Westside, Santa Cruz, CA Property Crime Rates and Maps
Westside is a neighborhood of 19,900 residents in Santa Cruz, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
How common is property crime in Westside?
Westside earns a B+ for property crime, with more property crime than the neighborhoods where 63% 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. Santa Cruz as a whole grades B- for property crime.
B+
Property crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 732 of 1,000More property crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
37% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more property crime than Westside as a whole, and 63% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a property crime safety score of 823, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Westside scores 732.
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 Westside, Santa Cruz, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Westside in Santa Cruz, 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 Westside
Car thefts are less common than in most neighborhoods graded B for property crime. Westside has 1.1 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a US neighborhood graded B for property crime, the figure is 2.9.
How Westside compares within Santa Cruz
Most of Westside grades well for property crime: 85% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Property crime grades across Westside run from A to C.
85%15%
A or B 85%C 15%
Share of residents, by the property crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Westside has less property crime than 2 of the 3 neighborhoods in Santa Cruz. It covers much of the Westside area.
Is property crime going up in Santa Cruz?
Reported property crime in Santa Cruz as a whole has fallen 45% since 2019. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 45 to 25 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). Property crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Property crime, change since 2019
Santa CruzUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Santa Cruz. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Santa Cruz
Property, US
2016
+24%
+15%
2017
+26%
+12%
2018
-1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-22%
-8%
2021
-16%
-10%
2022
-21%
-6%
2023
-46%
-7%
2024
-45%
-15%
Property crime rates and types in Westside
CrimeGrade™ estimates Westside has about 18 reported property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 24% less than the US as a whole and 41% less than Santa Cruz 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 Westside, 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 Westside and nearby neighborhoods
Westside has less property crime than 9 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods; only Rancho Rinconada has less.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Westside. 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, Westside is safer than 92% of them.
Night lighting, parking lots and walkability in Westside
Westside looks like a typical neighborhood on the traits that tend to go with property crime.
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.74% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 99% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.1.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 69% 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. 72% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (26 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 62% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Westside: C (34 of 100).4 trips an hourUS: noneLower than for 68% 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 Westside
Property crime costs Westside about $2.5 million a year, or $126 per resident and about $552 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
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.
