Is Carlsbad safe?
Carlsbad is among the highest-crime places of its size. It ranks safer than 11% of US cities with 25,000+ residents on reported crime per person, based on FBI Crime Data Explorer figures for 2025.
MkaeSense Safety IndexOut of 100. Higher is safer. Ranked 1130 of 1274 US cities with 25,000+ residents, where 1 is safest.
How Carlsbad compares
Every dot is one of the 1274 US cities with 25,000+ residents. Further right means more car thefts per person.
Carlsbad's car theft rate of 4.7 per 1,000 residents is higher than 92% of US cities with 25,000+ residents. The New Mexico average is 3.4 and the US average is 2.0.
Month by month
Reported offences each month, per 1,000 residents, compared with New Mexico and the national rate.
When and how often cases are solved
Break-in clock
Average share of each year's break-ins by month.
Cases cleared in 2025
Share of reported offences police marked as cleared, usually by an arrest or charge.
Nearby places
Safety Index for the closest places we cover. Higher is safer.
Protect your home in Carlsbad
Picked for Carlsbad's biggest gap against the US average: car thefts.
Common questions
Is Carlsbad a safe place to live?
Carlsbad is among the highest-crime places of its size. Its MkaeSense Safety Index is 11 out of 100, which means it ranks safer than 11% of US cities with 25,000+ residents on reported crime per person. Safety also varies a lot between neighbourhoods, so check the area you're looking at.
How common are break-ins in Carlsbad?
Police recorded 117 break-ins in 2025, or 3.7 per 1,000 residents. The US rate was 2.0 per 1,000.
Is car theft a problem in Carlsbad?
There were 150 vehicle thefts in 2025, 4.7 per 1,000 residents, against 2.0 per 1,000 nationally. That is higher than 92% of US cities with 25,000+ residents.
How is the Safety Index calculated?
We rank each place against others in the same country by its rate per person of violent crime (half the weight) and of property crime: break-ins, car theft and theft (the other half). The index is the share of places with a higher combined score. Where a police service did not report car thefts, its property crime is ranked on break-ins and theft only. It uses police-reported crime only, which depends on how often residents report. Full method, sources and a worked example.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, offences reported by the Carlsbad Police Department, January 2022 to June 2026. Theft means larceny-theft. Clearance figures are offences cleared in the same period. Rates per 1,000 residents and the Safety Index are MkaeSense calculations. Police-reported crime does not include crimes that were never reported. MkaeSense is not affiliated with any police service.