Photo: Cullen328 · CC BY-SA 3.0Sonoma sits close to the middle of U.S. towns for reported crime
Overall, Sonoma grades B for safety (#68 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 Sonoma
Among California towns, higher
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Sonoma’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 55% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Sonoma has 6,429 jobs based in town for 10,537 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Sonoma’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Sonoma’s police reported 48 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.5 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 | Sonoma | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.5 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.8 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.2 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 9 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, 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.
Reported crime is steady
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2023–2025, against the rest of California.
Show as a table
| Year | Sonoma property | Rest of California property | Sonoma violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 10.3 | 25.0 | 1.5 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 11.5 | 20.8 | 1.8 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 8.9 | 18.5 | 1.2 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
107 crimes reported in 2025
13 violent and 94 property, as reported to the FBI by Sonoma’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
One person died in crashes on Sonoma’s roads in 2019–2023
Sonoma had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person 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 Sonoma’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Sonoma’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.
Sonoma and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. El Verano is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sonoma | B | 1.5 | 10.3 |
| Rio Vista | B | 2.5 | 5.5 |
| Sierra Madre | B | 2.2 | 6.8 |
| Morro Bay | B− | 2.6 | 9.1 |
| Placerville | C− | 5.9 | 13.7 |
| Piedmont | C− | 1.4 | 31.9 |
The five graded California towns closest to Sonoma’s population (10,537), 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 Sonoma. 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 Sonoma’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (10,576 in 2025); our figure for Sonoma is 10,537 (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 Sonoma
Is Sonoma, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Sonoma reports less crime per resident than 55% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #68 of 416 in California. Its police reported 1.5 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 Sonoma?
1.5 violent and 10.3 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 Sonoma?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices Sonoma?
Sonoma’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Sonoma”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Sonoma.
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.