The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Irvine, CA
Irvine is a city of 306,600 in Orange County, about 35 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles · Updated November 2026
Is Irvine, CA safe?
Yes. Crime is low across most of the US, and lower still in Irvine: an overall CrimeGrade™ of A, safer than the neighborhoods where 64% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Irvine run from A+ to B, so check the map or the safest and least safe neighborhoods below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 891 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
64% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Irvine as a whole, and 36% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Irvine scores 891.
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 Irvine, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Irvine, 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 Irvine
One part of Irvine stands out for burglary. Burglaries in Irvine Health and Science Complex, in southeast Irvine, run at more than double the rate in the rest of the city.
Aggravated assaults and car thefts both run low. In Irvine, each runs at a small fraction of the US rate: 0.47 aggravated assaults and 0.71 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 and 2.7 nationally.
Thefts from cars happen in parking lots and garages far more often than nationally. In Irvine, 62% of reported thefts from cars happen in parking lots and garages, against 31% nationally.
The safest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Irvine
Every part of Irvine where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Irvine run from A+ to B; 87% 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.
Neighborhood areas of Irvine, ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Is crime going up in Irvine?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Irvine is up 24%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 0.7 to 0.8 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts stayed at about 14 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 11%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
IrvineUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Irvine. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Irvine
Violent, US
Property, Irvine
Property, US
2016
-13%
+4%
+6%
+15%
2017
-6%
+4%
-1%
+12%
2018
-13%
+0%
-3%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-27%
+4%
+5%
-8%
2021
+9%
+6%
+10%
-10%
2022
+35%
+5%
+17%
-6%
2023
+32%
+2%
+13%
-7%
2024
+24%
-4%
+1%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Irvine
CrimeGrade™ estimates Irvine 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.
The largest share of crime reported in Irvine is theft, about 55% 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 Irvine
Irvine has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Irvine, 36% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (38%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (55%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (62%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (33%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (40%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (45%)
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; they are over one in five for burglary, car theft, theft from cars, vandalism, robbery, aggravated assault.
How Irvine compares with nearby cities
Irvine has less crime than 7 of its 9 nearest cities; only Newport Coast and Foothill Ranch have less.
Two things set Irvine apart: it has 90 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 67% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft and robbery, yet robbery runs lower here than that would suggest.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.90 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 94% 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.67% of residentsUS: 24%Higher 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. 73% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (23 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 68% of US city residents
Show all 6
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 74% 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 Irvine: D (17 of 100).5 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 69% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.1.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 68% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Irvine on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 Irvine
Crime costs Irvine about $525 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 56% less than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $57 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 $146 million a year, or $475 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$9.2 million
$30
Rape
$2.5 million
$8
Robbery
$2.2 million
$7
Assault
$12 million
$40
Burglary
$5.4 million
$18
Theft
$18 million
$57
Vehicle theft
$3.3 million
$11
Arson
$420,000
$1
Vandalism
$4.1 million
$13
Total
$57 million
$186
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 Irvine 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 Irvine, CA average a SchoolGrade of A+: 61% of students test proficient, against 58% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Irvine on SchoolGrade
