This overview combines violent, property, and other offenses into a single grade for Santa Clara County. The dedicated violent crime and property crime pages go deeper on each. The map below shows the overall crime rate per 1,000 residents.
B+
Overall Crime Grade™
C+ |
|
C+ |
|
Other Crime Grade |
A+ |
$628.7 million
Cost of Crime™ for Santa Clara County, CA
In 2025, crime will cost $953 per household.
On the map, green marks the parts of Santa Clara County with the least crime overall and red marks the most. Each area is weighted by the type and severity of every offense, so a place with rare but serious violent crime can grade differently from one with frequent petty theft. The Interpreting the Crime Maps section below explains how to read the colors.
The B+ overall grade blends the violent, property, and other grades shown above into one measure, set against the average US county, where Santa Clara County's combined rate is lower than the norm. Santa Clara County sits in the 75th percentile, ahead of 75% of counties and behind 25%. The grade covers only Santa Clara County's official city boundaries. See the table below for nearby counties.
The overall crime rate in Santa Clara County is 22.56 per 1,000 residents in a typical year. Residents generally consider the northeast part of the county the safest. Your chance of being a victim ranges from 1 in 33 in the northwest areas to 1 in 59 in the northeast.
Counting total incidents instead of per-capita rates, the northwest parts of Santa Clara County, CA report the most crime, about 10,370 cases per year. The southwest part reports the fewest, around 1,047 per year.
| Santa Clara County, CA: | $321 |
|---|---|
| San Francisco County, CA: | $1016 |
| Placer County, CA: | $320 |
| California: | $491 |
| USA: | $464 |
Crime |
Cost to Santa Clara County |
Cost per Santa Clara County Resident |
|---|---|---|
Murder |
$75.9 million |
$39 |
Rape/Sexual Assault |
$64.6 million |
$33 |
Robbery |
$58.3 million |
$30 |
Assault |
$121.7 million |
$62 |
Kidnapping |
$16.7 million |
$9 |
Vehicle Theft |
$89.9 million |
$46 |
Burglary |
$50.9 million |
$26 |
Theft |
$100.4 million |
$51 |
Arson |
$9.54 million |
$5 |
Vandalism |
$18.7 million |
$10 |
Animal Cruelty |
$193,063 |
$0 |
Drug Crimes |
$18.6 million |
$9 |
Identity Theft |
$3.28 million |
$2 |
Total Cost of Crime |
$628,679,966 |
$321 |
Crime rates on the map are measured per resident, so areas with heavy visitor traffic can read high because crime follows crowds, even where few people live. The central part of the county holds more retail establishments, which lifts recorded crime around those blocks. A red area does not always mean the neighborhood is unsafe for residents.
Airports, parks, and transit hubs create the same effect. Major airports, of which Santa Clara County has 1, draw large crowds with few residents nearby, so they read as high-crime spots. Parks and recreational areas, of which Santa Clara County has 228, do the same, and of Santa Clara County's 1,961,208 residents few live beside them. Before assuming an area is unsafe, weigh both the per-capita rate and the total number of incidents, and note what sits nearby.
The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Santa Clara County, CA at ISP Reports.The tables below show which crimes are used to calculate the Crime Grades above. All crime rates are shown as the number of crimes per 1,000 Santa Clara County residents in a standard year.
Crime Type |
Crime Rate |
|---|---|
Assault |
2.161 |
Robbery |
0.9454 |
Rape |
0.5429 |
Murder |
0.0206 |
Total Violent Crime |
3.670 (C+) |
Crime Type |
Crime Rate |
|---|---|
Theft |
9.881 |
Vehicle Theft |
2.960 |
Burglary |
2.863 |
Arson |
0.2014 |
Total Property Crime |
15.91 (C+) |
Crime Type |
Crime Rate |
|---|---|
Kidnapping |
0.1403 |
Drug Crimes |
1.282 |
Vandalism |
1.334 |
Identity Theft |
0.2161 |
Animal Cruelty |
0.0133 |
Total "Other" Rate |
2.986 (A+) |
Compared to surrounding counties, the rate of crime in Santa Clara County is lower. The table below shows Crime Grades for counties close to Santa Clara County.
Nearby County | Overall Crime Grade | Violent Crime Grade | Property Crime Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
C+ | D+ | D+ | |
C | D+ | D+ | |
C+ | C | D+ | |
F | F | F | |
C+ | D+ | D+ | |
C | D | D+ | |
C+ | D+ | D+ | |
B- | C- | C- | |
B | D- | B- | |
F | F | F |
Santa Clara County is lower versus other counties of the same size for crime. The table below compares crime in counties with comparable overall population in the county‘s boundaries.
Similar County | Overall Crime Grade | Violent Crime Grade | Property Crime Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
A- | B | B | |
D | D+ | D+ | |
B | C- | C- | |
B- | C- | C- | |
A+ | A- | A- | |
D | C | C | |
A- | A- | A- | |
B+ | C+ | C+ | |
C | D+ | D+ | |
C- | B+ | B+ |
Considering only the crime rate, Santa Clara County is safer than the California state average and safer than the national average.
Safety and school performance are separate topics, but both shape moving decisions. Using SchoolGrade data, schools in Santa Clara County, CA average SchoolGrade of A-, with 54% actual proficiency versus 50% projected; overall, schools exceed expectations. See Santa Clara County schools on SchoolGrade
CrimeGrade.org provides highly detailed and accurate crime data, used by insurance companies, home security firms, and other industries. Our data is available for licensing—learn more about our USA crime data and licensing.
Our proprietary data is available for download by zip code or by state in a CSV Flat File. Please visit our download page for pricing and terms.
Download CSV
A crime occurs on average every 11 minutes in Santa Clara County. Want to protect your home?
Home Security Companies in Santa Clara County, CA
All maps and statistics above are projections, not certainties, and provided without guarantee free of charge. Verify all info before making any decisions based on the data.