Pasadena is a city of 143,900 in Los Angeles County, about 9 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles · Updated November 2026
How common is property crime in Pasadena?
Property crime is high in Pasadena: a B-, with more property crime than the neighborhoods where 74% of Americans live. Theft makes up 57% of it. Burglary, the crime most likely to reach into a home, grades C+, and vehicle theft grades C+.
B-
Property crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 602 of 1,000More property crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
26% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more property crime than Pasadena as a whole, and 74% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a property crime safety score of 823, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Pasadena scores 602.
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 Pasadena, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Pasadena, 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 Pasadena
Car thefts run high in West Central. In this part of central Pasadena, they run at more than double the rate in the rest of Pasadena.
Burglaries run high for a city with a B for property crime. Pasadena has 5.2 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a US city graded B for property crime, the figure is 2.7.
Thefts from cars happen in parking lots and garages more often than nationally. In Pasadena, 52% of reported thefts from cars happen in parking lots and garages, against 31% nationally.
Where property crime is lowest and highest in Pasadena
Property crime changes a lot from one part of Pasadena to the next: 37% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 31% live in areas graded D or F. Property crime grades across Pasadena run from A to F.
37%32%31%
A or B 37%C 32%D or F 31%
Share of residents, by the property crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
1East Central & North East, northeastCar thefts run about 30% lower here than in the rest of Pasadena.B683
2Madison Heights, southThefts run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Pasadena.B670
3South Arroyo, southwestCar thefts run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Pasadena.B645
4Mid Central, eastCar thefts run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Pasadena.B631
5South East, southeastThefts run about 50% higher here than in the rest of Pasadena.B621
7West Central, centralThefts run about 40% higher here than in the rest of Pasadena.C-364
8Normandie Heights, northThefts run at about double the rate in the rest of Pasadena.C-340
Neighborhood areas of Pasadena, ranked by property crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Is property crime going up in Pasadena?
Reported property crime in Pasadena has risen 28% since 2019. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 20 to 26 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). Property crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Property crime, change since 2019
PasadenaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Pasadena. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Pasadena
Property, US
2016
+20%
+15%
2017
+2%
+12%
2018
+2%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+7%
-8%
2021
+14%
-10%
2022
+12%
-6%
2023
+26%
-7%
2024
+28%
-15%
Property crime rates and types in Pasadena
CrimeGrade™ estimates Pasadena has about 30 reported property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 27% more than the US as a whole and close to 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 Pasadena, about 57% of the total, followed by burglary and vandalism.
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 Pasadena
Pasadena has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Pasadena, 42% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Car thefts happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 46% of them, against 27% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (42%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (52%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Stores and businesses (23%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
Property crime in Pasadena and nearby cities
Pasadena has less property crime than 6 of its 9 nearest cities.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Pasadena. 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, Pasadena is safer than 54% of them.
Among the traits that tend to go with property crime, two set Pasadena apart: it has 0.5 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 75 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, and it runs high here.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.5 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 90% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft.75 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 89% 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.C+ (42 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 89% of US city residents
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more car theft.57% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 86% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.14.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 86% 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 Pasadena: C- (30 of 100).9 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 84% 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 Pasadena
Property crime costs Pasadena about $31 million a year, or $216 per resident and about $514 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
$6.7 million
$47
Theft
$13 million
$89
Vehicle theft
$6.0 million
$42
Arson
$820,000
$6
Vandalism
$4.8 million
$34
Total
$31 million
$216
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.
