The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Santa Monica, CA
Santa Monica is a city of 89,900 in Los Angeles County, about 14 miles west of downtown Los Angeles · Updated November 2026
Is Santa Monica, CA safe?
Santa Monica has more crime than most of the country: an overall CrimeGrade™ of C+, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 82% of Americans live. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, B+ against D. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Santa Monica run from A- to F, so check the map below.
C+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 503 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
18% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Santa Monica as a whole, and 82% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Santa Monica scores 503.
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 Monica, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Santa Monica, 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 Monica
Burglary stands out among C-graded cities. For the typical resident of a C-graded US city, the figure is 2.5 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; Santa Monica has 8.3.
Robbery at about triple the US rate. Santa Monica has 2.0 robberies a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Santa Monica
Crime varies widely across Santa Monica: 29% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 39% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Santa Monica run from A- to F; every part of Santa Monica has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
29%32%39%
A or B 29%C 32%D or F 39%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Santa Monica, the northwest side has the least crime and the south side the most.
Is crime going up in Santa Monica?
Reported crime in Santa Monica has held about steady since 2019: violent crime is up 4% and property crime up 8%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 7.3 to 7.6 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 44 to 47 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 11%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Santa MonicaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Santa Monica. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Santa Monica
Violent, US
Property, Santa Monica
Property, US
2016
-26%
+4%
-0%
+15%
2017
+4%
+4%
+8%
+12%
2018
+19%
+0%
+18%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-17%
+4%
-5%
-8%
2021
+5%
+6%
-9%
-10%
2022
+16%
+5%
+3%
-6%
2023
+17%
+2%
+7%
-7%
2024
+4%
-4%
+8%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Santa Monica
CrimeGrade™ estimates Santa Monica has about 72 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 93% more than the US as a whole and 81% more than 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 Santa Monica is theft, about 43% 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.
The Santa Monica Police Department's 2024 report to the FBI was missing some months of vandalism; CrimeGrade™ filled them in from the department's own monthly pattern.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
How Santa Monica compares with nearby cities
Of the 10 cities closest to Santa Monica, 7 have less crime. Pacific Palisades and Playa Del Rey have the least.
Two things set Santa Monica apart: it has 23.5 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and a Walk Grade of A- (76 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. 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.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.23.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 98% 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. 70% of residents here live in walkable areas.A- (76 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 97% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.100 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 96% of US city residents
Show all 6
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 94% 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 Santa Monica: C (38 of 100).30 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 94% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.80% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 92% 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 Santa Monica
Crime costs Santa Monica about $1,494 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 24% 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 $185 million a year, or $2,059 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$6.0 million
$67
Rape
$3.9 million
$43
Robbery
$5.5 million
$61
Aggravated assault
$12 million
$135
Simple assault
$6.7 million
$75
Burglary
$6.7 million
$74
Theft
$14 million
$157
Vehicle theft
$7.5 million
$83
Arson
$1.3 million
$15
Vandalism
$5.8 million
$65
Total
$70 million
$775
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 Monica 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 Monica, CA average a SchoolGrade of A+: 57% of students test proficient, against 50% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Santa Monica on SchoolGrade
