Photo: Wehwalt · CC BY-SA 3.0For property crime, South Pasadena trails 84% of U.S. towns per resident
Taking everything together, South Pasadena scores C− (#245 of 416 graded towns in California): more crime per resident than 76% of U.S. towns, measured on crimes its police reported between 2023 and 2025. By contrast, recorded violent crimes ran at 2.2 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 24.1, against 4.9 and 21.4 in the rest of California. Among its 4 neighbors with figures, 2 record less crime per resident.
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 South Pasadena
2 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 4 California towns on South Pasadena’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: San Marino (B), Alhambra (C), Pasadena (D), Los Angeles (D). Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, closer to the middle
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so South Pasadena’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 41% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 24% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind South Pasadena’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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | South Pasadena | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.8 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.5 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.1 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.9 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
South Pasadena’s police reported 164 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 South Pasadena 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.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | South Pasadena property | Rest of California property | South Pasadena violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 18.4 | 24.8 | 1.8 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 28.0 | 25.0 | 1.5 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 25.1 | 20.8 | 2.1 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 19.2 | 18.5 | 2.9 | 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.
559 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.
73 violent and 486 property, as reported to the FBI by South Pasadena’s police.
Two people died in crashes on South Pasadena’s roads in 2019–2023
South Pasadena had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died.
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 South Pasadena’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so South Pasadena’s own rate (1.5) 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.
South Pasadena and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Pasadena | C− | 2.2 | 24.1 |
| Los Angeles | D | 7.4 | 21.9 |
| Pasadena | D | 4.8 | 25.3 |
| San Marino | B | 0.5 | 14.7 |
| Alhambra | C | 2.2 | 23.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Pasadena | C− | 2.2 | 24.1 |
| Windsor | B | 1.9 | 6.4 |
| Lafayette | B | 0.7 | 12.0 |
| Imperial Beach | C+ | 3.9 | 6.5 |
| Norco | C | 1.2 | 24.1 |
| Eureka | D− | 9.3 | 30.2 |
The five graded California towns closest to South Pasadena’s population (25,503), 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 South Pasadena. 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 South Pasadena’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (25,370 in 2025); our figure for South Pasadena is 25,503 (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 South Pasadena
Is South Pasadena, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, South Pasadena reports more crime per resident than 76% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #245 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 South Pasadena?
2.2 violent and 24.1 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 South Pasadena in 2025?
South Pasadena’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 South Pasadena safer than Los Angeles?
Los Angeles reports more crime per resident than South Pasadena: Los Angeles grades D for safety and South Pasadena C−. Los Angeles’s police reported 7.4 violent and 21.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices South Pasadena?
South Pasadena’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “South Pasadena”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in South Pasadena.
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.