The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Los Angeles, CA
The Los Angeles metro area, the second-largest in the US, is home to 12.97 million residents; Los Angeles itself is the largest city in California · Updated November 2026
Is Los Angeles, CA safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B-, the Los Angeles area has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 77% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades B and property crime C. The city of Los Angeles itself grades D+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within the Los Angeles area run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
B-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 592 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
23% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than the Los Angeles area as a whole, and 77% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Los Angeles area scores 592.
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 Angeles, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Los Angeles area, 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 the Los Angeles area
One part of Los Angeles stands out for robbery. Robberies in South Los Angeles, in south Los Angeles, run at more than triple the rate in the rest of the city.
Car thefts run high. The Los Angeles area has car thefts at about double the US rate: 5.2 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
The safest and most dangerous places in the Los Angeles area
Safety changes a lot from one part of the Los Angeles area to the next: 52% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 31% live in areas graded D or F. Grades across the Los Angeles area run from A+ to F; 15% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
52%17%31%
A or B 52%C 17%D or F 31%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
6Boyle Heights, eastRobberies run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Los Angeles.D+257
7South Los Angeles, southCar thefts run at about triple the rate in the rest of Los Angeles.F0
8Westlake & Mid City, centralCar thefts run at about double the rate in the rest of Los Angeles.F0
9Southeast Los Angeles & Watts, southeastRobberies run at more than double the rate in the rest of Los Angeles.F0
Neighborhood areas of the city of Los Angeles, 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.
Cities and towns in the Los Angeles metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Across the area, the Anaheim, Irvine, and Santa Ana areas have the least crime and the East Los Angeles, Downey, and South Gate areas the most.
Crime rates and types in the Los Angeles area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Los Angeles area has about 42 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 14% more 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 makes up about 38% of crime reported in the Los Angeles area. Assault is less common but 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.
How the Los Angeles area compares with nearby metro areas
The Los Angeles area has more crime than 8 of its 10 nearest metro areas. The Oxnard area and the San Diego area have the least crime nearby.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Los Angeles area. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Density, night lighting and transit in the Los Angeles area
Two things set the Los Angeles area apart: it has 65% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally, and 9 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. Places like that tend to report more robbery and car theft, and they run high here.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.65% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 99% of Americans in metro areas
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.99% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 97% of Americans in metro areas
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for the Los Angeles area: C- (27 of 100).9 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 77% of Americans in metro areas
Show all 4
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary.5.2% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 72% of Americans in metro areas
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 the Los Angeles area
Crime costs the Los Angeles area about $1,562 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 30% more than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $7.02 billion 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 $21.91 billion a year, or $1,689 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.24 billion
$96
Rape
$251 million
$19
Robbery
$598 million
$46
Assault
$1.87 billion
$144
Burglary
$411 million
$32
Theft
$1.08 billion
$83
Vehicle theft
$1.03 billion
$79
Arson
$50 million
$4
Vandalism
$496 million
$38
Total
$7.02 billion
$541
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 the Los Angeles area 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. These figures cover the whole Los Angeles metro area. 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 the Los Angeles area average a SchoolGrade of B-: 41% of students test proficient, against 36% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in the Los Angeles area on SchoolGrade
