The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Sun Valley, CA
Sun Valley is a city of 33,900 in Los Angeles County, about 14 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles · Updated November 2026
Is Sun Valley, CA safe?
Crime in Sun Valley is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 76% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Sun Valley. Violent crime grades B+ and property crime C+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Sun Valley run from A to D-, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 622 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
24% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Sun Valley as a whole, and 76% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Sun Valley scores 622.
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 Sun Valley, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Sun Valley, 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 Sun Valley
Vehicle theft stands out among B-graded cities. For the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 2.9 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; Sun Valley has 6.9.
The safest and least safe parts of Sun Valley
In Sun Valley, 46% of residents live in areas graded A or B, 36% in areas graded C and 18% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Sun Valley run from A to D-; 12% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
46%36%18%
A or B 46%C 36%D or F 18%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Sun Valley, the northeast side has the least crime and the west side the most.
Crime rates and types in Sun Valley
CrimeGrade™ estimates Sun Valley has about 39 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 6% 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 35% of crime reported in Sun Valley. 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.
How Sun Valley compares with nearby cities
Sun Valley has less crime than 7 of its 10 nearest cities.
Two things set Sun Valley apart: it has 54% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally, and 6 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. 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.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.54% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 85% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.60 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 75% 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. 77% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (20 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 58% of US city residents
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 Sun Valley: C- (26 of 100).6 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 74% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.8.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 70% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.1.4 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 63% 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 Sun Valley
Crime costs Sun Valley about $1,786 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 48% 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 $52 million a year, or $1,524 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.7 million
$78
Rape
$650,000
$19
Robbery
$1.1 million
$32
Assault
$4.6 million
$135
Burglary
$1.1 million
$33
Theft
$2.4 million
$70
Vehicle theft
$3.6 million
$106
Arson
$71,000
$2
Vandalism
$1.1 million
$32
Total
$17 million
$508
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 Sun Valley 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
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 Sun Valley, CA average a SchoolGrade of C+: 36% of students test proficient, against 32% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Sun Valley on SchoolGrade
