South El Monte, CA carries a PlainCrime D safety grade with violent crime 33% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, South El Monte, CA shows violent crime at 466.6 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 3,234.2 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 33% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade D from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
D safety grade
466.6/100K violent
3234.2/100K property
+33% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for South El Monte, CA
Comparable rate records
South El Monte's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the California cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to South El Monte's 466.6 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Banning (467.1), Pico Rivera (468.1), Avenal (468.4), Taft (470.5). 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.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 47.5% of reported property offenses in South El Monte, against a cohort median of 69.5%. The remainder is burglary (191) and motor vehicle theft (129). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Position in the state cohort
South El Monte sits mid-pack among comparable California cities
At 466.6 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, South El Monte ranks 154 of 458 — above 304 of the 457 other California cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +42.0% 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 4 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 572.0 per 100,000 in 2020 to 466.6 in 2024 (-18.4%). The highest observed value was 645.4 in 2022 and the lowest 466.6 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 12.6% of the 698 Part I offenses reported in South El Monte for 2024, against a median of 17.1% across comparable California cities — a gap of 4.5 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.
Property counts dominate South El Monte'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.
South El Monte's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 2.8 Census sq mi, South El Monte logged 214.5 property and 30.9 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
South El Monte leans on larceny-theft at 42% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 2,901.
Violent offenses are only 13% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (2.8 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
-21.2%
591.9 → 466.6/100K
Property Crime Rate
-14.2%
3771 → 3234.2/100K
Property offenses lead South El Monte's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs CA
Property Crime
610
3234.2
1711
1985.9
Larceny-Theft
290
1537.6
-
-
Burglary
191
1012.7
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
129
684
-
-
Arson
6
31.8
-
-
Violent Crime
88
466.6
352
476.8
Aggravated Assault
57
302.2
-
-
Robbery
29
153.8
-
-
Rape
2
10.6
-
-
Murder
0
0
-
-
South El Monte 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.
South El Monte property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 4 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
South El Monte Police Department
Reporting agency for South El Monte Summary Reporting (SRS)
South El Monte Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind South El Monte's 698 reported offenses (4-year span 2020-2024, with internal gaps).
This agency reports via the traditional Summary Reporting System (SRS): aggregate monthly offense counts rather than incident-level detail.
Similar-Size Cities in California
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the California cities closest to South El Monte in population. Their populations run from 18,545 to 19,402, against 18,861 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
South El Monte at 466.6/100K violent and 3,234.2/100K property - matched below outside California (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, South El Monte reported 88 violent crimes and 610 property crimes, for a total of 698 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in South El Monte?
From 2023 to 2024, South El Monte's violent crime rate decreased by 21.2%, and the property crime rate decreased by 14.2%.
What is the most common crime in South El Monte?
The most common crime type in South El Monte is larceny-theft, accounting for 41.5% of all reported crimes (290 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: South El Monte 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 South El Monte, CA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.