The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Milpitas, CA
Milpitas is a city of 82,500 in Santa Clara County, about 7 miles north of downtown San Jose · Updated November 2026
Is Milpitas, CA safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, Milpitas has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 61% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A against B. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Milpitas run from A to C+, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 769 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
39% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Milpitas as a whole, and 61% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Milpitas scores 769.
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 Milpitas, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Milpitas, 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 Milpitas
Robberies happen at stores and businesses far more often than nationally. In Milpitas, 74% of reported robberies happen at stores and businesses, against 33% nationally.
Theft at about double the US rate. Milpitas has 24.1 thefts a year per 1,000 residents, against 13.1 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Milpitas
Most of Milpitas grades well: 98% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Milpitas run from A to C+; 3% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
98%
A or B 98%C 2%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Milpitas, the northeast side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Milpitas?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Milpitas is up 99%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.3 to 3.0 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 29 to 31 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
MilpitasUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Milpitas. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Milpitas
Violent, US
Property, Milpitas
Property, US
2016
-4%
+4%
-17%
+15%
2017
+14%
+4%
-8%
+12%
2018
-14%
+0%
-11%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+3%
+4%
-9%
-8%
2021
+44%
+6%
-4%
-10%
2022
+90%
+5%
+28%
-6%
2023
+135%
+2%
+15%
-7%
2024
+124%
-4%
+6%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Milpitas
CrimeGrade™ estimates Milpitas has about 44 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 20% 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.
The largest share of crime reported in Milpitas is theft, about 54% 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 Milpitas
Milpitas has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Milpitas, 37% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 35% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (50%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Homes (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (35%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (37%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (74%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (44%)
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 Milpitas compares with nearby cities
Milpitas has less crime than 6 of its 10 nearest cities.
Two things set Milpitas apart: it has 71% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally, and 14 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. It also combines many jobs with busy transit: places with both tend to report more theft and robbery than places with only one of them, 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.71% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 90% 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 Milpitas: C- (26 of 100).14 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 89% 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. 65% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (28 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 78% of US city residents
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.69 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 85% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.14.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 84% of US city residents
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
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 Milpitas
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Milpitas about $1,367 a year per household, 13% 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 $86 million a year, or $1,038 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$3.2 million
$39
Rape
$2.1 million
$25
Robbery
$2.2 million
$26
Assault
$7.8 million
$94
Burglary
$1.8 million
$22
Theft
$10 million
$124
Vehicle theft
$4.9 million
$59
Arson
$270,000
$3
Vandalism
$2.8 million
$34
Total
$35 million
$427
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 Milpitas 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 Milpitas, CA average a SchoolGrade of A+: 58% of students test proficient, against 54% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Milpitas on SchoolGrade
