The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in San Jose, CA
The San Jose metro area, the 36th-largest in the US, is home to 1.97 million residents; San Jose itself is the third-largest city in California · Updated November 2026
Is San Jose, CA safe?
Crime in the San Jose area is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 67% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than the San Jose area. Violent crime grades A- and property crime B-. The city of San Jose itself grades B-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within the San Jose area run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 721 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
33% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than the San Jose area as a whole, and 67% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The San Jose area scores 721.
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 San Jose, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the San Jose 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 San Jose area
One part of San Jose stands out for robbery. Robberies in Alma, Goodyear-Mastic & O'Brien Tract, in central San Jose, run at about double the rate in the rest of the city.
Murder is less common here. The San Jose area has about 39 murders a year, a rate less than half the national one.
Car thefts happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In the San Jose area, 48% of reported car thefts happen on streets and sidewalks, against 27% nationally.
The safest and most dangerous places in the San Jose area
Low crime is the norm across the San Jose area: 76% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 13% in areas graded D or F. Grades across the San Jose area run from A+ to F; 17% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
76%11%13%
A or B 76%C 11%D or F 13%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhoods of San Jose
1Cambrian Park, southwestAggravated assaults run at about half the rate in the rest of San Jose.B+727
9Alma, Goodyear-Mastic & O'Brien Tract, centralCar thefts run about 80% higher here than in the rest of San Jose.D+271
Neighborhood areas of the city of San Jose, 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 San Jose 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 Cupertino and Saratoga areas have the least crime and the downtown San Jose area the most.
Is crime going up in the San Jose area?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in the San Jose area is up 28%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.3 to 4.2 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 24 to 23 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
San Jose areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the San Jose area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, San Jose area
Violent, US
Property, San Jose area
Property, US
2016
-14%
+4%
-10%
+15%
2017
-5%
+4%
-6%
+12%
2018
-4%
+0%
-5%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-3%
+4%
-8%
-8%
2021
+23%
+6%
+0%
-10%
2022
+20%
+5%
+3%
-6%
2023
+35%
+2%
-5%
-7%
2024
+28%
-4%
-7%
-15%
Crime rates and types in the San Jose area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the San Jose area has about 40 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 8% 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 37% of crime reported in the San Jose 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.
Where and when crime happens in the San Jose area
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across the San Jose area, 2022 to 2024.
In the San Jose area, 38% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 34% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (41%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (48%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (34%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (29%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (39%)
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 the San Jose area compares with nearby metro areas
The San Jose area has less crime than 6 of its 10 nearest metro areas.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the San Jose area. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Density, night lighting and empty homes in the San Jose area
One thing sets the San Jose area apart: it has 57% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. 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.57% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 87% 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.96% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 86% of Americans in metro areas
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary.5.0% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 77% of Americans in metro areas
Show all 4
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 San Jose area: D+ (25 of 100).7 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 68% 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 San Jose area
Crime costs the San Jose area about $1,312 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 9% more than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $886 million 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 $2.38 billion a year, or $1,211 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$73 million
$37
Rape
$64 million
$32
Robbery
$62 million
$31
Assault
$260 million
$132
Burglary
$61 million
$31
Theft
$151 million
$76
Vehicle theft
$135 million
$69
Arson
$8.2 million
$4
Vandalism
$73 million
$37
Total
$886 million
$450
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 San Jose 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 San Jose 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
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 the San Jose area average a SchoolGrade of B+: 47% of students test proficient, against 48% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in the San Jose area on SchoolGrade
