Palm Springs is a city of 46,300 in Riverside County, about 50 miles east of downtown Riverside · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in Palm Springs?
Violent crime is high in Palm Springs: a B-, with more violent crime than the neighborhoods where 81% of Americans live. Assaults make up 87% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury.
B-
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 608 of 1,000More violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
19% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than Palm Springs as a whole, and 81% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. Palm Springs scores 608.
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 violent crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its violent crime with the people who spend time there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy downtown or nightlife strip can show red while the homes around it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a solid connection. Compare high speed internet in Palm Springs, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Palm Springs, 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 about violent crime in Palm Springs
Robberies run high. Palm Springs has robberies at more than double the US rate: 1.5 a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 nationally.
Where violent crime is lowest and highest in Palm Springs
Low violent crime is the norm across Palm Springs: 72% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 4% in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across Palm Springs run from A+ to F.
72%24%
A or B 72%C 24%D or F 4%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
1Taquitz River Estates, southAggravated assaults run about 30% lower here than in the rest of Palm Springs.B+723
2Old las Palmas, westRobberies run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Palm Springs.B691
3Baristo, centralClose to the rest of Palm Springs on most crimes.B-585
4Sunrise Park, eastClose to the rest of Palm Springs on most crimes.B-563
5Desert Highland Gateway Estates, northwestClose to the rest of Palm Springs on most crimes.C+497
Neighborhood areas of Palm Springs, ranked by violent crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Is violent crime going up in Palm Springs?
Reported violent crime in Palm Springs peaked in 2021 and has fallen 19% since, back near its 2019 level. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 5.5 to 6.0 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). Violent crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Palm SpringsUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Palm Springs. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Palm Springs
Violent, US
2016
+5%
+4%
2017
+10%
+4%
2018
+3%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+5%
+4%
2021
+36%
+6%
2022
+29%
+5%
2023
+7%
+2%
2024
+10%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in Palm Springs
CrimeGrade™ estimates Palm Springs has about 18 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 34% more than the US as a whole and 50% more than California.
All violent crime
Assaults
Robbery
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Violent crime here includes simple assaults, which the FBI's violent crime rate leaves out.
Assault is the most common violent crime in Palm Springs, about 87% of the total.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a violent crime with the people who spend time in an area, not only the people who live there. 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.
Violent crime in Palm Springs and nearby cities
Palm Springs has more violent crime than 6 of its 8 nearest cities. Sky Valley and Rancho Mirage have the least violent crime nearby.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Palm Springs. Beside each violent crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Palm Springs has more violent crime than 90% of them.
Palm Springs looks like a typical city on the traits that tend to go with violent crime.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more robbery.61 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 77% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Palm Springs: D (16 of 100).4 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 64% 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 assault. 80% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (19 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 57% of US city residents
Show all 4
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.18% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 55% 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 violent crime costs Palm Springs
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs Palm Springs about $103 million a year, or $2,217 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $21 million, or $454 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering are about 80% of that full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$8.1 million
$175
Rape
$1.9 million
$41
Robbery
$2.2 million
$47
Assault
$8.9 million
$192
Total
$21 million
$454
How CrimeGrade™ works
The violent crime CrimeGrade™ covers murder, rape, robbery and assault, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each violent crime against the people who spend time in an area, so a busy downtown is graded on its workers and visitors as well as its residents.
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.
