Crime Radar › California

San Luis Obispo, CA crime: up or down?

Newest FBI monthly report: Dec 2025

About normal for San Luis Obispo
343 violent and property crimes reported, Oct–Dec 2025
Usual for these months
387
Per 1,000 residents, past year
26.2
California overall: 22.8
Residents served
50,385
FBI estimate
Open San Luis Obispo on the map

The map adds deadly crashes, plus plate-reader cameras and police surveillance technology where they are known, and lets you save the place to see what changes.

The same months in past years

Next to similar-size cities

Among the 455 city police departments serving 50,000–100,000 residents in the 51 states loaded so far: violent crime 3.7 per 1,000 residents a year (69% of them report less), property crime 22.5 per 1,000 (81% report less).

The FBI warns against ranking places with these numbers: visitors, commuters, and how each department records and reports crime all differ. Treat this as context, not a grade.

Is San Luis Obispo safe?

Crime Radar doesn't grade towns as safe or unsafe: one number can't say what a street is like, and the FBI warns against ranking places. What these reports can say is whether San Luis Obispo has more or fewer reported crimes than it usually does, and that its yearly rate is 26.2 per 1,000 residents against 22.8 across California. For one block, open it on the map.

How this works

San Luis Obispo Police Department sends monthly counts of violent and property crime to the FBI. Crime Radar compares the newest complete three months with the same months in past years, and only calls a change when it's bigger than this department's usual ups and downs. Months with missing reports are left out, so a reporting gap never looks like a safe stretch. These are totals for everywhere the department patrols, not one street.

Not every crime reaches these numbers: in the national victim survey, about 6 in 10 serious violent crimes and 3 in 10 property crimes were reported to police in 2024 (BJS).

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