Pacific Beach, San Diego, CA Property Crime Rates and Maps
Pacific Beach is a neighborhood of 31,500 residents in San Diego, about 7 miles northwest of downtown · Updated November 2026
How common is property crime in Pacific Beach?
Property crime is high in Pacific Beach: a C-, with more property crime than the neighborhoods where 85% of Americans live. Theft makes up 57% of it. Burglary, the crime most likely to reach into a home, grades A-, and vehicle theft grades F. San Diego as a whole grades B for property crime.
C-
Property crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 340 of 1,000More property crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
15% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more property crime than Pacific Beach as a whole, and 85% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a property crime safety score of 823, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Pacific Beach scores 340.
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 Pacific Beach, San Diego, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Pacific Beach in San Diego, 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 Pacific Beach
Car thefts happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In San Diego as a whole, 54% of reported car thefts happen on streets and sidewalks, against 27% nationally.
How Pacific Beach compares within San Diego
Property crime changes a lot from one part of Pacific Beach to the next: 21% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 60% live in areas graded D or F. Property crime grades across Pacific Beach run from A to F.
21%19%60%
A or B 21%C 19%D or F 60%
Share of residents, by the property crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Pacific Beach has less property crime than 17 of the 81 neighborhoods in San Diego. It covers much of the Carmel Valley, University City, and Clairemont Mesa areas.
Is property crime going up in San Diego?
Reported property crime in San Diego as a whole has fallen 14% since 2019. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 19 to 17 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). Property crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Property crime, change since 2019
San DiegoUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve San Diego. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, San Diego
Property, US
2016
+7%
+15%
2017
-3%
+12%
2018
+1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-8%
-8%
2021
+6%
-10%
2022
-5%
-6%
2023
-6%
-7%
2024
-14%
-15%
Property crime rates and types in Pacific Beach
CrimeGrade™ estimates Pacific Beach has about 34 reported property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 42% more than the US as a whole and 52% more than San Diego as a whole.
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 Pacific Beach, about 57% of the total, followed by vandalism and vehicle theft.
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 San Diego
The San Diego Police Department polices Pacific Beach; these figures cover San Diego as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In San Diego as a whole, 44% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (44%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (54%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (39%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (37%)
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 Pacific Beach and nearby neighborhoods
Pacific Beach has the most property crime of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Pacific Beach. Beside each property crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, Pacific Beach is safer than 59% of them.
Among the traits that tend to go with property crime, two set Pacific Beach apart: it has 21.4 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 0.3 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places with many stores and restaurants tend to report more theft and car theft, and they run high here.
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Pacific Beach: C- (31 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 95% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft and car theft.21.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 90% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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.B- (54 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 67% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 71% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Pacific Beach
Property crime costs Pacific Beach about $7.8 million a year, or $248 per resident and about $520 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 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
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.
