Crime in Rancho Santa Margarita, California

Rancho Santa Margarita's crime rate

There were 326 crimes reported in Rancho Santa Margarita, California in 2019, the most recent year crime data is available. Adjusted for population, the city’s annual crime rate is 674 incidents for every 100,000 people.

How does Rancho Santa Margarita compare?

Rancho Santa Margarita has a lower overall crime rate than the vast majority of U.S. cities. For comparison, the national total crime rate is 2,489 incidents for every 100,000 people.

Rancho Santa Margarita's overall crime rate is 76% lower than the overall crime rate in California. Statewide, there were 1,095,445 crimes reported in 2019, or 2,772 for every 100,000 people.

What types of crimes are being committed?

The FBI's crime rate includes seven crime categories: three property crimes -- larceny, burglary, and motor vehicle theft, and four violent crimes -- aggravated assault, robbery, rape, and murder.

Property crime

The vast majority of crimes in America are property crimes, accounting for 85% of total crimes in 2019. In Rancho Santa Margarita, however, property crimes account for about 91% of all offenses.

Despite accounting for a higher than average share of total offenses, property crime is much less prevalent in Rancho Santa Margarita than it is nationwide. There were 296 property crimes in Rancho Santa Margarita in 2019, or 612 for every 100,000 residents. Meanwhile, the national property crime rate is 2,110 incidents per 100,000 people.

Larceny

Larceny is by far the most common type of property crime in the U.S. It is also the most commonly committed type of property crime in Rancho Santa Margarita. There were 250 larcenies reported in Rancho Santa Margarita in 2019, or 517 for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, the larceny rate is 1,550 per 100,000.

Burglary

There were 34 break-ins reported in Rancho Santa Margarita in 2019, or 70 for every 100,000 residents. For reference, there were 341 reported burglaries for every 100,000 people nationwide in 2019.

Motor Vehicle Theft

Across the United States, the annual motor vehicle theft rate is 220 for every 100,000 people. In Rancho Santa Margarita, meanwhile, there were 12 motor vehicle thefts in 2019, or 25 for every 100,000 people.

Violent crime

Violent crime accounts for a relatively small share of crimes nationwide. These offenses, which are generally more egregious than property crimes, account for about 15% of the nearly 8.2 million offenses reported across the U.S. in 2019. In Rancho Santa Margarita, however, violent offenses account for a smaller 9% share of all reported crime.

At 62 incidents for every 100,000 people, the violent crime rate in Rancho Santa Margarita is well below the national violent crime rate of 379 offenses per 100,000 people. Law enforcement in Rancho Santa Margarita reported a total of 30 violent crimes in 2019.

Aggravated Assault

Aggravated assault is by far the most common type of violent crime reported in the U.S. It is also the most commonly reported violent offense in Rancho Santa Margarita. There were 14 aggravated assaults reported in Rancho Santa Margarita in 2019, or 29 for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, the rate is far higher, standing at 250 aggravated assaults per 100,000 people.

Robbery

Robbery is the second most common type of violent crime in America. There were 12 robberies reported in Rancho Santa Margarita in 2019, a rate of 25 robberies for every 100,000 residents. For comparison, the national robbery rate was 82 per 100,000 in 2019.

Rape

There were 4 rapes reported in Rancho Santa Margarita in 2019, or 8 for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, there were 139,815 rapes in 2019, a rate of 43 per 100,000 people.

Murder

While there were 16,425 murders nationwide in 2019, none were reported in Rancho Santa Margarita.

Rancho Santa Margarita compared to other cities in California

Rancho Santa Margarita has the third lowest crime rate of all comparable cities in California. To be considered comparable, a city must have a complete 2019 FBI crime report and population of 5,000 or more.

Here are all comparable cities ranked by total crime rate. Click any bar or city name to see more about crime in that city.

Click here to see a list of all city crime pages.

Click here to see a list of all state crime pages.

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