Riviera, Santa Barbara, CA Violent Crime Rates and Maps
Riviera is a neighborhood of 13,800 residents in Santa Barbara, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in Riviera?
Violent crime in Riviera sits near the national middle: an A-, with more violent crime than the neighborhoods where 54% of Americans live. Assaults make up 91% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. Santa Barbara as a whole grades A- for violent crime.
A-
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 845 of 1,000About as much violent crime as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
46% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than Riviera as a whole, and 54% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. Riviera scores 845.
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 Riviera, Santa Barbara, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Riviera in Santa Barbara, 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 Riviera
Aggravated assaults happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Santa Barbara as a whole, 37% of reported aggravated assaults happen on streets and sidewalks, against 21% nationally.
How Riviera compares within Santa Barbara
Every part of Riviera where people live grades A or B for violent crime on the national scale. Violent crime grades across Riviera run from A+ to B.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Riviera has less violent crime than 6 of the 8 neighborhoods in Santa Barbara. It covers much of the Riviera and Lower East areas.
Is violent crime going up in Santa Barbara?
Reported violent crime in Santa Barbara as a whole has risen 44% since 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.4 to 6.4 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). Violent crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Santa BarbaraUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Santa Barbara. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Santa Barbara
Violent, US
2016
-2%
+4%
2017
-6%
+4%
2018
+3%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-1%
+4%
2021
+11%
+6%
2022
+4%
+5%
2023
+37%
+2%
2024
+44%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in Riviera
CrimeGrade™ estimates Riviera has about 9.7 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 28% less than the US as a whole and 38% less than Santa Barbara as a whole.
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 Riviera, about 91% 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.
Where and when violent crime happens in Santa Barbara
The Santa Barbara Police Department polices Riviera; these figures cover Santa Barbara as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
Robberies happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 40% of them.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (40%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Streets and sidewalks (37%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
Violent crime in Riviera and nearby neighborhoods
Riviera has less violent crime than 9 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods; only Las Positas has less.
Riviera looks like a typical neighborhood on the traits that tend to go with violent crime.
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Riviera: D (14 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 95% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Tree coverThe share of land under tree canopy where people live. Leafy neighborhoods tend to report less robbery.22% where people liveUS: 21%Higher than for 83% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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. 78% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (21 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 70% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.20% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 80% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Riviera
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs Riviera about $9.3 million a year, or $675 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $2.3 million, or $165 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
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.
