Photo: Don DeBold from San Jose, CA, USA · CC BY 2.0Santa Cruz sees more crime per resident than nine in ten U.S. towns
Violent crime here is higher than in 92% of U.S. towns; property crime, higher than in 85%. On top of that, in a usual year, 6.0 violent crimes and 24.8 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of California, 4.8 and 21.4. That puts it at D for safety, judged on crimes Santa Cruz’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #361 of 416 graded towns in California. Per resident, the graded rate barely moved from 2023 to 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 Santa Cruz
A college town
Santa Cruz is home to the University of California-Santa Cruz, with 19,574 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 30% 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 Santa Cruz’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.
Crime in Santa Cruz 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 5 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 | Santa Cruz | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.3 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 6.7 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 6.1 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 5.3 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Santa Cruz’s police reported 1,120 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 6.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.8 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Santa Cruz property | Rest of California property | Santa Cruz violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 36.1 | 24.8 | 7.3 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 24.4 | 25.0 | 6.7 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 25.2 | 20.8 | 6.1 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 24.8 | 18.5 | 5.3 | 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.
1,881 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.
332 violent and 1,549 property, as reported to the FBI by Santa Cruz’s police.
20 people died in crashes on Santa Cruz’s roads in 2019–2023
Santa Cruz had 20 fatal crashes in five years, in which 20 people died; 6 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 6.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above 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 Cruz and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Cruz | D | 6.0 | 24.8 |
| Live Oak | — | — | — |
| Twin Lakes | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Live Oak and Twin Lakes are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Cruz | D | 6.0 | 24.8 |
| San Clemente | B− | 1.7 | 11.8 |
| Beaumont | B− | 2.5 | 9.8 |
| Woodland | C | 2.8 | 15.1 |
| Hanford | C | 4.1 | 11.1 |
| La Habra | C | 3.1 | 18.7 |
The five graded California towns closest to Santa Cruz’s population (61,797), 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 Cruz. 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 Cruz’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (62,473 in 2025); our figure for Santa Cruz is 61,797 (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 Cruz
Is Santa Cruz, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Santa Cruz reports more crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #361 of 416 in California. Its police reported 6.0 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 Cruz?
6.0 violent and 24.8 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 Cruz in 2025?
Santa Cruz’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 Santa Cruz?
Santa Cruz’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Santa Cruz”. 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 Cruz.
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.