The Riverside metro area, the 12th-largest in the US, is home to 4.68 million residents · Updated November 2026
How common is property crime in the Riverside area?
The Riverside area earns a B for property crime, with more property crime than the neighborhoods where 67% of Americans live. Theft makes up 49% of it. Burglary, the crime most likely to reach into a home, grades B+, and vehicle theft grades B. The city of Riverside itself grades C+ for property crime.
B
Property crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 688 of 1,000More property crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
33% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more property crime than the Riverside area as a whole, and 67% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a property crime safety score of 823, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Riverside area scores 688.
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 Riverside, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Riverside area, 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 the Riverside area
One part of Riverside stands out for arson. Arsons in Downtown Riverside & Wood Streets, in north Riverside, run at about triple the rate in the rest of the city.
Where property crime is lowest and highest in the Riverside area
In the Riverside area, 64% of residents live in areas graded A or B for property crime, 21% in areas graded C and 15% in areas graded D or F. Property crime grades across the Riverside area run from A+ to F.
64%21%15%
A or B 64%C 21%D or F 15%
Share of residents, by the property crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhood areas of the city of Riverside, 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.
Cities and towns in the Riverside metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by property crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Is property crime going up in the Riverside area?
Reported property crime in the Riverside area has fallen 21% since 2019. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 23 to 18 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 16%.
Property crime, change since 2019
Riverside areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the Riverside area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Riverside area
Property, US
2016
+18%
+15%
2017
+10%
+12%
2018
+7%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-12%
-8%
2021
-11%
-10%
2022
-6%
-6%
2023
-6%
-7%
2024
-22%
-15%
Property crime rates and types in the Riverside area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Riverside area has about 24 reported property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about the same as 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 the Riverside area, about 49% 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.
Property crime in the Riverside area and nearby metro areas
The Riverside area has less property crime than 7 of its 10 nearest metro areas.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Riverside area. Beside each property crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Riverside area has more property crime than 71% of them.
Empty homes, night lighting and density in the Riverside area
Among the traits that tend to go with property crime, one sets the Riverside area apart: it has 4.5% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places like that tend to report less burglary, yet burglary runs higher here than that would suggest.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary.4.5% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 86% of Americans in metro areas
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.94% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 69% of Americans in metro areas
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more car theft.31% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 65% of Americans in metro areas
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 the Riverside area
Property crime costs the Riverside area about $876 million a year, or $187 per resident and about $612 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
$118 million
$25
Theft
$284 million
$61
Vehicle theft
$271 million
$58
Arson
$20 million
$4
Vandalism
$182 million
$39
Total
$876 million
$187
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. These figures cover the whole Riverside metro area. 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.
