The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Elk Grove, CA
Elk Grove is a city of 200,800 in Sacramento County, about 12 miles southeast of downtown Sacramento · Updated November 2026
Is Elk Grove, CA safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Elk Grove is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Elk Grove sits near the middle: 48% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 52% in neighborhoods with less. Violent crime grades A and property crime A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Elk Grove run from A+ to C+, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 827 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
48% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Elk Grove as a whole, and 52% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Elk Grove scores 827.
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 Elk Grove, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Elk Grove, 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 Elk Grove
Thefts from cars happen at homes more often than nationally. In Elk Grove, 59% of reported thefts from cars happen at homes, against 34% nationally.
Simple assault runs low. Elk Grove has 3.0 simple assaults a year per 1,000 residents, less than half the US rate of 9.7.
The safest and least safe parts of Elk Grove
Low crime is the norm across Elk Grove: 98% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Elk Grove run from A+ to C+; 46% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
98%
A or B 98%C 2%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Elk Grove, the southeast side has the least crime and the north side the most.
Is crime going up in Elk Grove?
Reported crime in Elk Grove has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 12% and property crime down 19%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.1 to 1.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 15 to 12 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Elk GroveUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Elk Grove. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Elk Grove
Violent, US
Property, Elk Grove
Property, US
2016
+52%
+4%
-7%
+15%
2017
+53%
+4%
-12%
+12%
2018
+12%
+0%
-8%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+6%
+4%
-9%
-8%
2021
+6%
+6%
-8%
-10%
2022
-5%
+5%
-9%
-6%
2023
-11%
+2%
-19%
-7%
2024
-12%
-4%
-19%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Elk Grove
CrimeGrade™ estimates Elk Grove has about 20 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 45% less than the US as a whole and 49% 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 makes up about 48% of crime reported in Elk Grove. Assault is less common but 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 Elk Grove
Elk Grove has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Elk Grove, 44% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (44%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Homes (56%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (59%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Vandalism
Homes (57%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (58%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (65%)
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 Elk Grove compares with nearby cities
Elk Grove has less crime than 5 of its 8 nearest cities.
Two things set Elk Grove apart: it has 2.1% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 6.2 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 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.2.1% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 95% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.6.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 86% 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. 88% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (16 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 57% of US city residents
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.48% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 82% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.24 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 81% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.1.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 71% 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 Elk Grove
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Elk Grove about $760 a year per household, 37% less than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $47 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 $141 million a year, or $701 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$7.3 million
$37
Rape
$2.6 million
$13
Robbery
$3.5 million
$18
Assault
$12 million
$59
Burglary
$2.3 million
$11
Theft
$10 million
$51
Vehicle theft
$4.8 million
$24
Arson
$350,000
$2
Vandalism
$3.6 million
$18
Total
$47 million
$232
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 Elk Grove 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. Elk Grove 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 Elk Grove, CA average a SchoolGrade of B+: 44% of students test proficient, against 42% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Elk Grove on SchoolGrade
