Photo: Pgnielsen79 · CC BY 3.0Santa Paula has more violent crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns
All told, Santa Paula grades C+ for safety (#116 of 416 graded towns in California): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Annual rates stand at 3.5 violent crimes and 7.9 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 4.9 and 21.4 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 Paula
Among California towns, closer to the middle
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Santa Paula’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 72% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 42% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Santa Paula’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Santa Paula’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (3.5) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Crime in Santa Paula 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 3 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 Paula | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.3 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.8 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.3 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.4 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Santa Paula’s police reported 335 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Santa Paula property | Rest of California property | Santa Paula violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 11.1 | 24.8 | 3.3 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 8.5 | 25.0 | 3.8 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 8.7 | 20.8 | 3.3 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 6.4 | 18.5 | 3.4 | 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.
315 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.
110 violent and 205 property, as reported to the FBI by Santa Paula’s police.
Three people died in crashes on Santa Paula’s roads in 2019–2023
Santa Paula had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died; 2 were cyclists.
That is fewer than is typical for California towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (5.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Santa Paula’s size would see about 9 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Santa Paula’s own rate (1.9) is context, not a ranking.
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 Paula and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Paula | C+ | 3.5 | 7.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Paula | C+ | 3.5 | 7.9 |
| Seaside | C | 4.9 | 7.8 |
| Banning | C | 4.2 | 11.3 |
| El Paso de Robles (Paso Robles) | C | 3.7 | 16.5 |
| Bell | C− | 5.8 | 12.5 |
| San Pablo | D | 5.1 | 25.1 |
The five graded California towns closest to Santa Paula’s population (31,774), 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 Paula. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Santa Paula’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (32,043 in 2025); our figure for Santa Paula is 31,774 (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 Paula
Is Santa Paula, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Santa Paula reports more crime per resident than 58% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #116 of 416 in California. Its police reported 3.5 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 Santa Paula?
3.5 violent and 7.9 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 Santa Paula in 2025?
Santa Paula’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 Paula?
Santa Paula’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Santa Paula”. 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 Paula.
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.