Santa Rosa crime rates: the official numbers
California police departments report the crimes they record to the state Department of Justice, which publishes them on OpenJustice. The table shows offenses reported by the Santa Rosa Police Department in the DOJ's Crimes and Clearances file for 1985 to 2025 (published July 2026, the latest available in November 2026).
| Year | Violent crimes | Property crimes | Violent crimes cleared | Property crimes cleared |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 857 | 2,874 | 591 | 419 |
| 2020 | 913 | 2,838 | 590 | 275 |
| 2021 | 788 | 2,940 | 426 | 207 |
| 2022 | 669 | 2,581 | 322 | 264 |
| 2023 | 585 | 2,598 | 277 | 272 |
| 2024 | 600 | 2,312 | 296 | 389 |
| 2025 | 516 | 2,489 | 273 | 539 |
In 2025 the 516 violent crimes were 11 homicides, 113 rapes, 100 robberies and 292 aggravated assaults. The 2,489 property crimes were 381 burglaries, 252 motor vehicle thefts and 1,856 larceny-thefts. The department also recorded 17 arsons.
Santa Rosa crime per 1,000 residents
To compare places of different size, divide by population. Using the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 estimate of 177,090 residents, Santa Rosa's 2025 counts work out to about 2.9 violent crimes and 14.1 property crimes per 1,000 people. Statewide, the same DOJ file counted 170,397 violent and 705,925 property crimes in 2025 against a population of about 39.3 million, or about 4.3 and 18.0 per 1,000. These are our calculations from the two official sources; the FBI publishes its own rates per 100,000 for agencies that report to it.
How Santa Rosa's trend compares with the county and state
Between 2019 and 2025, Santa Rosa's violent crimes fell 39.8%, from 857 to 516, and property crimes fell 13.4%, from 2,874 to 2,489. Across all Sonoma County agencies in the same file, violent crime fell 40.6% and property crime 24.2%. Statewide, violent crime fell 1.6% and property crime fell 22.9%. From 2024 to 2025, Santa Rosa's violent count fell 14.0%, and its property count rose 7.7%.
Santa Rosa is the county's largest city, with about 36% of its residents, and in 2025 it accounted for 43% of the violent crimes reported by Sonoma County agencies. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, which polices unincorporated areas, reported 272 violent and 714 property crimes. That matters because some homes with Santa Rosa mailing addresses are outside the city and covered by the Sheriff, not the city police.
What Santa Rosa's crime figures do and do not show
These are crimes reported to police, not a count of every crime or every victim. Some offenses, such as car break-ins and minor thefts, often go unreported. Counts also follow where people gather: shopping centers, the downtown core around Old Courthouse Square, transit stations and busy corridors record more incidents than quiet residential streets, because more people pass through them.
The DOJ file reports crime for the whole city only. There is no official breakdown by Santa Rosa neighborhood, which is why we do not rank or name neighborhoods by safety. Websites that grade neighborhoods usually estimate figures for small areas or blend sources; treat those scores with caution.
Clearance figures are worth a look. A crime is cleared when police make an arrest or close it by exceptional means. In 2025 Santa Rosa police cleared 273 of 516 violent crimes, about 53%, and 539 of 2,489 property crimes, about 22%. Statewide, the same file shows about 46% of violent and 11% of property crimes cleared. Even so, most property crime goes unsolved, so locks, lighting, cameras and good insurance records matter more than any neighborhood label.
How to check crime near a Santa Rosa address
Santa Rosa Police Department records and crime data
Start with the Santa Rosa Police Department's own pages on the city website, srcity.org, which is the place to find any crime map or statistics the department publishes and to request reports from the records unit. The city site refused automated access when we checked in October 2026, so we could not confirm which tools it currently offers; ask the department directly. For addresses outside city limits, contact the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office instead.
California DOJ OpenJustice for long-term trends
OpenJustice publishes crimes, clearances, arrests and arson for every California agency back to 1985. Use it to compare Santa Rosa with Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Windsor or any other city on identical definitions. It has no figures below the city level.
FBI Crime Data Explorer for rates
The FBI's Crime Data Explorer shows Uniform Crime Reporting data by agency, with rates per 100,000 residents and state and national comparisons. Search for the Santa Rosa Police Department, and check that it reported a full year before you compare years.
Megan's Law search by address
The California DOJ's Megan's Law site lets you search registered sex offenders by address or ZIP code. Sellers and agents do not run this search for you, so do it yourself before you remove contingencies.
Visit the street yourself
Go at night and on a weekend, not only on a weekday afternoon. Talk to neighbors, check street lighting and parking, and ask the HOA, if there is one, about incident reports or patrol contracts.
Wildfire, flood and earthquake risk in Santa Rosa
For a Santa Rosa homeowner, a natural hazard can cost more than crime. In October 2017 the Tubbs Fire destroyed more than 3,000 homes in the city, about 5% of its housing, including more than 1,400 in Coffey Park and about 1,600 in and around Fountaingrove, according to Santa Rosa newspaper reporting in 2022. Most of Coffey Park has been rebuilt.
Fire hazard severity zones in Santa Rosa
CAL FIRE maps fire hazard severity zones by parcel, and Cal OES MyHazards shows fire zones for an address. Homes next to open space, parkland and hillsides deserve the closest look. A mapped zone must be disclosed in a sale, can bring defensible-space and building rules, and affects whether insurers will write a policy. Our California wildfire zones guide explains how to look up a parcel, and the FAIR Plan guide covers the fallback insurer.
Flood and earthquake checks
Look up any address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center. A federally backed mortgage on a home in a high-risk zone requires flood insurance. Cal OES MyHazards shows earthquake, flood and fire zones for an address in one search. Standard homeowners policies do not cover earthquake damage; see our earthquake insurance guide.
Before you buy or rent in Santa Rosa: a checklist
- Confirm whether the address is inside city limits (Santa Rosa police) or unincorporated (Sheriff).
- Ask the police department or Sheriff for recent incident data near the home.
- Search the Megan's Law site by address.
- Look up fire, flood and earthquake zones on MyHazards and FEMA's map.
- Get homeowners insurance quotes before your contingencies expire.
- Visit at different times of day and talk to neighbors.
For daily life in the city, see is Santa Rosa a good place to live, and for statewide comparisons on the same official data, see the safest places to live in California guide.