Is Sacramento Safe? Official Crime Data by Year and How to Check an Address

Sacramento crime rate by year: the DOJ figures

Every number in this table is an offense the Sacramento Police Department reported to the California Department of Justice. It comes from the DOJ's Crimes and Clearances with Arson file for 1985 to 2025, published on OpenJustice. The DOJ groups homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault as violent crime, and burglary, motor vehicle theft and larceny-theft as property crime. 2025 is the newest full year in the file.

Violent crime in Sacramento: the 2022 peak and three years of decline

Reported violent crime climbed from 3,223 offenses in 2019 to 4,749 in 2022, then fell to 3,873 in 2025. That is 18.4% below the 2022 peak but still 20.2% above 2019. Across all California agencies in the same DOJ file, violent crime fell 1.6% between 2019 and 2025, so Sacramento rose over six years while the state edged down. Aggravated assault is the biggest piece: 2,795 of the 3,873 violent offenses in 2025. Homicides peaked at 58 in 2021 and were 42 in 2025.

Property crime in Sacramento: lowest total in the seven years shown

Property offenses fell from 16,354 in 2019 to 12,208 in 2025, a drop of 25.4%, against a statewide fall of 22.9%. Larceny-theft, which covers shoplifting, thefts from cars and package theft, made up 63.9% of the 2025 total. Vehicle theft swung the most: 3,703 cars were reported stolen in 2023 and 2,246 in 2025, a 39.3% fall in two years. Burglaries dropped from 2,993 to 2,159 over the six years.

Sacramento's rate per 1,000 residents

The Census Bureau's American Community Survey puts Sacramento's population at 528,706 (2020-2024 five-year estimate). Divided into the 2025 counts, that is about 7.3 violent offenses and 23.1 property offenses per 1,000 residents. We computed those rates ourselves; the DOJ file gives counts, not rates. Use the same population source for any city you compare, or the rates will not line up.

How many Sacramento crimes are solved: clearance rates

The same DOJ file records clearances, mostly arrests, for each agency. In 2025 the Sacramento Police Department cleared 1,789 violent offenses (46.2% of those reported) and 917 property offenses (7.5%). Statewide, all agencies cleared 45.9% of violent offenses and 11.2% of property offenses that year. A clearance in one year can relate to a crime reported in an earlier year, so treat these as rough ratios.

For a buyer, the low property clearance rate matters more than the violent figure. Most reported property crime in a large city is never solved, which is why cameras, lighting, a garage and a locked side gate do more to protect a home than a quick look at citywide numbers.

What citywide Sacramento numbers cannot tell you

The DOJ table covers only the area the Sacramento Police Department patrols. Keep these limits in mind before you compare it with anywhere else.

• Other agencies. Incidents on freeways handled by the California Highway Patrol, on the Sacramento State campus (CSU Sacramento police) and at the UC Davis Medical Center (UC police) are reported by those agencies. Unincorporated places with Sacramento mailing addresses, such as Arden-Arcade and parts of Rosemont, are covered by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office, a separate line in the file.
• A capital city's daytime population. Downtown fills with state workers, arena crowds at Golden 1 Center and visitors to Old Sacramento. Per-resident rates do not account for the people who work or visit but live elsewhere.
• Reporting habits. A theft below an insurance deductible often goes unreported, so changes in reporting can move the numbers as much as changes in crime.
• No official neighborhood ranking. The DOJ publishes citywide totals only. That is why this page names no "safest" neighborhoods.

For a statewide comparison using the same definitions, see our guide to crime data across California.

How to check crime near a Sacramento address

The Sacramento Police Department publishes more address-level data than most California cities. Use these official tools before you make an offer or sign a lease.

SacPD Community Crime Map

The department's Community Crime Map lets you query and map selected crimes for any location within the city of Sacramento after you accept its terms. Search a radius of a few blocks around the home, and look at six to twelve months rather than one week. The department warns that the data can contain errors and that it has no staff to help interpret it.

City of Sacramento Open Data Portal: dispatch and crime reports

The police department posts two downloadable data sets through the city's Open Data Portal, described on its dispatch and crime data page. Dispatch (CAD) files list calls for service; crime (RMS) files list calls that produced a report. Each covers the current year to date plus five years of archives. Calls for service include noise, alarms and disturbances, so they show what a street is like day to day, not just crime. The department says these extracts should not be compared directly with the official DOJ or FBI totals.

SacPD monthly reports

The department's crime statistics page posts a monthly Chief's Report and a firearm crime report, with shooting figures by patrol district. The September 2026 reports were the latest posted when we checked. The department reports to the FBI through the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).

FBI Crime Data Explorer

The FBI's Crime Data Explorer shows the Sacramento Police Department's NIBRS submissions next to agencies in other states. Counts can differ from the DOJ file because the two programs count some offenses differently, so compare one source with itself.

Megan's Law search by Sacramento ZIP code

The California DOJ's Megan's Law site maps registered sex offenders by address or ZIP code. California disclosure forms point buyers to the site rather than listing results, so run the search yourself for the ZIP (for example 95819 in East Sacramento or 95835 in North Natomas).

Flood, fire and earthquake risk in Sacramento

For most Sacramento homes, flood risk affects the cost of owning more than crime does. The city sits where the American and Sacramento rivers meet, and much of it is protected by levees.

Sacramento flood zones and the Natomas Basin

The city's flood preparedness page links flood maps, evacuation maps showing flood depths, and construction rules for at-risk areas. It also notes that new FEMA regulations for the Natomas Basin, an A99 flood zone, took effect on July 1, 2024. The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency lists levee work in progress, including the American River Watershed Common Features Natomas Basin project. Check any address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center and get a flood insurance quote before you remove contingencies.

Wildfire and earthquake checks

Look up the address on CAL FIRE's Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps, and use Cal OES's MyHazards to see earthquake, flood and fire exposure on one screen. Earthquake cover is a separate policy in California; our earthquake insurance guide explains it, and the FAIR Plan guide covers what to do if insurers decline a home.

Before you buy or rent in Sacramento: a safety checklist

1. Read the seven-year DOJ trend above, not a single year.
2. Map reported crimes within a few blocks of the address on the SacPD Community Crime Map, over at least six months.
3. Download a year of dispatch calls for the surrounding streets from the Open Data Portal if you want the fuller picture.
4. Confirm which agency patrols the address. A Sacramento mailing address outside city limits is a Sheriff's Office area.
5. Search the Megan's Law site by address.
6. Check the FEMA flood zone, the city evacuation map and the CAL FIRE zone, and get insurance quotes early.
7. Visit at night and on a weekend, and talk to neighbors.

For prices and areas, see the Sacramento neighborhoods guide and is Sacramento a good place to live.