Photo: Don Ramey Logan · CC BY-SA 3.0Reported crime per resident in San Clemente fell 34% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, San Clemente grades B− for safety (#87 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 San Clemente
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 3 California towns on San Clemente’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Dana Point (B), San Juan Capistrano (B−). Rancho Mission Viejo is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, higher
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so San Clemente’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 79% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 50% 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 San Clemente’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds San Clemente’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (11.8) 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.
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 | San Clemente property | Rest of California property | San Clemente violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.3 | 24.8 | 1.9 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 14.2 | 25.0 | 1.5 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 12.7 | 20.9 | 1.8 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 8.6 | 18.5 | 1.7 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
San Clemente’s police reported 309 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.7 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 | San Clemente | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.9 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.5 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.8 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.7 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 9 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.
640 crimes reported in 2025
103 violent and 537 property, as reported to the FBI by San Clemente’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
18 people died in crashes on San Clemente’s roads in 2019–2023
San Clemente had 18 fatal crashes in five years, in which 18 people died; 4 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. Most of these deaths (9 of 18) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is 5.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as 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.
San Clemente and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Clemente | B− | 1.7 | 11.8 |
| San Juan Capistrano | B− | 1.9 | 9.8 |
| Dana Point | B | 1.6 | 9.0 |
| Rancho Mission Viejo | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Rancho Mission Viejo is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Clemente | B− | 1.7 | 11.8 |
| Woodland | C | 2.8 | 15.1 |
| Hanford | C | 4.1 | 11.1 |
| Porterville | C | 3.9 | 16.1 |
| Santa Cruz | D | 6.0 | 24.8 |
| Lynwood | D | 8.0 | 27.5 |
The five graded California towns closest to San Clemente’s population (62,226), 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 San Clemente. 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 San Clemente’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (62,236 in 2025); our figure for San Clemente is 62,226 (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 San Clemente
Is San Clemente, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, San Clemente reports less crime per resident than 50% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #87 of 416 in California. Its police reported 1.7 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 San Clemente?
1.7 violent and 11.8 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 San Clemente?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in San Clemente in 2025?
San Clemente’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 San Clemente safer than San Juan Capistrano?
San Juan Capistrano reports less crime per resident than San Clemente: San Juan Capistrano grades B− for safety and San Clemente B−. San Juan Capistrano’s police reported 1.9 violent and 9.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices San Clemente?
San Clemente’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “San Clemente”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in San Clemente.
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.