Rancho Santa Margarita is the safest city in California, with a violent crime rate of 0.4 and a property crime rate of 4.8 incidents per 1,000.
One of only two cities reporting zero murders and zero rapes, Rancho Santa Margarita is once again ranked number one by Safewise in their 2024 Safest Cities Report.
According to Safewise, for the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.
- 77 cities met the criteria to be considered for ranking.
- Rancho Santa Margarita is the safest city in California, with a violent crime rate of 0.4 and a property crime rate of 4.8 incidents per 1,000.
- 2 cities reported zero murders and zero rapes: Rancho Santa Margarita and Yorba Linda.
- All the safest cities reported fewer than 3 violent crimes per 1,000 people.
- 5 cities reported fewer than 10 violent crimes per 1,000 people: Rancho Santa Margarita, Aliso Viejo, Lincoln, Poway, and Santee.
