The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Los Altos, CA
Los Altos is a city of 38,000 in Santa Clara County, about 12 miles west of downtown San Jose · Updated November 2026
Is Los Altos, CA safe?
Yes. Most US neighborhoods have little crime, and Los Altos has less than most of them: its overall CrimeGrade™ is A, safer than the neighborhoods where 68% of Americans live. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A+ against A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Los Altos run from A+ to B+, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 903 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
68% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Los Altos as a whole, and 32% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Los Altos scores 903.
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 Los Altos, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Los Altos, 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 Los Altos
Car thefts and aggravated assaults both run low. In Los Altos, each runs at a small fraction of the US rate: 0.75 car thefts and 0.69 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 and 2.6 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Los Altos
Every part of Los Altos where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Los Altos run from A+ to B+; 97% 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 Los Altos, the center has the least crime and the north side the most.
Is crime going up in Los Altos?
Since 2019, reported property crime in Los Altos is up 15%, while violent crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults stayed at about 0.7 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 10 to 12 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime rose 13%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Los AltosUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Los Altos. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Los Altos
Violent, US
Property, Los Altos
Property, US
2016
-39%
+4%
+8%
+15%
2017
-53%
+4%
+2%
+12%
2018
-38%
+0%
-9%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+7%
+4%
+2%
-8%
2021
+25%
+6%
+10%
-10%
2022
+20%
+5%
+18%
-6%
2023
+39%
+2%
+2%
-7%
2024
+9%
-4%
+15%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Los Altos
CrimeGrade™ estimates Los Altos has about 16 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 56% less than the US as a whole and 59% 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 Los Altos is theft, about 51% 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 Los Altos
Los Altos has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Los Altos, 69% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 40% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (69%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Car theft
Homes (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (28%)
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 Los Altos compares with nearby cities
Los Altos has less crime than 9 of its 10 nearest cities; only Portola Valley has less.
One thing sets Los Altos apart: it has 0.9 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report less theft; here theft sits near the national middle.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.9 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 80% 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. 77% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (23 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 70% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.8.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 67% 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.9% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 62% 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 Los Altos: D+ (20 of 100).3 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 61% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.37 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 58% 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 Los Altos
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Los Altos about $419 a year per household, 65% 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 $14 million a year, or $359 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$390,000
$10
Rape
$370,000
$10
Robbery
$310,000
$8
Assault
$1.3 million
$33
Burglary
$820,000
$21
Theft
$1.6 million
$43
Vehicle theft
$430,000
$11
Arson
$55,000
$1
Vandalism
$490,000
$13
Total
$5.8 million
$152
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 Los Altos 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 Los Altos, CA average a SchoolGrade of A+: 75% of students test proficient, against 68% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Los Altos on SchoolGrade
