The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Desert Hot Springs, CA
Desert Hot Springs is a city of 35,600 in Riverside County, about 50 miles east of downtown Riverside · Updated November 2026
Is Desert Hot Springs, CA safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B-, Desert Hot Springs has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 78% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, B+ against C+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Desert Hot Springs run from A+ to D, so check the map below.
B-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 588 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
22% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Desert Hot Springs as a whole, and 78% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Desert Hot Springs scores 588.
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 Desert Hot Springs, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Desert Hot Springs, 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 Desert Hot Springs
Theft runs low. Desert Hot Springs has 5.8 thefts a year per 1,000 residents, less than half the US rate of 13.1.
Car thefts happen in the morning far more often than nationally. In Desert Hot Springs, 49% of reported car thefts happen in the morning (6 am to noon), against 23% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Desert Hot Springs
Safety changes a lot from one part of Desert Hot Springs to the next: 43% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 22% live in areas graded D or F. Grades across Desert Hot Springs run from A+ to D; 6% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
43%35%22%
A or B 43%C 35%D or F 22%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Desert Hot Springs, the southeast side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Desert Hot Springs?
Reported crime in Desert Hot Springs has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 43% and property crime down 48%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 8.7 to 4.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 23 to 12 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 17%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Desert Hot SpringsUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Desert Hot Springs. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Desert Hot Springs
Violent, US
Property, Desert Hot Springs
Property, US
2016
-9%
+4%
+40%
+15%
2017
+16%
+4%
+17%
+12%
2018
+21%
+0%
-6%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-22%
+4%
-36%
-8%
2021
-15%
+6%
-38%
-10%
2022
-23%
+5%
-34%
-6%
2023
-44%
+2%
-38%
-7%
2024
-43%
-4%
-48%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Desert Hot Springs
CrimeGrade™ estimates Desert Hot Springs has about 29 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 21% less than the US as a whole and 26% 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.
Assault is the most common crime in Desert Hot Springs, about 38% of everything reported.
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 Desert Hot Springs
Desert Hot Springs has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Desert Hot Springs, 56% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 56% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (56%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Homes (53%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (56%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (47%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (45%)
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.
How Desert Hot Springs compares with nearby cities
Of the 9 cities closest to Desert Hot Springs, 8 have less crime. Morongo Valley and Sky Valley have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Desert Hot Springs. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Desert Hot Springs has more crime than 92% of them.
Two things set Desert Hot Springs apart: it has 4.2 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 14 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report less theft; here theft sits near the national middle.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.4.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 94% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.14 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 94% 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. 80% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (15 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 59% 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.1.0 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 77% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.4.7% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 63% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Desert Hot Springs: D (14 of 100).3 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 59% 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 crime costs Desert Hot Springs
Crime costs Desert Hot Springs about $1,596 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 32% more 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 $74 million a year, or $2,092 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$6.1 million
$170
Rape
$750,000
$21
Robbery
$1.3 million
$36
Assault
$5.3 million
$148
Burglary
$890,000
$25
Theft
$1.1 million
$30
Vehicle theft
$2.1 million
$58
Arson
$120,000
$3
Vandalism
$1.0 million
$29
Total
$19 million
$521
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 Desert Hot Springs 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. Desert Hot Springs is the other kind of example: few people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks lower than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
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 Desert Hot Springs, CA average a SchoolGrade of D-: 22% of students test proficient, against 20% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Desert Hot Springs on SchoolGrade
