Carlsbad is a city of 97,000 in San Diego County, about 30 miles north of downtown San Diego · Updated November 2026
How common is property crime in Carlsbad?
Carlsbad earns an A- for property crime, safer than the neighborhoods where 51% of Americans live. Theft makes up 61% of it. Burglary, the crime most likely to reach into a home, grades A-, and vehicle theft grades A.
A-
Property crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 826 of 1,000About as much property crime as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
51% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more property crime than Carlsbad as a whole, and 49% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a property crime safety score of 823, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Carlsbad scores 826.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more property crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its property crime with the homes, parked cars and people there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Carlsbad, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Carlsbad, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out about property crime in Carlsbad
Burglary stands out among cities graded A for property crime. For the typical resident of a US city graded A for property crime, the figure is 1.2 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; Carlsbad has 2.4.
Vehicle theft runs low. Carlsbad has 1.1 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, less than half the US rate of 2.7.
Where property crime is lowest and highest in Carlsbad
Most of Carlsbad grades well for property crime: 96% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Property crime grades across Carlsbad run from A to C.
96%
A or B 96%C 4%
Share of residents, by the property crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Is property crime going up in Carlsbad?
Reported property crime in Carlsbad has fallen 19% since 2019. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 19 to 15 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). Property crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Property crime, change since 2019
CarlsbadUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Carlsbad. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Carlsbad
Property, US
2016
+3%
+15%
2017
+4%
+12%
2018
-2%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-14%
-8%
2021
-5%
-10%
2022
-4%
-6%
2023
-13%
-7%
2024
-20%
-15%
Property crime rates and types in Carlsbad
CrimeGrade™ estimates Carlsbad has about 20 reported property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 18% less than the US as a whole and 29% less than California.
All property crime
Burglary
Vehicle theft
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Property crime here includes vandalism, which the FBI's property crime rate leaves out.
Theft is the most common property crime in Carlsbad, about 61% of the total, followed by vandalism and burglary.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a property crime with what it affects: homes for burglary and arson, parked cars for vehicle theft, people and parking for theft, homes and businesses for vandalism. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when property crime happens in Carlsbad
Carlsbad has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Carlsbad, 42% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Car thefts happen most often in parking lots and garages: 29% of them, against 23% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (44%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (29%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (36%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Other places (23%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
Property crime in Carlsbad and nearby cities
Of the 10 cities closest to Carlsbad, 6 have less property crime. Rancho Santa Fe and Del Mar have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Carlsbad. Beside each property crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Carlsbad is safer than 66% of them.
Among the traits that tend to go with property crime, two set Carlsbad apart: it has 15.4 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 71 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. It also combines many jobs with busy transit: places with both tend to report more theft than places with only one of them; here theft sits near the national middle.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.15.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 89% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft.71 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 87% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft. 86% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (15 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 60% of US city residents
Show all 6
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.3.3% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 82% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Carlsbad: D+ (22 of 100).6 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 73% of US city residents
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.99% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 65% of US city residents
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What property crime costs Carlsbad
Property crime costs Carlsbad about $13 million a year, or $130 per resident and about $334 per household: the value of what is stolen or damaged, plus the police, courts and prisons that respond.
Cost of property crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering add little to the cost of property crime, so this is close to its full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Burglary
$2.1 million
$22
Theft
$5.9 million
$61
Vehicle theft
$1.6 million
$16
Arson
$220,000
$2
Vandalism
$2.8 million
$29
Total
$13 million
$130
How CrimeGrade™ works
The property crime CrimeGrade™ covers burglary, theft, car theft, arson and vandalism, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each property crime against what it affects: homes for burglary and arson, parked cars for car theft, and the people and parking around stores for theft.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
