Photo: Pierre André · CC BY-SA 4.0For violent crime, Santa Barbara trails 92% of U.S. towns per resident
The crimes the grade counts held steady per resident from 2023 to 2025. Taking everything together, Santa Barbara scores D (#331 of 416 graded towns in California): more crime per resident than 86% of U.S. towns, measured on crimes its police reported between 2023 and 2025. On top of that, for every 1,000 residents, 6.3 violent crimes and 17.5 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the rest of California, the figures are 4.8 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 Santa Barbara
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 5 California towns on Santa Barbara’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Goleta (C+). Montecito, Eastern Goleta Valley, Mission Canyon and University of California-Santa Barbara are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Neighbors ↓
A college town
Santa Barbara is home to the University of California-Santa Barbara, with 26,034 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 9% 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 ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Santa Barbara’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 property rate (17.5) 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
Show as a table
| Year | Santa Barbara | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.6 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 6.0 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 6.5 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 6.4 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Santa Barbara’s police reported 1,632 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 6.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.8 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Santa Barbara 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 6 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
How crime in Santa Barbara has moved
Show as a table
| Year | Santa Barbara property | Rest of California property | Santa Barbara violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 20.4 | 24.8 | 4.6 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 17.8 | 25.0 | 6.0 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 18.1 | 20.8 | 6.5 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 16.5 | 18.5 | 6.4 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
1,987 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.
554 violent and 1,433 property, as reported to the FBI by Santa Barbara’s police.
23 people died in crashes on Santa Barbara’s roads in 2019–2023
Santa Barbara had 22 fatal crashes in five years, in which 23 people died; 10 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 5.2 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.
Santa Barbara and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara | D | 6.3 | 17.5 |
| Montecito | — | — | — |
| Eastern Goleta Valley | — | — | — |
| Mission Canyon | — | — | — |
| Goleta | C+ | 1.9 | 13.9 |
| University of California-Santa Barbara | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Montecito, Eastern Goleta Valley, Mission Canyon and University of California-Santa Barbara are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara | D | 6.3 | 17.5 |
| Lake Forest | B | 1.5 | 8.3 |
| San Ramon | B | 1.1 | 10.0 |
| Citrus Heights | C− | 4.1 | 20.2 |
| Mountain View | C− | 2.5 | 26.6 |
| Whittier | C− | 4.4 | 22.1 |
The five graded California towns closest to Santa Barbara’s population (86,422), 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 Santa Barbara. 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 Santa Barbara’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (86,926 in 2025); our figure for Santa Barbara is 86,422 (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 Santa Barbara
Is Santa Barbara, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Santa Barbara reports more crime per resident than 86% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #331 of 416 in California. Its police reported 6.3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.8 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Santa Barbara?
6.3 violent and 17.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of California reports 4.8 and 21.4; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Santa Barbara in 2025?
Santa Barbara’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 1.2 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Santa Barbara safer than Goleta?
Goleta reports less crime per resident than Santa Barbara: Goleta grades C+ for safety and Santa Barbara D. Goleta’s police reported 1.9 violent and 13.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Santa Barbara?
Santa Barbara’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Santa Barbara”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
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 Santa Barbara.
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.