Photo: Photo by John Pilge. · Public domainRecorded crime per resident in Scotts Valley rose 31% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Scotts Valley grades C+ for safety (#137 of 416 graded towns in California): more crime per resident than 61% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported in 2023–2025. Behind the grade sit 2.2 violent crimes and 14.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 4.9 and 21.4 in the rest of California. Even so, violent crime here is higher than in 60% of U.S. towns; property crime, higher than in 63%.
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 Scotts Valley
Among California towns, closer to the middle
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Scotts Valley’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 67% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 39% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Reported crime is rising
Crime reported per resident rose 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 Scotts Valley’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. Its violent rate (2.2) 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. Its property rate (14.6) 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Scotts Valley property | Rest of California property | Scotts Valley violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 13.9 | 24.8 | 2.8 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 12.2 | 25.0 | 1.3 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 16.0 | 20.8 | 3.1 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 15.6 | 18.5 | 2.1 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident rose 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 | Scotts Valley | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.8 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.3 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.1 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.1 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Scotts Valley’s police reported 77 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.2 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Scotts Valley 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 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
208 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.
25 violent and 183 property, as reported to the FBI by Scotts Valley’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Scotts Valley’s roads in 2019–2023
Scotts Valley had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died.
That is about what is typical for California towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (5.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Scotts Valley’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Scotts Valley’s own rate (8.3) 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.
Scotts Valley and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotts Valley | C+ | 2.2 | 14.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotts Valley | C+ | 2.2 | 14.6 |
| San Marino | B | 0.5 | 14.7 |
| Fortuna | B− | 2.1 | 12.0 |
| Los Alamitos | C− | 3.3 | 19.4 |
| Tehachapi | C− | 4.6 | 21.5 |
| Commerce | D− | 13.7 | 123.4 |
The five graded California towns closest to Scotts Valley’s population (11,652), 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 Scotts Valley. 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 Scotts Valley’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (11,731 in 2025); our figure for Scotts Valley is 11,652 (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 Scotts Valley
Is Scotts Valley, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Scotts Valley reports more crime per resident than 61% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #137 of 416 in California. Its police reported 2.2 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 Scotts Valley?
2.2 violent and 14.6 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.
Who polices Scotts Valley?
Scotts Valley’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Scotts Valley”. 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 Scotts Valley.
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.