La Sierra South is a neighborhood of 16,100 residents in Riverside, about 8 miles southwest of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is La Sierra South in Riverside safe?
Crime in La Sierra South is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 69% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than La Sierra South. Violent crime grades A- and property crime B-. Riverside as a whole grades B-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within La Sierra South run from A to B-, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 701 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
31% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than La Sierra South as a whole, and 69% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. La Sierra South scores 701.
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 La Sierra South, Riverside, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in La Sierra South in Riverside, 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 La Sierra South
Burglaries happen at stores and businesses far more often than nationally. In Riverside as a whole, 52% of reported burglaries happen at stores and businesses, against 28% nationally.
How La Sierra South compares within Riverside
Every part of La Sierra South where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across La Sierra South run from A to B-; 6% 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.
La Sierra South has less crime than 18 of the 26 neighborhoods in Riverside. It covers much of the La Sierra, La Sierra South, and Arlington areas.
Is crime going up in Riverside?
Reported crime in Riverside as a whole has held about steady since 2019: violent crime is up 10% and property crime down 6%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 5.3 to 5.8 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 30 to 28 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 18%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
RiversideUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Riverside. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Riverside
Violent, US
Property, Riverside
Property, US
2016
+0%
+4%
+18%
+15%
2017
-4%
+4%
+4%
+12%
2018
-4%
+0%
+5%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-11%
+4%
+6%
-8%
2021
+4%
+6%
+14%
-10%
2022
-3%
+5%
+9%
-6%
2023
+4%
+2%
+15%
-7%
2024
+10%
-4%
-6%
-15%
Crime rates and types in La Sierra South
CrimeGrade™ estimates La Sierra South has about 35 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 7% less than the US as a whole and 33% less than Riverside as a whole.
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 is the most common crime in La Sierra South, about 35% of everything reported, but assault 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 Riverside
The Riverside Police Department polices La Sierra South; these figures cover Riverside as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 44% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (52%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (32%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (44%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Stores and businesses (25%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (50%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (38%)
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.
How La Sierra South compares with nearby neighborhoods
La Sierra South has less crime than 8 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods; only Arlington Heights and La Sierra Hills have less.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from La Sierra South. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, La Sierra South is safer than 58% of them.
Empty homes, walkability and density in La Sierra South
Two things set La Sierra South apart: it has 1.4% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and a Walk Grade of D (12 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. 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.1.4% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 97% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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. 99% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (12 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 89% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.33% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 68% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
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 La Sierra South: D (13 of 100).5 trips an hourUS: noneLower than for 68% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 La Sierra South
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs La Sierra South about $1,319 a year per household, 9% more 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 $17 million a year, or $1,047 per resident.
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 La Sierra South 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
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 La Sierra South, Riverside, CA average a SchoolGrade of C: 33% of students test proficient, against 33% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in La Sierra South on SchoolGrade
