Santa Cruz, CA crime rate
In 2025 the Santa Cruz Police Department reported 533.0 violent crimes and 2,529.1 property crimes per 100,000 residents it covers. The FBI's estimates for California and the US for the same year are beside each number.
Data as of 2025 (FBI), checked October 30, 2026. How we got these numbers
Data notes.
- Arson, 2025: possibly incomplete. 17 reported; 4 of 12 months zero (Feb, Apr, May, Jul) while other offenses were reported in those months; 2024: 45 reported. The count is shown; its rate is not compared.
- Murder, 2024: unusual change, check the source. 2023: 0, 2024: 3, 2025: 0 (over 160% of both neighbouring years). Changes to and from 2024 are not shown.
- Murder, 2023: unusual change, check the source. 2022: 1, 2023: 0, 2024: 3 (under 60% of both neighbouring years). Changes to and from 2023 are not shown.
How does Santa Cruz compare with California and the US?
Arson has no FBI state or US estimate, so its row shows Santa Cruz only.
What offenses were reported in Santa Cruz, 2025?
| Offense | Reported | Per 100k | California | US | vs 2024 | vs 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | ||||||
| Violent crime | 333 | 533.0 | 432.7 | 327.6 | down 14.4% | 2021: not reported |
| Murder | 0 | 0.0 | 3.5 | 4.1 | See data note | 2021: not reported |
| Rape | 34 | 54.4 | 33.4 | 36.1 | up 7.7% | 2021: not reported |
| Robbery | 65 | 104.0 | 94.9 | 49.4 | down 0.3% | 2021: not reported |
| Aggravated assault | 234 | 374.6 | 301.0 | 238.0 | down 19.1% | 2021: not reported |
| Property crime | ||||||
| Property crime | 1,580 | 2,529.1 | 1,792.2 | 1,534.8 | down 3.1% | 2021: not reported |
| Burglary | 77 | 123.3 | 275.1 | 193.6 | down 8.9% | 2021: not reported |
| Larceny-theft | 1,386 | 2,218.6 | 1,200.5 | 1,144.1 | down 1.0% | 2021: not reported |
| Motor vehicle theft | 100 | 160.1 | 316.7 | 197.0 | up 0.3% | 2021: not reported |
| Arson | 17 | Not estimated | Not estimated | See data note | See data note | |
Reported = offenses known to the Santa Cruz Police Department and sent to the FBI. California and US are FBI estimates for the same year. Changes compare rates of full years only.
Violent crime rate, 2021 to 2025
2021: not reported. No rate is drawn for that year, and the line breaks there.
Show as a table
| Year | Santa Cruz | United States | California |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Not reported | 387.0 | 481.2 |
| 2022 | 725.1 | 388.7 | 503.6 |
| 2023 | 654.2 | 379.5 | 506.9 |
| 2024 | 622.7 | 362.9 | 475.3 |
| 2025 | 533.0 | 327.6 | 432.7 |
Property crime rate, 2021 to 2025
2021: not reported. No rate is drawn for that year, and the line breaks there.
Show as a table
| Year | Santa Cruz | United States | California |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Not reported | 1,832.3 | 2,165.3 |
| 2022 | 3,675.6 | 1,973.8 | 2,361.5 |
| 2023 | 2,526.2 | 1,934.1 | 2,326.1 |
| 2024 | 2,609.8 | 1,761.1 | 1,964.9 |
| 2025 | 2,529.1 | 1,534.8 | 1,792.2 |
Is Santa Cruz safe?
We don't rate cities as safe or unsafe. What the FBI's numbers show: in 2025 the violent crime rate the Santa Cruz Police Department reported, 533.0 per 100,000 residents, was higher than California's 432.7, and higher than the US rate of 327.6 (FBI estimates). It fell 14.4% from 2024.
What these numbers can't tell you:
- How crime differs between neighborhoods (the FBI publishes agency totals only).
- Crimes nobody reported to the police.
- How many offenses involved visitors and commuters, who are not in the population count.
Santa Cruz police had 333 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a rate of 533.0 per 100,000 residents covered by the Santa Cruz Police Department. It sat above California's estimate of 432.7, and at 1.6 times the US rate of 327.6. Property crime was 2,529.1 per 100,000, compared with 1,792.2 for the state and 1,534.8 nationally.
Larceny-theft made up 88% of it, 1,386 of 1,580 property offenses. The FBI has no 2021 report from the department, so the trend covers 2022 to 2025. In those years violent crime fell 26.5% and property crime 31.2%.
Burglary fell 70.0% from 2022 to 123.3 per 100,000, which is 0.6 times the US rate. Robbery fell 47.4% over the same years but stayed at 2.1 times the national rate. The city reported 0 homicides to the FBI in 2025, a murder rate of 0.0 per 100,000.
Small counts move a lot from year to year here: the 2023 and 2024 murder counts are flagged as an unusual change, and the 2025 arson count as possibly incomplete. The department has reported to NIBRS since 2023 and sent all 12 months in each full year shown. UC Santa Cruz police and the county sheriff report separately.
Written from the numbers on this page. Every figure and every comparison is checked against the stored FBI data before publishing.
Police employees, 2025: 1.68 per 1,000 residents (80 officers, 25 civilians), FBI Crime Data Explorer. Shown as context, not as a measure of crime.
Other California cities
The nearest California cities with a page, in alphabetical order. VC = violent crime per 100,000, 2025.
Sources
- FBI Crime Data Explorer, Santa Cruz Police Department (ORI CA0440200), offenses known to law enforcement and police employees, 2021 to 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026. Crime Data Explorer
- FBI Crime Data Explorer, California and United States estimated crime (Summary Reporting System estimates), 2021 to 2025.
- FBI, "UCR Statistics: Their Proper Use" (why we don't rank cities).
Every stored file behind this page (11)
- Santa Cruz Police Department (CA0440200): violent crime, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0440200_violent_crime__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Santa Cruz Police Department (CA0440200): murder, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0440200_homicide__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Santa Cruz Police Department (CA0440200): rape, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0440200_rape__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Santa Cruz Police Department (CA0440200): robbery, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0440200_robbery__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Santa Cruz Police Department (CA0440200): aggravated assault, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0440200_aggravated_assault__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Santa Cruz Police Department (CA0440200): property crime, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0440200_property_crime__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Santa Cruz Police Department (CA0440200): burglary, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0440200_burglary__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Santa Cruz Police Department (CA0440200): larceny-theft, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0440200_larceny__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Santa Cruz Police Department (CA0440200): motor vehicle theft, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0440200_motor_vehicle_theft__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Santa Cruz Police Department (CA0440200): arson, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0440200_arson__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Santa Cruz Police Department (CA0440200): police employees, 2021 to 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/pe_agency_CA0440200__from-2021-to-2025.json)