The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Del Mar, CA
Del Mar is a city of 12,600 in San Diego County, about 17 miles north of downtown San Diego · Updated November 2026
Is Del Mar, CA safe?
Yes. Crime is low across most of the US, and lower still in Del Mar: an overall CrimeGrade™ of A, safer than the neighborhoods where 68% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A here. Its neighborhoods are much alike, from A+ to A-; see the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 903 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
68% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Del Mar as a whole, and 32% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Del Mar scores 903.
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 crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime 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 Del Mar, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Del Mar, 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 in Del Mar
Burglaries run high for an A-graded city. Del Mar has 2.4 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 1.2.
The safest and least safe parts of Del Mar
Every part of Del Mar where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Del Mar run from A+ to A-; 94% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Del Mar, the northeast side has the least crime and the west side the most.
Crime rates and types in Del Mar
CrimeGrade™ estimates Del Mar has about 23 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 39% less than the US as a whole and 43% less than California.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Theft is the most common crime in Del Mar, about 37% of everything reported, but assault costs more, because each one does more harm.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. 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 crime happens in Del Mar
Del Mar has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Del Mar, 51% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 57% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (51%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (57%)
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.
How Del Mar compares with nearby cities
Del Mar has less crime than 7 of its 10 nearest cities.
Two things set Del Mar apart: it has 25.1 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 65 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report more theft, yet theft runs lower here than that would suggest.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.25.1 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 98% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.65 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 83% 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 and assault. 92% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (14 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 62% of US city residents
Show all 6
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.6 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 77% 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.74% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 75% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.6% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 71% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Del Mar on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 crime costs Del Mar
Crime costs Del Mar about $527 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 56% less than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $7.2 million a year, or $571 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$190,000
$15
Rape
$140,000
$11
Robbery
$190,000
$15
Assault
$940,000
$75
Burglary
$280,000
$22
Theft
$550,000
$43
Vehicle theft
$370,000
$29
Arson
$23,000
$2
Vandalism
$260,000
$21
Total
$2.9 million
$233
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Del Mar means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
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.
Schools in Del Mar, CA average a SchoolGrade of A+: 74% of students test proficient, against 64% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Del Mar on SchoolGrade
