Photo: Rennett Stowe · CC BY 2.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in San Luis Obispo than in 85% of U.S. towns
Violent crime here is higher than in 84% of U.S. towns; property crime, higher than in 84%. It grades C− for safety on crimes San Luis Obispo’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #323 of 416 graded towns in California. The rate the grade counts dropped 23% from 2023 to 2025. Police counts work out at 4.3 violent crimes and 24.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the rest of California they are 4.9 and 21.4.
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 Luis Obispo
A college town
San Luis Obispo is home to California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, with 22,376 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 33% 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 San Luis Obispo’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | San Luis Obispo property | Rest of California property | San Luis Obispo violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 36.4 | 24.8 | 5.6 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 25.9 | 25.0 | 5.2 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 26.7 | 20.8 | 4.2 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 20.5 | 18.5 | 3.5 | 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 San Luis Obispo 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 4 violent crimes, 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 | San Luis Obispo | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.6 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.2 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.5 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
San Luis Obispo’s police reported 641 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
1,207 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.
175 violent and 1,032 property, as reported to the FBI by San Luis Obispo’s police.
15 people died in crashes on San Luis Obispo’s roads in 2019–2023
San Luis Obispo had 14 fatal crashes in five years, in which 15 people died; 8 were pedestrians and 3 were cyclists.
That is 6.2 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 Luis Obispo and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Luis Obispo | C− | 4.3 | 24.3 |
| California Polytechnic State University | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. California Polytechnic State University 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 Luis Obispo | C− | 4.3 | 24.3 |
| Aliso Viejo | B+ | 1.2 | 7.3 |
| Glendora | C | 2.0 | 18.5 |
| Watsonville | C | 4.7 | 12.0 |
| Paramount | D | 6.4 | 26.6 |
| Huntington Park | D | 6.7 | 33.8 |
The five graded California towns closest to San Luis Obispo’s population (50,636), 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 San Luis Obispo. 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 Luis Obispo’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (50,385 in 2025); our figure for San Luis Obispo is 50,636 (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 Luis Obispo
Is San Luis Obispo, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, San Luis Obispo reports more crime per resident than 85% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #323 of 416 in California. Its police reported 4.3 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 Luis Obispo?
4.3 violent and 24.3 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 San Luis Obispo in 2025?
San Luis Obispo’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 San Luis Obispo?
San Luis Obispo’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “San Luis Obispo”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in San Luis Obispo.
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.