Santa Paula, CA carries a PlainCrime B safety grade with violent crime 7% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Santa Paula, CA shows violent crime at 326.7 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 874.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 7% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade B from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
B safety grade
326.7/100K violent
874.3/100K property
-7% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Santa Paula, CA
Comparable rate records
Santa Paula's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the California cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Santa Paula's 326.7 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Perris (327.6), American Canyon (325.5), El Centro (328.4), Kerman (328.5). 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.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 27.2% of the 386 Part I offenses reported in Santa Paula for 2024, against a median of 17.1% across comparable California cities — a gap of 10.1 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 341.6 per 100,000 in 2020 to 326.7 in 2024 (-4.4%). The highest observed value was 384.5 in 2023 and the lowest 290.5 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
Santa Paula sits mid-pack among comparable California cities
At 326.7 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Santa Paula ranks 233 of 458 — above 225 of the 457 other California cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -1.9% against the cohort median of 333.1. 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 Santa Paula'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.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Santa Paula's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 5.5 Census sq mi, Santa Paula logged 50.8 property and 19 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Santa Paula leans on larceny-theft at 56% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 3,693.
Violent offenses are 27% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (5.5 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-15%
384.5 → 326.7/100K
Property Crime Rate
+1.8%
858.8 → 874.3/100K
Property offenses lead Santa Paula's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs CA
Property Crime
281
874.3
1985.9
Larceny-Theft
216
672.1
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
38
118.2
-
Burglary
27
84
-
Arson
5
15.6
-
Violent Crime
105
326.7
476.8
Aggravated Assault
76
236.5
-
Robbery
16
49.8
-
Rape
12
37.3
-
Murder
1
3.1
-
Santa Paula Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Santa Paula property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Santa Paula Police Department
Reporting agency for Santa Paula NIBRS-participating
Santa Paula Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Santa Paula's 386 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
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 Santa Paula in population. Their populations run from 31,680 to 32,724, against 32,139 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Santa Paula at 326.7/100K violent and 874.3/100K property - matched below outside California (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Santa Paula reported 105 violent crimes and 281 property crimes, for a total of 386 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Santa Paula?
From 2023 to 2024, Santa Paula's violent crime rate decreased by 15%, and the property crime rate increased by 1.8%.
What is the most common crime in Santa Paula?
The most common crime type in Santa Paula is larceny-theft, accounting for 56.0% of all reported crimes (216 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Santa Paula figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Santa Paula, CA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.