LA County Ranking
How is it Calculated?
Santa Monica is ranked against all 88 cities in Los Angeles County based on objective public data. This page explains the ranking methodology, every metric used, and how your city's position is determined.
1 What is the LA County Ranking?
Plain English.
The LA County Ranking compares Santa Monica against all 88 incorporated cities in Los Angeles County using objective, publicly available crime data. A lower rank number means a safer city (fewer Part 1 crimes per capita).
Part 1 crimes include: homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson. This is the standard FBI crime classification used by every law enforcement agency in the United States.
Santa Monica currently ranks #77 out of 88, placing it among the lower-performing cities in LA County by this metric. The ranking is updated annually when the FBI releases new data.
2 Data Source
Where the numbers come from.
All crime data comes from the FBI Crime Data Explorer (CDE) API, which aggregates reported crime statistics from law enforcement agencies across the United States. Population data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The metric used is Part 1 crimes per 100,000 residents (crime rate), which normalizes for city size and allows fair comparisons between small and large municipalities.
3 How is the Ranking Computed?
The algorithm.
For each city in LA County, the ranking is computed as:
# 1. Get annual Part 1 crime count
crime_rate = part1_crimes / population × 100,000
# 2. Rank all 88 cities (lowest crime rate = rank #1)
rank = rank() over (ORDER BY crime_rate ASC)
Higher crime rate = worse rank. A city with 0 crimes would rank #1. A city with 10,000 crimes per 100K would rank last (88th).
Santa Monica's current rank of #77 means there are 76 cities with lower crime rates per capita, and 11 cities with higher rates.
4 Role in the City Health Score
How the ranking feeds into the composite score.
The LA County ranking contributes 15% of the City Health Score as a relative standing modifier:
rank_score = rank / 88 × 10
# Example: #77 / 88 * 10 = 8.75
# A city at rank 1 gets 10/10, rank 88 gets 0/10
The composite formula is:
health_score = (crime + budget + vacancy + tourism) / 4 × 0.85 + (rank / 88 × 10) × 0.15
This means the county ranking is a meaningful but not dominant factor — 85% of your score comes from the four primary categories.
5 Full Ranking Table
Where Santa Monica stands and who ranks above and below.
| Metric | Value | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Monica Rank | #77 of 88 | 75th–76th percentile |
| Cities with better rank | 76 cities | Lower crime rate per capita |
| Cities with worse rank | 11 cities | Higher crime rate per capita |
| Rank contribution to score | 2.14 / 10 | 15% weight of overall score |
| Top-ranked city | Rolling Hills (#1) | Lowest crime rate in LA County |
View the full 88-city ranking table on the County Rankings tab of the dashboard.