Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome · Photo: Richard Wang took this photo and has released it under the GDFL. · CC BY-SA 3.0Santa Monica records more crime per resident than 97% of U.S. towns
The rate the grade counts dropped 17% from 2023 to 2025. On the record of crimes Santa Monica’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it takes D− for safety: #403 of 416 graded towns in California. Typical years here bring 7.6 violent crimes plus 45.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 4.8 plus 21.3 in the rest of California.
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 Monica
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 1 California towns on Santa Monica’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Los Angeles (D). Neighbors ↓
A college town
Santa Monica is home to Santa Monica College, with 14,294 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 6% 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 ↓
A job center
Santa Monica has 82,407 jobs based in town for 90,082 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. 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 Monica’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 | Santa Monica property | Rest of California property | Santa Monica violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 45.3 | 24.7 | 8.5 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 47.6 | 24.9 | 8.7 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 47.9 | 20.8 | 7.8 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 40.4 | 18.4 | 6.2 | 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Santa Monica | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 8.5 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 8.7 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 7.8 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 6.2 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Santa Monica’s police reported 2,025 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 7.6 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 Monica 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.
4,206 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.
559 violent and 3,647 property, as reported to the FBI by Santa Monica’s police.
20 people died in crashes on Santa Monica’s roads in 2019–2023
Santa Monica had 20 fatal crashes in five years, in which 20 people died; 14 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists. 4 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 4.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, below 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 Monica and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Monica | D− | 7.6 | 45.3 |
| Los Angeles | D | 7.4 | 21.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Monica | D− | 7.6 | 45.3 |
| Mission Viejo | B | 1.2 | 11.0 |
| Westminster | C− | 4.0 | 24.2 |
| Carson | D | 4.3 | 27.4 |
| South Gate | D | 5.1 | 34.6 |
| Compton | D− | 12.4 | 30.3 |
The five graded California towns closest to Santa Monica’s population (90,082), 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 Monica. 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 Monica’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (90,193 in 2025); our figure for Santa Monica is 90,082 (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 Monica
Is Santa Monica, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Santa Monica reports more crime per resident than 97% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #403 of 416 in California. Its police reported 7.6 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 Monica?
7.6 violent and 45.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of California reports 4.8 and 21.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Santa Monica in 2025?
Santa Monica’s police reported 4 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 4.4 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Santa Monica safer than Los Angeles?
Los Angeles reports less crime per resident than Santa Monica: Los Angeles grades D for safety and Santa Monica D−. Los Angeles’s police reported 7.4 violent and 21.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Santa Monica?
Santa Monica’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Santa Monica”. 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 Monica.
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.