Palo Alto crime statistics

The Palo Alto Police Department publishes its annual crime statistics on its Public Information Portal. The numbers tell a consistent story. Most reported crime in the city is property crime, mainly theft. Serious violent crime is rare. Year to year, the totals have moved within a narrow range.

This page summarizes the department's figures for 2023 to 2025 and explains how to read them. It does not rank cities or label neighborhoods. Crime data reflect what gets reported and recorded, which is not the same as what happens. For phone numbers, online reports and emergency alerts, see our police, fire and emergency alerts guide.

How the counts work

Since 2022, Palo Alto has reported crime through the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System, or NIBRS. The older Summary Reporting System tracked eight main offense types and counted only the most serious offense in each incident. NIBRS tracks dozens of offense types and records every offense in an incident. A single burglary in which a car is also stolen and a window smashed can now produce three counts.

The department says its 2022 figures were the first under NIBRS and that comparisons with earlier years are difficult. That is why this page starts in 2023. Treat any article that compares a recent total with a figure from 2019 or before with caution.

Totals and main categories, 2023 to 2025

Source: Palo Alto Police Department crime statistics page, viewed November 2026. The full table lists more than 30 offense types; the smaller ones are left out here but count toward the totals. The department's 2025 table also lists one negligent manslaughter.

Grouped the traditional way

Many news reports still group four offenses as "violent crime" and four as "property crime." Using the department's numbers:

• Violent (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault): 124 in 2023, 134 in 2024 and 101 in 2025.
• Property (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson): 1,846 in 2023, 2,005 in 2024 and 1,958 in 2025.

Those groupings are our arithmetic. Robbery fell in each of the three years, from 56 to 22. Motor vehicle theft dropped by about 40 percent in 2025. Burglary and vandalism rose in 2025 after falling in 2024. Small categories like rape can swing widely from year to year on a handful of reports, so one year's change says little on its own.

Theft is most of the picture

Larceny-theft accounted for 1,685 offenses in 2025, about 53 percent of everything the department listed. It covers shoplifting, theft from vehicles, bike theft, package theft and similar crimes. Palo Alto has large retail centers such as Stanford Shopping Center plus a downtown with many parked cars, so theft reports concentrate where people shop, work and park.

Common-sense steps cut the risk:

• Leave nothing visible in a parked car, including bags and charging cables.
• Lock bikes with a sturdy U-lock through the frame and record the serial number.
• Bring packages in promptly or use a locker or pickup point.
• File minor thefts with no suspect online. The city accepts online reports for car break-ins, bike theft and similar incidents, as our public safety guide explains.

Calls for service and reports

Recorded crime is only part of police work. The department also publishes yearly activity counts:

Calls for service include everything from alarms and welfare checks to traffic hazards. The rise in 2025 does not by itself mean more crime.

The department also lists hate crimes by the month they were reported. Adding up its monthly figures gives 12 in 2023, 11 in 2024 and 8 in 2025. The page notes that these counts can be updated as reports are processed.

Traffic collisions

Traffic is a bigger day-to-day safety issue for many residents than crime. The department recorded 565 collisions in 2023, 650 in 2024 and 600 in 2025. Those counts cover collisions that police handled or took reports on; minor fender-benders settled between drivers often never reach the department. The city runs its own traffic safety programs. The department's online Traffic Concern form is the channel for persistent speeding or signal problems on a street. Families walking or biking to school can find routes and programs in our Safe Routes to School guide.

Using the data when choosing a home

Citywide totals say little about a single block. If you are weighing an address, read several weeks of the daily Police Report Log for nearby streets and look at the calls map at different times of day. Ask neighbors or the local neighborhood association what they see. Remember that areas near shopping centers, transit stations and busy commercial streets will log more theft simply because more people and cars pass through them.

Rates and why they mislead here

Crime rates divide offenses by residents. With the state's estimate of 69,004 residents on January 1, 2026, Palo Alto's 1,958 property offenses in 2025 work out to roughly 28 per 1,000 residents. The 101 violent offenses work out to about 1.5 per 1,000. Those are our calculations, not official rates.

Per-resident rates overstate risk for residents in a city like Palo Alto. The city's Housing Element counts close to 100,000 jobs against about 69,000 residents. Regional shoppers and visitors add more. Many thefts involve people and property from outside the city. Most of the Stanford campus is unincorporated land and is not in these figures. For those reasons, comparisons with bedroom communities can look worse than daily life feels. Comparisons with big cities can look better.

Other official sources

• Daily Police Report Log and calls map. The department's portal posts a daily log of reports and a map of calls for service from the past 24 hours.
• California Department of Justice. The state's OpenJustice site publishes crimes and clearances submitted by every law enforcement agency, including Palo Alto, using the state's own categories. Its totals may not match the city's NIBRS table.
• Custom requests. The department offers a statistics request form and its Crime Analysis Unit at (650) 329-2536.
• Council reports. The police chief's reports and budget documents go to the City Council; see our guide to attending council meetings.

For broader safety planning, including earthquakes and wildfire smoke, see our emergency preparedness guide. Neighborhood groups that share local alerts are listed on our neighborhood associations page.

Frequently asked questions