The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Fountain Valley, CA
Fountain Valley is a city of 58,700 in Orange County, about 30 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles · Updated November 2026
Is Fountain Valley, CA safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Fountain Valley is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Fountain Valley sits near the middle: 49% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 51% in neighborhoods with less. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A against B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Fountain Valley run from A to B, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 833 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
49% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Fountain Valley as a whole, and 51% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Fountain Valley scores 833.
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 Fountain Valley, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Fountain Valley, 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 Fountain Valley
Robbery stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.13 robberies a year per 1,000 residents; Fountain Valley has 0.65.
Burglaries happen at stores and businesses far more often than nationally. In Fountain Valley, 53% of reported burglaries happen at stores and businesses, against 28% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Fountain Valley
Every part of Fountain Valley where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Fountain Valley run from A to B; 43% 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 Fountain Valley, the south side has the least crime and the northeast side the most.
Is crime going up in Fountain Valley?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Fountain Valley is up 84% and property crime is down 16%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.0 to 1.8 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 21 to 18 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 28% and property crime fell 17%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Fountain ValleyUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Fountain Valley. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Fountain Valley
Violent, US
Property, Fountain Valley
Property, US
2016
+16%
+4%
+22%
+15%
2017
+26%
+4%
+34%
+12%
2018
-2%
+0%
+28%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+23%
+4%
+12%
-8%
2021
+46%
+6%
+1%
-10%
2022
+59%
+5%
+7%
-6%
2023
+43%
+2%
+1%
-7%
2024
+84%
-4%
-16%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Fountain Valley
CrimeGrade™ estimates Fountain Valley has about 28 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 25% less than the US as a whole and 30% 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.
The largest share of crime reported in Fountain Valley is theft, about 46% of the total. It also makes up 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 Fountain Valley
Fountain Valley 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: 47% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (53%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (42%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (47%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Stores and businesses (23%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (49%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (41%)
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 Fountain Valley compares with nearby cities
Fountain Valley has less crime than 9 of its 10 nearest cities; only Newport Beach has less.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Fountain Valley. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Fountain Valley is safer than 55% of them.
Empty homes, night lighting and walkability in Fountain Valley
Two things set Fountain Valley apart: it has 2.0% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 0.7 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 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.2.0% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 95% 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.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 92% 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. 83% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (20 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 61% 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.0.7 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 84% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.13.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 81% 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.36% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 74% 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 Fountain Valley
Crime costs Fountain Valley about $784 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 35% 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 $36 million a year, or $611 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.1 million
$19
Rape
$710,000
$12
Robbery
$1.2 million
$20
Aggravated assault
$2.0 million
$34
Simple assault
$2.2 million
$37
Burglary
$1.4 million
$24
Theft
$3.9 million
$66
Vehicle theft
$1.5 million
$25
Arson
$180,000
$3
Vandalism
$1.5 million
$25
Total
$16 million
$265
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 Fountain Valley 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 Fountain Valley, CA average a SchoolGrade of A: 52% of students test proficient, against 43% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Fountain Valley on SchoolGrade
