The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Lake Elsinore, CA
Lake Elsinore is a city of 70,400 in Riverside County, about 20 miles south of downtown Riverside · Updated November 2026
Is Lake Elsinore, CA safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, Lake Elsinore has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 65% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades A- and property crime B. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Lake Elsinore run from A to C, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 739 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
35% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Lake Elsinore as a whole, and 65% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Lake Elsinore scores 739.
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 Lake Elsinore, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Lake Elsinore, 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 Lake Elsinore
Aggravated assaults are less common than in most B-graded cities. Lake Elsinore has 1.1 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 3.1.
The safest and least safe parts of Lake Elsinore
Low crime is the norm across Lake Elsinore: 90% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Lake Elsinore run from A to C; 21% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
90%10%
A or B 90%C 10%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Lake Elsinore, the southwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Lake Elsinore?
Reported crime in Lake Elsinore has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 35% and property crime down 40%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.7 to 1.8 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 31 to 19 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 24% and property crime fell 13%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Lake ElsinoreUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Lake Elsinore. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Lake Elsinore
Violent, US
Property, Lake Elsinore
Property, US
2016
-7%
+4%
-3%
+15%
2017
+4%
+4%
+9%
+12%
2018
-6%
+0%
-4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+6%
+4%
-24%
-8%
2021
-11%
+6%
-33%
-10%
2022
-28%
+5%
-20%
-6%
2023
-14%
+2%
-31%
-7%
2024
-35%
-4%
-40%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Lake Elsinore
CrimeGrade™ estimates Lake Elsinore has about 34 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 8% less than the US as a whole and close to 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 is the most common crime in Lake Elsinore, about 44% 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.
The Lake Elsinore Police Department reports to the FBI in a format that leaves out vandalism, so CrimeGrade™ makes its own vandalism estimate.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
How Lake Elsinore compares with nearby cities
Of the 9 cities closest to Lake Elsinore, 6 have less crime. Lake Mathews and Temescal Valley have the least.
Empty homes, jobs and walkability in Lake Elsinore
Two things set Lake Elsinore apart: it has 3.3% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 24 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 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.3.3% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 83% 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
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- (12 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 70% 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.1.0 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 77% 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.33% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 71% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.8.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 70% 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 Lake Elsinore
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Lake Elsinore about $1,220 a year per household, about the same as 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 $64 million a year, or $915 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$4.2 million
$60
Rape
$680,000
$10
Robbery
$1.6 million
$23
Assault
$5.3 million
$75
Burglary
$1.3 million
$19
Theft
$5.4 million
$77
Vehicle theft
$2.5 million
$35
Arson
$140,000
$2
Vandalism
$3.2 million
$46
Total
$24 million
$347
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 Lake Elsinore 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 Lake Elsinore, CA average a SchoolGrade of C: 34% of students test proficient, against 35% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Lake Elsinore on SchoolGrade
