San Rafael, CA has a F safety grade (23/100) with a violent crime rate of 559 per 100,000, 59% above the national average.
FBI UCR 2024 · per-capita rates · large city
San Rafael, CA Crime Rate & Safety
At 59,037 residents, San Rafael is a large city: FBI UCR Table 8 rates (per 100,000) here are read against CA and U.S. averages before the offense-family breakdown.
San Rafael, CA carries a PlainCrime F safety grade with violent crime 59% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, San Rafael, CA shows violent crime at 559 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,456.1 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 59% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade F from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
F safety grade
559/100K violent
2456.1/100K property
+59% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for San Rafael, CA
Comparable rate records
San Rafael's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the California cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to San Rafael's 559.0 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Bakersfield (554.6), Reedley (564.9), Ukiah (552.9), Adelanto (565.3). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 391.4 per 100,000 in 2020 to 559.0 in 2024 (+42.8%). The highest observed value was 559.0 in 2024 and the lowest 37.5 in 2021. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
San Rafael reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable California cities
At 559.0 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, San Rafael ranks 104 of 458 — above 354 of the 457 other California cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +70.2% against the cohort median of 328.5. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Property counts dominate San Rafael's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
On a large city row, these are citywide reported offense totals - not neighbourhood advice. Conditions vary by place and time; reporting rates differ across jurisdictions.
San Rafael's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 16.6 Census sq mi, San Rafael logged 87.4 property and 19.9 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
San Rafael leans on larceny-theft at 59% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 3,888.
Violent offenses are 19% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (16.6 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-12.7%
2814.8 → 2456.1/100K
Violent Crime Rate
+6.1%
526.9 → 559/100K
Property offenses lead San Rafael's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
1,450
2456.1
1711
Larceny-Theft
1,045
1770.1
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
249
421.8
-
Burglary
156
264.2
-
Arson
16
27.1
-
Violent Crime
330
559
352
Aggravated Assault
211
357.4
-
Robbery
88
149.1
-
Rape
30
50.8
-
Murder
1
1.7
-
San Rafael Crime Trend (2020-2024)
The chart omits 2021 rather than drawing an unsupported zero or partial-coverage dip. The table preserves the year and marks the gap.
San Rafael property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 4 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
San Rafael Police Department
Reporting agency for San Rafael NIBRS-participating
San Rafael Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind San Rafael's 1,780 reported offenses (4-year span 2020-2024, with internal gaps).
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in California
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the California cities closest to San Rafael in population. Their populations run from 57,877 to 60,335, against 59,037 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
San Rafael at 559/100K violent and 2,456.1/100K property - matched below outside California (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, San Rafael reported 330 violent crimes and 1,450 property crimes, for a total of 1,780 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in San Rafael?
From 2023 to 2024, San Rafael's violent crime rate increased by 6.1%, and the property crime rate decreased by 12.7%.
What is the most common crime in San Rafael?
The most common crime type in San Rafael is larceny-theft, accounting for 58.7% of all reported crimes (1,045 incidents in 2024).
Large-city read: San Rafael's rates come from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, CIUS Table 8, vintage 2024.
Incomplete reporters stay out of rate rankings. Cross-check population with Census ACS; state UCR programs for statewide context. Primary verify links: FBI.gov UCR, Census QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (large city): informational crime rates only - not legal, insurance, or personal-safety advice. Source: FBI UCR. Ask a qualified professional before acting.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 San Rafael, CA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.