Dos Palos is a city of 8,620 in Merced County, about 25 miles south of downtown Merced · Updated November 2026
Is Dos Palos, CA safe?
Crime in Dos Palos is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 64% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Dos Palos. Violent and property crime both grade B+ here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Dos Palos run from A+ to C-, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 747 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
36% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Dos Palos as a whole, and 64% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Dos Palos scores 747.
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 Dos Palos, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Dos Palos, 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
Crime rates and types in Dos Palos
CrimeGrade™ estimates Dos Palos has about 55 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 47% more than the US as a whole and 38% more 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 Dos Palos, about 39% of everything reported, and it also accounts for the largest share of what crime costs here.
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 Dos Palos
Dos Palos has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
Car thefts happen most often at homes: 38% of them, against 33% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Car theft
Homes (38%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (33%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Aggravated assault
Homes (48%)
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 Dos Palos compares with nearby cities
Dos Palos has more crime than 5 of its 6 nearest cities. El Nido and South Dos Palos have the least crime nearby.
Two things set Dos Palos apart: it has 2.1% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 5.7 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places like that tend to report less burglary, vandalism and arson, yet burglary and vandalism run higher here than that would suggest.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.2.1% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 94% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.5.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 89% 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. 72% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (22 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 67% of US city residents
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.19 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 89% 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.60% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 83% of US city residents
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
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 Dos Palos
Crime costs Dos Palos about $2,374 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, about double 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 $22 million a year, or $2,516 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.1 million
$130
Rape
$430,000
$50
Robbery
$300,000
$35
Assault
$2.3 million
$270
Burglary
$300,000
$34
Theft
$470,000
$54
Vehicle theft
$660,000
$77
Arson
$110,000
$13
Vandalism
$720,000
$83
Total
$6.4 million
$746
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 Dos Palos 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 Dos Palos, CA average a SchoolGrade of D: 26% of students test proficient, against 25% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Dos Palos on SchoolGrade
