Rancho Palos Verdes, CA Violent Crime Rates and Maps

Rancho Palos Verdes is a city of 45,700 in Los Angeles County, about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles · Updated November 2026

How common is violent crime in Rancho Palos Verdes?

Violent crime is low in Rancho Palos Verdes: an A+, safer than the neighborhoods where 74% of Americans live. Assaults make up 80% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury.

A+
Violent crime CrimeGrade™Safety score 928 of 1,000
Less violent crime than most US neighborhoods What this means

74% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than Rancho Palos Verdes as a whole, and 26% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. Rancho Palos Verdes scores 928.

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.

A
Overall crimeSafety score 893 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoods
A-
Property crimeSafety score 831 of 1,000About as much property crime as the typical US neighborhood

How it works


Violent crime map of Rancho Palos Verdes

Map of Rancho Palos Verdes shaded by violent crime CrimeGrade™, from green for the least crime to red for the most
Click the map to explore
F D C B A+
Highest crime Safest
Colorblind friendly off

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 Rancho Palos Verdes, CA at ISP Reports.

Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Rancho Palos Verdes, 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 Rancho Palos Verdes

Simple assault runs low. Rancho Palos Verdes has 0.84 simple assaults a year per 1,000 residents, a small fraction of the US rate of 9.7.


Where violent crime is lowest and highest in Rancho Palos Verdes

Every part of Rancho Palos Verdes where people live grades A or B for violent crime on the national scale. Violent crime grades across Rancho Palos Verdes run from A+ to A.

A or B 100%

Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.


Is violent crime going up in Rancho Palos Verdes?

Reported violent crime in Rancho Palos Verdes has risen 28% since 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 0.7 to 0.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 23%.

Violent crime, change since 2019

Rancho Palos VerdesUnited States

Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Rancho Palos Verdes. The charts follow crimes per resident.

Data table
YearViolent, Rancho Palos VerdesViolent, US
2016-9%+4%
2017+12%+4%
2018+9%+0%
2019+0%+0%
2020+45%+4%
2021+85%+6%
2022+82%+5%
2023+66%+2%
2024+28%-4%

Violent crime rates and types in Rancho Palos Verdes

CrimeGrade™ estimates Rancho Palos Verdes has about 2.1 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 85% less than the US as a whole and 83% less 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 Rancho Palos Verdes, about 80% of the total.

CrimeCrimeGrade™Reported a yearPer 1,000 residentsUS per 1,000
MurderA+under 1under 0.010.05
RapeA70.160.38
RobberyA110.240.62
AssaultA+751.612.3

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 Rancho Palos Verdes and nearby cities

Rancho Palos Verdes has the least violent crime of its 10 nearest cities.

Nearby cities

PlaceViolentOverallResidents
Rancho Palos VerdesA+928A45,700
Rolling Hills Estates 1 mileA909A4,280
Rolling Hills 1 mileA918A1,970
Palos Verdes Estates 2 milesA+927A11,400
Los Angeles 19 milesC407D+2.10 million
Show all 10
PlaceViolentOverallResidents
Lomita 3 milesA-795B20,300
Harbor City 4 milesB-608C+26,800
San Pedro 5 milesB-575C+78,900
Torrance 5 milesA877A-153,100
Wilmington 6 milesC409C+61,400
West Carson 6 milesB663C-21,500

Nearest first, with each place's distance from Rancho Palos Verdes. 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, Rancho Palos Verdes is safer than 87% of them.

Cities of similar size and density

PlaceViolentOverallResidents
Rancho Palos VerdesA+928A45,700
Doylestown, PAA+963A+46,100
Morristown, NJA917A46,000
North Bethesda, MDA914A45,600
Butler, PAA892A45,400
Show all 10
PlaceViolentOverallResidents
San Juan Capistrano, CAA877A45,700
Cutler Bay, FLA850A-45,700
Rowland Heights, CAA-827B+45,900
Moorhead, MNA-810A-45,800
Johnstown, PAB+753A-46,200
Toa Alta, PRB-570B+45,900

Jobs, walkability and transit in Rancho Palos Verdes

Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, two set Rancho Palos Verdes apart: it has 20 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and a Walk Grade of D- (10 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report less robbery, yet robbery runs higher here than that would suggest.

JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more robbery.20 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 86% 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. 94% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (10 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 76% 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 Rancho Palos Verdes: D+ (20 of 100).3 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 60% 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.15% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 50% of US city residents

BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Rancho Palos Verdes on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.

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 Rancho Palos Verdes

Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs Rancho Palos Verdes about $14 million a year, or $307 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $2.8 million, or $61 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.

CrimeCost a yearPer resident
Murder$680,000$15
Rape$430,000$9
Robbery$340,000$7
Assault$1.3 million$29
Total$2.8 million$61

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. Rancho Palos Verdes is the other kind of example: few people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks lower than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.

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
  • Population and housing figures from the US Census Bureau
  • 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.

More about CrimeGrade™ data