A sourced breakdown of violent crime, property crime, and city-level trends across Orange County, compiled from individual city police departments and the California Department of Justice.
Orange County is home to roughly 3.17 million residents (U.S. Census Bureau, July 1, 2024 estimate) spread across 34 cities, each with its own police department — there is no single sheriff-patrolled jurisdiction covering the bulk of the county the way LASD does in Los Angeles County. That makes county-wide totals harder to source live: Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) publishes its own statistics for the areas it directly patrols, but its public web properties were not reachable for this compilation (see Methodology). What follows is real, sourced data from the county’s individual city police departments, which is the most reliable citable picture available.
Violent Crime in Orange County
Santa Ana Police Department — Orange County’s second-largest city by population (335,052 residents per SAPD’s own report) — publishes a full annual Uniform Crime Reporting statistical breakdown. Its most recent report shows:
| Offense | 2024 | 2025 | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 15 | 12 | -20% |
| Rape / Sexual Assault | 355 | 248 | -30% |
| Robbery | 331 | 253 | -24% |
| Aggravated Assault | 1,034 | 696 | -33% |
Source: Santa Ana Police Department, “Uniform Crime Reporting Annual Statistical Report” (population 335,052).
Anaheim Police Department — Orange County’s largest city — published its 2025 Department Annual Report comparing 2025 to 2024, reporting declines across every major violent-crime category it highlighted: homicides down 25%, robberies down 21%, and aggravated assaults down 0.2%.
Source: Anaheim Police Department, 2025 Department Annual Report.
For statewide context, the CA DOJ’s “Crime in California 2024” report put California’s violent crime rate at 480.3 per 100,000 in 2024, down 6% from 2023 — the third straight annual decline statewide. Both of Orange County’s two largest cities are reporting declines that outpace that statewide trend, though the two reports don’t share a common data year (Santa Ana’s is 2025 vs. 2024; Anaheim’s is also 2025 vs. 2024; the statewide DOJ figure is for 2024 vs. 2023) — see Methodology for why we didn’t force these onto one table.
Property Crime & Commercial Burglary
Santa Ana’s full annual report also breaks out property crime:
| Offense | 2024 | 2025 | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burglary | 709 | 689 | -3% |
| Larceny / Embezzlement | 3,717 | 2,848 | -23% |
| Auto Theft | 996 | 691 | -31% |
| Arson | 24 | 30 | +25% |
| All Offenses Total | 14,460 | 12,061 | -17% |
Source: Santa Ana Police Department, same report as above.
Anaheim’s 2025 report shows a parallel pattern: burglary down 30% and vehicle theft down 19% compared to 2024. As in Los Angeles County, burglary — the category most relevant to commercial and construction-site security — is falling more slowly than larceny in Santa Ana specifically, even though Anaheim reports the opposite pattern. That divergence between the county’s two largest cities is itself the useful data point: a single county-wide burglary trend would flatten out real differences in local risk.
Statewide, CA DOJ recorded a property crime rate of 2,082.7 per 100,000 in 2024, down 8.4% from 2023.
City-by-City Comparison Within the County
| City | Population | Data Year | Violent Crime Trend | Property Crime Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Ana | 335,052 | 2025 vs. 2024 | Down across all categories (-20% to -33%) | Down 23%B�31% (-larceny, auto theft); burglary -3% |
| Anaheim | ~346,600 (city estimate) | 2025 vs. 2024 | Homicides -25%, robberies -21%, agg. assault -0.2% | Burglary -30%, vehicle theft -19% |
Sources: Santa Ana PD Annual Statistical Report; Anaheim PD 2025 Department Annual Report.
Santa Ana and Anaheim are Orange County’s two largest cities by population and both publish citable year-over-year crime data; neither Irvine, Huntington Beach, nor the OC Sheriff’s own countywide figures were reachable as live, citable data during this compilation (their public statistics pages returned access errors — see Methodology). Both available cities point the same direction — down, and by a wide margin — for 2025 vs. 2024, but that’s two of the county’s 34 cities, not a countywide average, and shouldn’t be read as one.
What the Data Means for Local Businesses
- Two largest OC cities, same direction, different mix. Santa Ana and Anaheim both reported double-digit declines in most major crime categories for 2025, but burglary fell far less in Santa Ana (-3%) than in Anaheim (-30%) — a reminder that "Orange County is safer" doesn’t mean burglary risk fell evenly for every commercial property.
- Arson rose in Santa Ana even as nearly everything else fell. A 25% increase against a 17% drop in total reported offenses is the kind of divergence a single blended county figure would hide entirely.
- County-wide data has real gaps right now. OCSD’s own crime-statistics tooling wasn’t accessible as a citable live source at compile time. Businesses operating outside Santa Ana or Anaheim — including in unincorporated OC or smaller cities — should ask their local PD directly for current numbers rather than rely on countywide averages that may not exist as a single published dataset.
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Get a Free QuoteMethodology — How These Figures Were Compiled
All figures on this page were pulled directly from the originating agency during research for this article (2026). We used:
- Santa Ana Police Department’s Uniform Crime Reporting Annual Statistical Report, the most recently published version at compile time, covering 2025 vs. 2024.
- Anaheim Police Department’s 2025 Department Annual Report, covering 2025 vs. 2024.
- California DOJ’s “Crime in California 2024” report (published July 2025) for statewide rate context.
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts (July 1, 2024 estimate) for county population.
We attempted to source a countywide figure directly from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, whose jurisdiction covers unincorporated OC and several contract cities, similar to LASD’s role in Los Angeles County. OCSD’s public web pages returned access-denied errors during multiple attempts at compile time, and no downloadable countywide crime dataset was found. Rather than substitute a third-party aggregator’s numbers (several exist online but could not be verified against a primary source, and at least one online "Orange County crime statistics" source we checked while researching this page was actually reporting data for Orange County, Florida — a reminder to verify jurisdiction, not just county name, before citing any crime statistic), we’ve published only what could be verified against each city department’s own report and left the countywide total out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is crime in Orange County going up or down? In the county’s two largest cities — Santa Ana and Anaheim — total reported crime fell sharply in 2025 compared to 2024: Santa Ana’s total offenses were down 17%, and Anaheim reported double-digit declines across most major categories. Statewide, California’s violent and property crime rates both fell in 2024 versus 2023, per CA DOJ.
Is there an official Orange County-wide crime statistic? The Orange County Sheriff’s Department is the closest equivalent to a countywide source, but its statistics tools weren’t accessible as a live, citable source when this page was compiled. We recommend checking OCSD’s website directly, or comparing individual city police department reports as this page does.
Which is Orange County’s largest city? Anaheim, followed by Santa Ana — both covered on this page with their most recently published crime data.
How often is this page updated? This page reflects the most recently published data from each source agency as of the compilation date noted above. Santa Ana and Anaheim PD both publish annual reports comparing the prior two calendar years.
Sources
- Santa Ana Police Department — Uniform Crime Reporting Annual Statistical Report (santa-ana.gov)
- Anaheim Police Department — 2025 Department Annual Report (pd.anaheim.net)
- California Department of Justice — “Crime in California 2024” (published July 2025), data-openjustice.doj.ca.gov
- U.S. Census Bureau — QuickFacts, Orange County, California (July 1, 2024 estimate)