San Luis Obispo is a city of 64,500 in San Luis Obispo County and the main city of the San Luis Obispo metro area, home to 281,600 · Updated November 2026
How common is property crime in San Luis Obispo?
San Luis Obispo earns a B+ for property crime, with more property crime than the neighborhoods where 64% of Americans live. Theft makes up 58% of it. Burglary, the crime most likely to reach into a home, grades B+, and vehicle theft grades A.
B+
Property crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 718 of 1,000More property crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
36% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more property crime than San Luis Obispo as a whole, and 64% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a property crime safety score of 823, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. San Luis Obispo scores 718.
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 San Luis Obispo, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in San Luis Obispo, 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 San Luis Obispo
Car thefts are less common than the crime level suggests. Property crime in San Luis Obispo runs 30% above the US rate, but car thefts run 36% below it: 1.7 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
Where property crime is lowest and highest in San Luis Obispo
Most of San Luis Obispo grades well for property crime: 81% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Property crime grades across San Luis Obispo run from A+ to C.
81%19%
A or B 81%C 19%
Share of residents, by the property crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Is property crime going up in San Luis Obispo?
Reported property crime in San Luis Obispo has fallen 27% since 2019. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 37 to 27 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). Property crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Property crime, change since 2019
San Luis ObispoUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves San Luis Obispo. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, San Luis Obispo
Property, US
2016
+20%
+15%
2017
+2%
+12%
2018
+4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-6%
-8%
2021
-6%
-10%
2022
-2%
-6%
2023
-30%
-7%
2024
-27%
-15%
Property crime rates and types in San Luis Obispo
CrimeGrade™ estimates San Luis Obispo has about 31 reported property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 30% 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 San Luis Obispo, about 58% 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.
Property crime in San Luis Obispo and nearby cities
San Luis Obispo has more property crime than 6 of its 7 nearest cities. Garden Farms and Santa Margarita have the least property crime nearby.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from San Luis Obispo. 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, San Luis Obispo has more property crime than 73% of them.
Among the traits that tend to go with property crime, two set San Luis Obispo apart: it has 16.9 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 70 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.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.16.9 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 92% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft.70 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 86% 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. 70% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (26 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 75% 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.48% of residentsUS: 24%Higher 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 San Luis Obispo: D (14 of 100).6 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 74% 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.82% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 70% 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 San Luis Obispo
Property crime costs San Luis Obispo about $14 million a year, or $211 per resident and about $624 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
$1.6 million
$25
Theft
$5.9 million
$91
Vehicle theft
$1.7 million
$26
Arson
$630,000
$10
Vandalism
$3.8 million
$58
Total
$14 million
$211
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.
