Santa Cruz Crime Rates and Statistics (2024)

With a crime rate of 50 per one thousand residents, Santa Cruz has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes - from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 20. Within California, more than 97% of the communities have a lower crime rate than Santa Cruz.

Separately, it is always interesting and important to compare a city's crime rate with those of similarly sized communities - a fair comparison as larger cities tend to have more crime. NeighborhoodScout has done just that. With a population of 61,800, Santa Cruz has a combined rate of violent and property crime that is very high compared to other places of similar population size. Regardless of whether Santa Cruz does well or poorly compared to all other cities and towns in the US of all sizes, compared to places with a similar population, it fares badly. Few other communities of this size have a crime rate as high as Santa Cruz.

Now let us turn to take a look at how Santa Cruz does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. This is important because the overall crime rate can be further illuminated by understanding if violent crime or property crimes (or both) are the major contributors to the general rate of crime in Santa Cruz.

For Santa Cruz, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to NeighborhoodScout's analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Santa Cruz is one in 133.

In addition, NeighborhoodScout found that a lot of the crime that takes place in Santa Cruz is property crime. Property crimes that are tracked for this analysis are burglary, larceny over fifty dollars, motor vehicle theft, and arson. In Santa Cruz, your chance of becoming a victim of a property crime is one in 24, which is a rate of 42 per one thousand population.

Importantly, we found that Santa Cruz has one of the highest rates of motor vehicle theft in the nation according to our analysis of FBI crime data. This is compared to communities of all sizes, from the smallest to the largest. In fact, your chance of getting your car stolen if you live in Santa Cruz is one in 197.