical for California towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (5.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Petaluma’s size would see about 17 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Petaluma’s own rate (3.0) 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.
Petaluma and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petaluma | C+ | 2.6 | 12.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petaluma | C+ | 2.6 | 12.0 |
| Encinitas | B | 1.8 | 8.9 |
| La Mesa | C | 4.0 | 14.6 |
| Pico Rivera | C− | 4.9 | 22.1 |
| San Rafael | D | 4.8 | 24.1 |
| Montebello | D | 4.8 | 26.5 |
The five graded California towns closest to Petaluma’s population (59,688), 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 Petaluma. 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 Petaluma’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (59,305 in 2025); our figure for Petaluma is 59,688 (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 Petaluma
Is Petaluma, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Petaluma reports more crime per resident than 59% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #121 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 Petaluma?
2.6 violent and 12.0 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 Petaluma?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Petaluma in 2025?
Petaluma’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.
Who polices Petaluma?
Petaluma’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Petaluma”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Petaluma.
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.