Crime Grade · FBI UCR Data · 2025
Santa Barbara, CA Crime Grade
How Santa Barbara 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
10/10
vs. all U.S. cities ≥ 25,000 population
California
9/10
vs. California cities ≥ 10,000 population
In 2025, the violent crime rate in Santa Barbara, CA was 638.5 per 100,000 residents (555 incidents over a population of 86,926). That puts Santa Barbara Infinity% above the U.S. rate of 0.0 and 54% above the California statewide rate of 415.5.
That ranks Santa Barbara #3,457 of 3,771 ranked U.S. cities, safer than 8% of them, and #329 of 371 in California. Violent crime is roughly flat year over year and up 50% over the last five years.
Santa Barbara, CA crime — key facts
- National Crime Grade
- F (10/10)
- California Grade
- F (9/10)
- Violent crime rate
- 638.5 / 100k
- National rank
- #3,457 of 3,771
- CA rank
- #329 of 371
- Safer than
- 8% of U.S. cities
- Year over year
- roughly flat
- 5-year change
- up 50%
- Population
- 86,926
- Reporting agency
- Santa Barbara Police Department
- Data year
- 2025 · FBI UCR
Reported by Santa Barbara Police Department (FBI ORI CA0420300) to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Download the full dataset (CSV) · methodology.
About Santa Barbara, CA
Also known as
- La Laguna de la Concepcion *
Location
Bound on the north by the Santa Ynez Mountains, on the east by Monticeto, on the south by the Santa Barbara Channel, and on the west by Goleta. (US-T121)
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. Santa Barbara (red), California (blue), U.S. average (gray dashed).
Santa Barbara 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 | 424.2(389) | 455.5(400) | 604.8(526) | 643.7(552) | 638.5(555) |
| Murder | 2.2(2) | 3.4(3) | 1.1(1) | 1.2(1) | 1.2(1) |
| Rape | 65.4(60) | 55.8(49) | 98.9(86) | 81.6(70) | 80.5(70) |
| Robbery | 91.6(84) | 92.2(81) | 88.5(77) | 74.6(64) | 69.0(60) |
| Aggravated assault | 265.0(243) | 304.0(267) | 416.2(362) | 486.3(417) | 487.8(424) |
| Property crime | 2404.8(2,205) | 2097.5(1,842) | 1855.9(1,614) | 1840.1(1,578) | 1665.8(1,448) |
| Burglary | 236.7(217) | 260.8(229) | 226.5(197) | 171.4(147) | 169.1(147) |
| Larceny | 1906.4(1,748) | 1618.1(1,421) | 1397.1(1,215) | 1457.6(1,250) | 1335.6(1,161) |
| Motor vehicle theft | 243.2(223) | 192.4(169) | 209.3(182) | 198.2(170) | 143.8(125) |
How the Crime Grade is calculated
- What is the source of the Santa Barbara, 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 Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara calculated?
- Santa Barbara'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 Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara to other places
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