Lower Peters Canyon is a neighborhood of 22,500 residents in Irvine, about 4 miles northeast of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Lower Peters Canyon in Irvine safe?
Yes. Most US neighborhoods have little crime, and Lower Peters Canyon has less than most of them: its overall CrimeGrade™ is A, safer than the neighborhoods where 65% of Americans live. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A+ against A-. Irvine as a whole grades A. Every neighborhood in Lower Peters Canyon grades A.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 895 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
65% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Lower Peters Canyon as a whole, and 35% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Lower Peters Canyon scores 895.
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 Lower Peters Canyon, Irvine, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Lower Peters Canyon 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 Lower Peters Canyon
Car thefts happen in parking lots and garages far more often than nationally. In Irvine as a whole, 55% of reported car thefts happen in parking lots and garages, against 23% nationally.
Simple assaults and acts of vandalism both run low. In Lower Peters Canyon, each runs at a small fraction of the US rate: 2.7 simple assaults and 1.5 acts of vandalism a year per 1,000 residents, against 9.7 and 5.5 nationally.
How Lower Peters Canyon compares within Irvine
Every part of Lower Peters Canyon where people live grades A or B on the national scale.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Lower Peters Canyon has less crime than 11 of the 24 neighborhoods in Irvine. It covers much of the Lower Peters Canyon and Northwood areas.
Is crime going up in Irvine?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Irvine as a whole 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 departments that serve 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 Lower Peters Canyon
CrimeGrade™ estimates Lower Peters Canyon has about 16 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 57% less than the US as a whole and 21% less than Irvine 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.
The largest share of crime reported in Lower Peters Canyon is theft, about 56% 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
The Irvine Police Department polices Lower Peters Canyon; these figures cover Irvine as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Irvine as a whole, 36% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 62% of them, against 31% 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 Lower Peters Canyon compares with nearby neighborhoods
Lower Peters Canyon has less crime than 5 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Lower Peters Canyon. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, Lower Peters Canyon is safer than 99% of them.
Empty homes, transit and walkability in Lower Peters Canyon
One thing sets Lower Peters Canyon apart: it has 1.2% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places like that tend to report less burglary, vandalism and arson, and vandalism runs low here.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.1.2% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 98% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Lower Peters Canyon: D (15 of 100).1 trips an hourUS: noneLower than for 84% 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. 76% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (22 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 69% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.73% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 63% 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 Lower Peters Canyon
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Lower Peters Canyon about $392 a year per household, 68% 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 $7.2 million a year, or $321 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 Lower Peters Canyon 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 Lower Peters Canyon, Irvine, CA average a SchoolGrade of A+: 62% of students test proficient, against 56% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Lower Peters Canyon on SchoolGrade
