The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Santa Clara County, CA
Santa Clara County is home to 1.90 million residents and includes San Jose and Sunnyvale · Updated November 2026
Is Santa Clara County, CA safe?
Crime in Santa Clara County is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 68% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Santa Clara County. Violent crime grades A- and property crime B-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Santa Clara County run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 711 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
32% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Santa Clara County as a whole, and 68% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Santa Clara County scores 711.
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 Santa Clara County, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Santa Clara County, 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 Santa Clara County
Murder is less common here. Santa Clara County has about 37 murders a year, a rate less than half the national one.
Car thefts happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Santa Clara County, 48% of reported car thefts happen on streets and sidewalks, against 27% nationally.
The safest and most dangerous places in Santa Clara County
Low crime is the norm across Santa Clara County: 75% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 13% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Santa Clara County run from A+ to F; 17% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
75%12%13%
A or B 75%C 12%D or F 13%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Cities and towns in Santa Clara County 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 county, the Cupertino area has the least crime and the Santa Clara area the most.
Is crime going up in Santa Clara County?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Santa Clara County 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 25 to 23 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Santa Clara CountyUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across Santa Clara County. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Santa Clara County
Violent, US
Property, Santa Clara County
Property, US
2016
-15%
+4%
-10%
+15%
2017
-6%
+4%
-6%
+12%
2018
-4%
+0%
-5%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-4%
+4%
-8%
-8%
2021
+21%
+6%
+0%
-10%
2022
+20%
+5%
+3%
-6%
2023
+35%
+2%
-5%
-7%
2024
+28%
-4%
-6%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Santa Clara County
CrimeGrade™ estimates Santa Clara County has about 41 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 9% 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 Santa Clara County. 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 Santa Clara County
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across Santa Clara County, 2022 to 2024.
In Santa Clara County, 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 (47%)
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 Santa Clara County compares with nearby counties
Santa Clara County has more crime than 6 of its 10 nearest counties. San Benito County and Marin County have the least crime nearby.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Santa Clara County. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with counties of similar size and density, Santa Clara County is safer than 78% of them.
Density, jobs and walkability in Santa Clara County
Two things set Santa Clara County apart: it has 58% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally, and a Walk Grade of C (32 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. Even so, 58% of residents in Santa Clara County live in car-dependent areas, where most errands take a car. Places like that tend to report more robbery, and it runs high here.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.58% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 89% of Americans
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.60 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 88% of Americans
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.C (32 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 86% of Americans
Show all 6
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 Santa Clara County: C- (26 of 100).8 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 79% of Americans
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.97% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 72% of Americans
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.9.6 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 67% of Americans
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 Santa Clara County
Crime costs Santa Clara County about $1,319 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 $865 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 $2.31 billion a year, or $1,215 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$70 million
$37
Rape
$62 million
$33
Robbery
$61 million
$32
Assault
$252 million
$132
Burglary
$60 million
$32
Theft
$149 million
$78
Vehicle theft
$132 million
$70
Arson
$8.0 million
$4
Vandalism
$71 million
$37
Total
$865 million
$455
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 Santa Clara County 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 Santa Clara County, CA average a SchoolGrade of B+: 48% of students test proficient, against 49% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Santa Clara County on SchoolGrade
