Crime Grade · FBI UCR Data · 2025
Palo Alto, CA Crime Grade
How Palo Alto grades for violent crime against every other reporting U.S. city — and against the rest of California — based on the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting data.
National
5/10
vs. all U.S. cities ≥ 25,000 population
California
2/10
vs. California cities ≥ 10,000 population
In 2025, the violent crime rate in Palo Alto, CA was 158.5 per 100,000 residents (107 incidents over a population of 67,491). That puts Palo Alto Infinity% above the U.S. rate of 0.0 and 62% below the California statewide rate of 415.5.
That ranks Palo Alto #1,701 of 3,771 ranked U.S. cities, safer than 55% of them, and #63 of 371 in California. Violent crime is down 27% year over year and up 28% over the last five years.
Palo Alto, CA crime — key facts
- National Crime Grade
- B (5/10)
- California Grade
- A (2/10)
- Violent crime rate
- 158.5 / 100k
- National rank
- #1,701 of 3,771
- CA rank
- #63 of 371
- Safer than
- 55% of U.S. cities
- Year over year
- down 27%
- 5-year change
- up 28%
- Population
- 67,491
- Reporting agency
- Palo Alto Police Department
- Data year
- 2025 · FBI UCR
Reported by Palo Alto Police Department (FBI ORI CA0431200) to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Download the full dataset (CSV) · methodology.
About Palo Alto, CA
Also known as
- University Park
- Paloalto
Name history sourced from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) — public-domain federal geographic-names data.
Violent crime rate, 5-year trend
Per 100,000 residents. Palo Alto (red), California (blue), U.S. average (gray dashed).
Palo Alto vs. U.S., 2025 — by offense
Rates per 100,000 residents for each offense category.
Full data, last 5 years
Rates per 100,000 residents. Raw counts in parentheses.
| Offense | 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | 123.7(81) | 212.6(138) | 214.3(139) | 216.7(141) | 158.5(107) |
| Murder | 1.5(1) | 0.0(0) | 0.0(0) | 1.5(1) | 0.0(0) |
| Rape | 18.3(12) | 33.9(22) | 37.0(24) | 41.5(27) | 17.8(12) |
| Robbery | 59.6(39) | 69.3(45) | 84.8(55) | 53.8(35) | 31.1(21) |
| Aggravated assault | 44.3(29) | 109.4(71) | 92.5(60) | 119.9(78) | 109.6(74) |
| Property crime | 2983.5(1,953) | 3071.4(1,994) | 2844.8(1,845) | 3062.4(1,993) | 2861.1(1,931) |
| Burglary | 369.7(242) | 231.0(150) | 271.4(176) | 225.9(147) | 269.7(182) |
| Larceny | 2398.4(1,570) | 2644.7(1,717) | 2377.6(1,542) | 2641.4(1,719) | 2462.6(1,662) |
| Motor vehicle theft | 181.8(119) | 171.0(111) | 178.9(116) | 184.4(120) | 106.7(72) |
How the Crime Grade is calculated
- What is the source of the Palo Alto, CA Crime Grade?
- FBI Uniform Crime Reporting via the Crime Data Explorer. Agency-level data, pulled directly. No third-party aggregators, no proprietary score.
- What metric does the Palo Alto Crime Grade use?
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 residents (murder + rape + robbery + aggravated assault), most recent fully-reported year.
- How is the national decile for Palo Alto calculated?
- Palo Alto's rate placed against all FBI-reporting U.S. cities with population ≥ 25,000. 1 = safest.
- How is the California state decile calculated?
- Same calculation restricted to California cities with population ≥ 10,000.
- How do decile scores convert to a letter grade?
- 1–3 = A · 4–5 = B · 6–7 = C · 8 = D · 9–10 = F.
- How often is the Palo Alto Crime Grade refreshed?
- Twice a year. The FBI typically releases the prior year's full data each September.
- What are the limits of this Crime Grade?
- The FBI relies on local agency reporting. Rates reflect what was reported, not what occurred.
Nearby cities in California
Comparable California cities by population.
Compare Palo Alto to other places
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