The following is a list of California locations by crime rate based on FBI's Uniform Crime Reports from 2014.
In 2014, California reported 153,709 violent crimes (3.96 for every 1,000 people) and 947,192 property crimes (24.41 for every 1,000 people). These rates are very similar for the average county and city in California.
Entire state – 2024 The following table includes the number of incidents reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense.
PopulationUnited States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Crime in the United States, 2014, Table 5. Retrieved 2016-08-13. 38,802,500 Violent crime 153,709 3.96 Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter 1,699 0.04 RapeRevised definition: See Table 5 data declaration 11,527 0.30 Robbery 48,680 1.26 Aggravated assault 91,803 2.37 Property crime 947,192 24.41 Burglary 202,670 5.22 Larceny-theft 592,670 15.27 Motor vehicle theft 151,852 3.91
Counties
County PopulationU.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2010–2014 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B01003. U.S. Census website . PopulationdensityU.S. Census Bureau. 2014 U.S. Gazetteer. 2014 U.S. Gazetteer Files.Total population divided by land area in square miles. Violent crimesOffice of the Attorney General, Department of Justice, State of California. CJSC Statistics: Crimes and Clearances. Retrieved 2016-08-13. Violent crime rateper 1,000 persons Property crimes Property crime rateper 1,000 persons Alameda 1,559,308 2,109.8 10,356 6.6 57,620 37.0 Alpine 1,202 1.6 4 3.3 24 20.0 Amador 37,159 62.5 81 2.2 629 16.9 Butte 221,578 135.4 678 3.1 6,631 29.9 Calaveras 44,921 44.0 113 2.5 989 22.0 Colusa 21,424 18.6 40 1.9 350 16.3 Contra Costa 1,081,232 1,496.0 3,650 3.4 32,232 29.8 Del Norte 28,066 27.9 165 5.9 649 23.1 El Dorado 181,465 106.3 409 2.3 3,138 17.3 Fresno 948,844 159.2 4,547 4.8 32,535 34.3 Glenn 28,019 21.3 125 4.5 527 18.8 Humboldt 134,876 37.8 485 3.6 4,787 35.5 Imperial 177,026 42.4 583 3.3 5,536 31.3 Inyo 18,439 1.8 106 5.7 303 16.4 Kern 857,730 105.5 4,465 5.2 28,283 33.0 Kings 151,390 109.0 696 4.6 3,475 23.0 Lake 64,209 51.1 307 4.8 1,832 28.5 Lassen 33,356 7.3 140 4.2 521 15.6 Los Angeles 9,974,203 2,457.9 42,725 4.3 217,493 21.8 Madera 152,452 71.3 888 5.8 3,380 22.2 Marin 256,802 493.4 454 1.8 4,565 17.8 Mariposa 17,946 12.4 71 4.0 276 15.4 Mendocino 87,612 25.0 512 5.8 1,546 17.6 Merced 261,609 135.2 1,485 5.7 7,126 27.2 Modoc 9,335 2.4 49 5.2 166 17.8 Mono 14,193 4.7 36 2.5 184 13.0 Monterey 424,927 129.5 1,833 4.3 10,577 24.9 Napa 139,253 186.1 534 3.8 2,385 17.1 Nevada 98,606 103.0 308 3.1 1,591 16.1 Orange 3,086,331 3,903.6 6,257 2.0 54,754 17.7 Placer 361,518 256.9 596 1.6 6,643 18.4 Plumas 19,286 7.6 91 4.7 312 16.2 Riverside 2,266,899 314.6 6,260 2.8 61,434 27.1 Sacramento 1,450,277 1,503.0 7,452 5.1 40,246 27.8 San Benito 56,888 41.0 196 3.4 736 12.9 San Bernardino 2,078,586 103.6 8,281 4.0 54,778 26.4 San Diego 3,183,143 756.7 10,585 3.3 59,050 18.6 San Francisco 829,072 17,680.1 6,822 8.2 45,936 55.4 San Joaquin 701,050 503.9 5,346 7.6 25,092 35.8 San Luis Obispo 274,184 83.1 1,177 4.3 5,683 20.7 San Mateo 739,837 1,649.7 1,561 2.1 14,186 19.2 Santa Barbara 431,555 157.8 1,294 3.0 9,088 21.1 Santa Clara 1,841,569 1,427.3 4,676 2.5 43,084 23.4 Santa Cruz 267,203 600.2 1,139 4.3 8,121 30.4 Shasta 178,520 47.3 1,275 7.1 5,705 32.0 Sierra 3,019 3.2 11 3.6 29 9.6 Siskiyou 44,261 7.1 137 3.1 724 16.4 Solano 421,624 513.1 2,109 5.0 13,453 31.9 Sonoma 491,790 312.1 1,821 3.7 8,583 17.5 Stanislaus 522,794 349.8 2,826 5.4 18,559 35.5 Sutter 95,067 157.8 316 3.3 2,364 24.9 Tehama 63,284 21.5 321 5.1 1,589 25.1 Trinity 13,515 4.3 34 2.5 174 12.9 Tulare 451,108 93.5 1,903 4.2 11,398 25.3 Tuolumne 54,347 24.5 151 2.8 1,157 21.3 Ventura 835,790 453.5 1,890 2.3 16,812 20.1 Yolo 204,162 201.2 757 3.7 5,507 27.0 Yuba 73,059 115.6 296 4.1 2,135 29.2
Cities and other agencies
There's hardly any correlation between crime rates and population or population density whatsoever for cities in California.
The median city had crime rates slightly lower than that of the state, with a violent crime rate of 2.74 and a property crime rate of 21.66. The fact that the average city had crime rates similar to the state in contrast to the lower median rates indicates the presence of outliers with high crime rates. Indeed, the 66th percentile for violent crime rates was 3.69 crimes per 1,000 people, still not as high as the average crime rate among cities (the 33rd percentile was 1.81).
Irvine ranks second with regard to lowest violent crime rates among places with a population of 50,000 or more even though it has a population roughly five times that. Its violent crime rate is 0.49 per 1,000 people. Joining Irvine among the top five in that population class are San Ramon (0.31), Murrieta (0.63), Cupertino (0.66), and Yorba Linda (0.66). Change the focus to property crime and Orange County cities with a population not much higher than 50,000 dominate the top ten, with seven of the ten places ranking in the top ten being located in Orange County, including (in ascending order of violent crime rate) Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, and Yorba Linda.
Of the ten places with populations over 50,000 and the highest violent crime rates, only two had populations under 100,000: they are Santa Cruz (8.26) and Compton (11.49). The other places include (in descending order of violent crime rate) Oakland, Stockton, San Bernardino, Vallejo, and San Francisco.