This overview combines violent, property, and other offenses into a single grade for Santa Monica. The dedicated violent crime and property crime pages go deeper on each. The map below shows the overall crime rate per 1,000 residents.
D-
Overall Crime Grade™
D- |
|
F |
|
Other Crime Grade |
B- |
$61.3 million
Cost of Crime™ for Santa Monica, CA
In 2025, crime will cost $1,292 per household.
On the map, green marks the parts of Santa Monica 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 D- overall grade blends the violent, property, and other grades shown above into one measure, set against the average US city, where Santa Monica's combined rate is much higher than the norm. Santa Monica sits in the 11th percentile, ahead of 11% of cities and behind 89%. The grade covers only Santa Monica's official city boundaries. See the table below for nearby cities.
The overall crime rate in Santa Monica is 46.91 per 1,000 residents in a typical year. Residents generally consider the northwest part of the city the safest. Your chance of being a victim ranges from 1 in 9 in the southwest neighborhoods to 1 in 30 in the northwest.
Counting total incidents instead of per-capita rates, the west parts of Santa Monica, CA report the most crime, about 892 cases per year. The northwest part reports the fewest, around 271 per year.
| Santa Monica, CA: | $652 |
|---|---|
| Lodi, CA: | $1387 |
| Rescue, CA: | $213 |
| California: | $491 |
| USA: | $464 |
Crime |
Cost to Santa Monica |
Cost per Santa Monica Resident |
|---|---|---|
Murder |
$10.6 million |
$113 |
Rape/Sexual Assault |
$2.83 million |
$30 |
Robbery |
$4.43 million |
$47 |
Assault |
$13.1 million |
$139 |
Kidnapping |
$652,437 |
$7 |
Vehicle Theft |
$9.70 million |
$103 |
Burglary |
$4.74 million |
$50 |
Theft |
$10.2 million |
$108 |
Arson |
$656,197 |
$7 |
Vandalism |
$2.17 million |
$23 |
Animal Cruelty |
$20,588 |
$0 |
Drug Crimes |
$1.89 million |
$20 |
Identity Theft |
$415,687 |
$4 |
Total Cost of Crime |
$61,346,451 |
$652 |
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 southwest part of the city 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 draw large crowds with few residents nearby, so they read as high-crime spots. Parks and recreational areas, of which Santa Monica has 67, do the same, and of Santa Monica's 94,110 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 Monica, 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 Monica residents in a standard year.
Crime Type |
Crime Rate |
|---|---|
Assault |
4.830 |
Robbery |
1.495 |
Rape |
0.4960 |
Murder |
0.0600 |
Total Violent Crime |
6.881 (D-) |
Crime Type |
Crime Rate |
|---|---|
Theft |
20.87 |
Vehicle Theft |
6.655 |
Burglary |
5.555 |
Arson |
0.2887 |
Total Property Crime |
33.37 (F) |
Crime Type |
Crime Rate |
|---|---|
Kidnapping |
0.1143 |
Drug Crimes |
2.708 |
Vandalism |
3.235 |
Identity Theft |
0.5707 |
Animal Cruelty |
0.0296 |
Total "Other" Rate |
6.657 (B-) |
Compared to surrounding cities, the rate of crime in Santa Monica is similar. The table below shows Crime Grades for cities close to Santa Monica.
Nearby City | Overall Crime Grade | Violent Crime Grade | Property Crime Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
D- | D- | D- | |
C- | C- | D | |
D- | D | D- | |
D- | D- | F | |
C- | C- | D | |
F | F | F | |
D- | D- | D- | |
D+ | D+ | D | |
F | F | F | |
D- | F | F |
Santa Monica is higher versus other cities of the same size for crime. The table below compares crime in cities with comparable overall population in the city‘s boundaries.
Similar City | Overall Crime Grade | Violent Crime Grade | Property Crime Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
B | C- | C- | |
C | C | C | |
A- | A+ | A+ | |
F | F | F | |
C | A | A | |
A+ | A- | A- | |
A- | C | C | |
C+ | D | D | |
D | C- | C- | |
D | D | D |
Considering only the crime rate, Santa Monica is less safe than the California state average and less safe than the national average.
Safety and school performance are separate topics, but both shape moving decisions. Using SchoolGrade data, schools in Santa Monica, CA average SchoolGrade of C-, with 33% actual proficiency versus 47% projected; overall, schools underperform expectations. See Santa Monica 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.
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A crime occurs on average every 1 hour 59 minutes in Santa Monica. Want to protect your home?
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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.