Mountain View crime: the official numbers
The California Department of Justice publishes yearly counts of crimes reported by every police agency in the state. For the Mountain View Police Department, the 2025 figures were:
- Violent crime: 184 reports: 1 homicide, 16 rapes, 33 robberies and 134 aggravated assaults.
- Property crime: 2,113 reports: 255 burglaries, 98 motor vehicle thefts and 1,760 larceny-thefts. Larceny-theft, which covers shoplifting, thefts from cars and package theft, made up 83% of the total.
Here is the ten-year record, as reported to the state:
| Year | Violent crimes | Property crimes | Burglary | Motor vehicle theft | Larceny-theft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 132 | 1,776 | 280 | 119 | 1,377 |
| 2017 | 150 | 1,982 | 290 | 102 | 1,590 |
| 2018 | 157 | 2,103 | 276 | 168 | 1,659 |
| 2019 | 165 | 2,463 | 321 | 112 | 2,030 |
| 2020 | 144 | 2,177 | 422 | 189 | 1,566 |
| 2021 | 181 | 2,235 | 382 | 195 | 1,658 |
| 2022 | 223 | 2,386 | 400 | 182 | 1,804 |
| 2023 | 204 | 2,286 | 350 | 181 | 1,755 |
| 2024 | 248 | 2,259 | 403 | 189 | 1,667 |
| 2025 | 184 | 2,113 | 255 | 98 | 1,760 |
Two trends stand out. Violent crime rose from 165 reports in 2019 to a ten-year high of 248 in 2024, then fell to 184 in 2025, still 12% above 2019, with aggravated assaults up from 96 to 134. Over 2019 to 2025 violent crime fell 1.6% statewide. Property crime moved the other way: down 14.2% from 2019's ten-year high of 2,463, less than the statewide fall of 22.9%. Burglaries dropped to 255 in 2025, the lowest of the ten years.
Mountain View crime rates compared with nearby cities
To compare places of different sizes, we divided each agency's 2025 counts by its population in the Census American Community Survey 2020-2024 (Mountain View: 83,732). The rates are per 1,000 residents.
| Area (2025) | Violent crimes per 1,000 | Property crimes per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain View | 2.20 | 25.24 |
| Palo Alto | 1.59 | 28.66 |
| Sunnyvale | 1.90 | 18.77 |
| Los Altos | 0.36 | 10.23 |
| California | 4.34 | 17.97 |
Mountain View's violent crime rate was below the state's and above its neighbors'. Its property crime rate was above the state's and Sunnyvale's and below Palo Alto's. These are our own calculations from the DOJ file and Census population, so small differences in the population figure used will move them slightly.
What the crime numbers do and do not tell you
Counts are citywide, not by neighborhood
The state and FBI data are reported by agency, so they describe all of Mountain View at once. Neither source breaks crime down by neighborhood or ZIP code. Any site that ranks Mountain View neighborhoods by safety is using its own model or estimates, not an official count. We do not rank neighborhoods.
Per-resident rates and Mountain View's daytime population
Rates divide crimes by residents, but many people in Mountain View during the day do not live there. Google and Intuit are headquartered in the city, the Shoreline Amphitheatre draws concert crowds, and shopping areas such as San Antonio Center draw shoppers from nearby cities. Thefts from workers, shoppers and visitors count against a resident population of about 84,000, which pushes the property crime rate up.
Clearance rates
The DOJ file also reports clearances, which usually means an arrest. In 2025 Mountain View police cleared 113 of 184 violent crimes (61%) and 156 of 2,113 property crimes (about 7%). Statewide, agencies cleared about 11% of property crimes and 46% of violent crimes in 2025, so Mountain View clears violent crime more often than average and property crime less often. Low property clearance is one reason locked storage and cameras matter more than the yearly totals.
Reported crime only
These are crimes reported to police. Crimes nobody reports are missing, and a change in reporting habits or police staffing can move a count without any change in risk. Treat one year's rise or fall with caution and look at the trend.
How to check crime near a Mountain View address
Because the official totals are citywide, the most useful checks are local and specific. Use several of these together:
Mountain View Police Department
The department's section of the city website (mountainview.gov) is the place to find its current crime information, news releases and how to request a police report or call-for-service history. Ask the records unit what is available for a specific block; policies on releasing address-level data vary.
California DOJ OpenJustice
The OpenJustice data portal has the crimes and clearances file used on this page, plus arrests and other datasets by agency back to 1985. Use it to check the long-term trend or compare Mountain View with any other city.
FBI Crime Data Explorer
The FBI Crime Data Explorer shows the agency's federal reports, including some offense detail not in the state summary. Figures can differ slightly from the state's because the two systems count some offenses differently.
Online crime maps
Services such as CrimeMapping.com and the LexisNexis Community Crime Map plot incidents for the agencies that send them data. Check whether Mountain View police publish to either before you rely on a blank map, and remember that maps show reports, not risk.
Megan's Law registry
The California Department of Justice's Megan's Law website lets you search registered sex offenders by address or ZIP code. California law limits how the information can be used, so read the site's terms first.
Neighborhood associations
Many Mountain View neighborhoods have active associations that share local news, including the Monta Loma and Old Mountain View associations. Monta Loma's site has Neighborhood Watch and CERT pages, and Old Mountain View's has a CERT emergency response page. They are a good way to ask about package theft or car break-ins on a particular street.
For home values by area, use our Mountain View neighborhoods guide.
Flood, earthquake and contamination are risks too
For a homeowner, natural hazards can cost more than crime. Check these for any Mountain View address:
Flood risk near the Bay
North Mountain View meets San Francisco Bay at Shoreline Park, which was built on a former landfill. Look up the flood zone on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center, and ask your insurer whether flood cover is worth having even outside a mapped zone.
Earthquake and liquefaction zones
All of the Bay Area carries earthquake risk. The California Geological Survey's EQ Zapp map shows fault and liquefaction hazard zones by address, and MyHazards from Cal OES summarizes earthquake, flood and fire risk in one search. See our California earthquake insurance guide.
Groundwater contamination sites
Mountain View's history as a semiconductor center left seven Superfund sites on the federal National Priorities List, once used by companies including Fairchild Semiconductor, Intel and Raytheon. Search the EPA Superfund site search by address, and read the environmental section of the seller's disclosures.
Disclosures and insurance
California sellers must give a natural hazard disclosure report. Our seller disclosure guide explains it, and our homeowners insurance guide covers getting a quote before you remove your contingencies.
A checklist before you buy or rent in Mountain View
- Read the ten-year DOJ trend for Mountain View, not one year's total.
- Ask Mountain View police what address-level information they can share for the block.
- Search the Megan's Law site by address.
- Visit the street at night and on a weekday afternoon, and ask neighbors about package theft and car break-ins.
- Check the FEMA flood zone, the EQ Zapp hazard zones and the EPA Superfund search for the address.
- Get an insurance quote early, and read the natural hazard disclosure report in full.
For prices, see our Mountain View housing market page, and for schools our Mountain View schools guide.