Edgemoor Farm Dairy Barn · Photo: Somewikistuff · CC BY-SA 3.0Reported crime per resident in Santee fell 49% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Santee grades B for safety (#65 of 416 graded towns in California): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Santee
Santee reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 5 California towns on Santee’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: San Diego (C−), El Cajon (C−). Winter Gardens, Bostonia and Eucalyptus Hills are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, higher
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Santee’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 84% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 56% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Santee’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Santee’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (2.4) 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.
Reported crime is falling
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Santee property | Rest of California property | Santee violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 9.0 | 24.8 | 2.6 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 9.6 | 25.0 | 2.9 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 5.7 | 20.9 | 2.5 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 4.7 | 18.5 | 1.6 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Santee’s police reported 417 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Santee | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.6 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.9 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.5 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.6 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 5 property crimes reported
And about 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
373 crimes reported in 2025
95 violent and 278 property, as reported to the FBI by Santee’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Eight people died in crashes on Santee’s roads in 2019–2023
Santee had 8 fatal crashes in five years, in which eight people died; 2 were pedestrians.
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 Santee’s size would see about 17 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Santee’s own rate (2.7) 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.
Santee and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santee | B | 2.4 | 6.7 |
| San Diego | C− | 4.0 | 16.7 |
| El Cajon | C− | 4.5 | 14.1 |
| Winter Gardens | — | — | — |
| Bostonia | — | — | — |
| Eucalyptus Hills | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Winter Gardens, Bostonia and Eucalyptus Hills are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santee | B | 2.4 | 6.7 |
| Cupertino | B− | 1.0 | 14.1 |
| Monterey Park | C− | 2.9 | 20.7 |
| Pico Rivera | C− | 4.9 | 22.1 |
| National City | D | 6.6 | 19.1 |
| Gardena | D | 6.9 | 30.8 |
The five graded California towns closest to Santee’s population (58,205), by grade.
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 Santee. 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 Santee’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (58,918 in 2025); our figure for Santee is 58,205 (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 Santee
Is Santee, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Santee reports less crime per resident than 56% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #65 of 416 in California. Its police reported 2.4 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 Santee?
2.4 violent and 6.7 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.
Is crime going up or down in Santee?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Santee in 2025?
Santee’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.
Is Santee safer than San Diego?
San Diego reports more crime per resident than Santee: San Diego grades C− for safety and Santee B. San Diego’s police reported 4.0 violent and 16.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Santee?
Santee’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Santee”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Santee.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.