CrimeMetric

Crime in Santa Clara, California

Major crime in Santa Clara is 1.6 times the U.S. rate per resident: 52% lower for persons crimes and 1.9 times for property crimes. Expected major crimes are up 4.4% from a year earlier.

Modeled estimates per resident, not counts of incidents. How we calculated this

Major crime
165
1.6 times the U.S. rate
37% above the California rate
up 4.4% in a year
Persons crimes
48
52% below the U.S. rate
64% below the California rate
down 12.7% in a year
Property crimes
191
1.9 times the U.S. rate
1.6 times the California rate
up 5.5% in a year
Social disorder
85
16% below the U.S. rate
17% below the California rate
about flat in a year

Index: crimes per resident compared with the U.S., where 100 is the U.S. rate and 200 is twice it.

Check an address in Santa Clara

Crime by type

Theft from vehicle stands out most, at 3.5 times the U.S. rate

Expected crimes per year in Santa Clara for each type, and the index against the U.S. rate per resident.

Citywide indexWhere the middle half of residents live

IndexPer year

Property crimes

Burglary185417

How crime varies across Santa Clara

The middle half of Santa Clara residents live in neighborhoods with a major-crime index between 80 and 147; the typical (median) resident's is 113. The citywide figure (165) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.

Map of Santa Clara, with its census block groups shaded by major-crime index band
Block groups shaded by major-crime index, in the bar's bands below; pale gray where fewer than 100 people live. Tap one to compare it. Highways and boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau.
  • 0–502.5%
  • 50–10035.3%
  • 100–20046.9%
  • 200–4007.9%
  • 400+7.5%

Share of residents by the index of their census block group, a neighborhood of roughly 600 to 3,000 people.

When it happens

Highest on weeknights

Major-crime index by time of week, against the U.S. rate for the same hours.

Monday to Friday, 6am to 6pm137
Sunday to Thursday nights, 6pm to 6am216
Saturday and Sunday, 6am to 6pm135
Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm to 6am164
Trend and outlook

Major crime rose 4.4% in a year; across California it fell 7.4%

Past yearBy 2031
Major crime+4.4%CA -7.4%-12.3%CA -14.1%
Persons crimes-12.7%CA -3.5%-4.7%CA -6.1%
Property crimes+5.5%CA -8.4%-12.7%CA -16.1%
Social disorder+0.8%CA -4.9%-8.0%CA -9.4%

Change in expected crimes, with California as a whole in gray. The past year uses the reporting agencies' year-to-date FBI data; 2031 is the model's projection.

Similar-size places

Santa Clara against U.S. places with 100,000 to 250,000 residents

58 of the 268 other places of this size have a higher major-crime index than Santa Clara; the middle of the group is 109. The 9 nearest in population:

Dayton, OH136,880325
Pasadena, CA136,586169
Santa Clara, CA137,528165
Hampton, VA136,934158
Torrance, CA137,227156
Warren, MI137,539117
Fullerton, CA138,043114

Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; residents in gray.

Nearby places

Santa Clara has a higher major-crime index than 6 of its 8 nearest neighbors

The 8 nearest cities and towns we cover, by major-crime index. The closest, Burbank (3 mi), is 17% above Santa Clara's rate.

Burbank3 mi194
Milpitas7 mi190
Santa Clara165
San Jose6 mi161
Campbell5 mi156
Sunnyvale3 mi102
Cupertino5 mi68
Saratoga7 mi32

Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; distances between where residents live, in miles.

Questions about crime in Santa Clara

What are the most common crimes in Santa Clara?

By expected count, the most common persons and property crimes are theft from vehicle (about 1,276 a year), other larceny (about 1,136 a year) and motor vehicle theft (about 431 a year). Compared with the U.S., theft from vehicle stands out most: 3.5 times the U.S. rate per resident.

How we calculated this

Each police agency's crimes, as reported to the FBI, are spread across the census block groups it serves using population, jobs, points of interest and, where available, local incident records. Santa Clara's figures add up its 79 block groups. The index compares crimes per resident with the U.S. rate.

  • Santa Clara's published incident records inform the estimate for every neighborhood.
  • 66.6% of residents live in block groups whose estimate has high confidence (80% interval within about 5x).
  • Rates are per resident, so places where many people work or visit but few live, such as downtowns, airports and stadiums, can read high.
  • Disorderly conduct and trespassing are modeled, because the FBI records them only through arrests.
  • Residents: 137,528. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2

Full method and validation·Data sources

Cite this page

CrimeMetric. "Crime in Santa Clara, California." Vorp Labs, model updated Oct 20, 2026. https://crimemetric.com/ca/santa-clara

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Major-crime index, U.S. = 100