The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in El Cajon, CA
El Cajon is a city of 126,900 in San Diego County, about 14 miles northeast of downtown San Diego · Updated November 2026
Is El Cajon, CA safe?
Yes, by national standards: an overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in El Cajon is low. Most US neighborhoods have even less, though: 61% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades A- and property crime B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within El Cajon run from A+ to C, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 776 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
39% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than El Cajon as a whole, and 61% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. El Cajon scores 776.
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 El Cajon, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in El Cajon, 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 El Cajon
Burglaries happen at stores and businesses more often than nationally. In El Cajon, 48% of reported burglaries happen at stores and businesses, against 28% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of El Cajon
Most of El Cajon grades well: 97% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across El Cajon run from A+ to C; 20% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
97%
A or B 97%C 3%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within El Cajon, the east side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in El Cajon?
Reported crime in El Cajon has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 20% and property crime down 25%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 5.4 to 4.3 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 20 to 15 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
El CajonUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves El Cajon. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, El Cajon
Violent, US
Property, El Cajon
Property, US
2016
-29%
+4%
+18%
+15%
2017
-23%
+4%
+13%
+12%
2018
-7%
+0%
+10%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-10%
+4%
-12%
-8%
2021
-2%
+6%
-9%
-10%
2022
-11%
+5%
-18%
-6%
2023
-11%
+2%
-23%
-7%
2024
-20%
-4%
-26%
-15%
Crime rates and types in El Cajon
CrimeGrade™ estimates El Cajon has about 29 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 22% less than the US as a whole and 27% 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 El Cajon, about 33% 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 El Cajon
El Cajon has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 31% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (48%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (44%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (31%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (32%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (47%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (36%)
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 El Cajon compares with nearby cities
El Cajon has less crime than 7 of its 10 nearest cities.
Two things set El Cajon apart: it has 3.0% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 53% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places with few empty homes tend to report less burglary, vandalism and arson, yet burglary, vandalism and arson 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.3.0% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 87% 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.53% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 85% 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. 59% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (29 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 79% of US city residents
Show all 6
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 El Cajon: D+ (23 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% 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
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.93% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 56% 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 El Cajon
Crime costs El Cajon about $982 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 19% less than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $42 million a year.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost rises to about $121 million a year, or $950 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$3.4 million
$26
Rape
$1.8 million
$14
Robbery
$3.4 million
$27
Assault
$16 million
$129
Burglary
$1.6 million
$12
Theft
$5.8 million
$46
Vehicle theft
$5.0 million
$40
Arson
$480,000
$4
Vandalism
$4.6 million
$36
Total
$42 million
$334
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 El Cajon 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 El Cajon, CA average a SchoolGrade of C-: 31% of students test proficient, against 35% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in El Cajon on SchoolGrade
