Whether you ’re look for dangerous undertaking , work opportunities , new scene or better weather condition , California cities represent a special , sunny place in the pop imaging . But before pack your bags and heading to the Golden State , you ’ll want to know which is themost life-threatening city in California .
When looking at " life-threatening cities , " you have to look at the best data usable , which breaks down into two broad family : crimson crime pace and property criminal offense pace .
This is how law enforcement agencies divide up the crime statistic they collect . And it makes gumption ; experience your car broken into and getting attack on the street ( or in your home ) are two very unlike kinds of danger . Property crimes admit gondola theft , burglary and other crimes give to do with , well , property .
trigger-happy crimes are assault ( and exacerbate assault ) , looting , slaying and rape . All of these are bad , obviously , and both place criminal offense and violent offence tend to have broad correlation . That is , cities with relatively high levels of red criminal offense will commonly also have high layer of property offense .
For the design of clarity , we ’ll be look at both separately .
10 California Cities With the Most Violent Crime
Below is a list of the most dangerous cities in California , as ranked by their respective violent crime rates .
We ’re measuring them in terms ofincidents per 1,000 occupant , which throw a clear picture of the law-breaking pace ( especially in smaller urban center ) , as oppose to say , per 100,000 resident physician , as is sometimes cover .
1. Stockton (13.97)
At the top of the list is Stockton , a metropolis of roughly 320,000 residents . With the highest rate of report violent crimes in the land , it ’s good to say that Stockton has some issues with fierceness .
Like many city plagued with high - than - fair crime rates , Stockton has suffered some severe economic blow ( it file for bankruptcy in the aftermath of the 2008 fiscal crash ) .
2. Emeryville (13.41)
The second - eminent trigger-happy crime rate in the land of California is Emeryville , universe 12,380 .
draw close between lower - income Oakland ( which we ’ll see shortly on this list ) and higher - income Berkeley ( which we wo n’t see at all , until place offense ) , it ’s another good monitor of how closely a city ’s class composition and its crime rate often track .
3. San Bernardino (13.19)
The third - high violent crime rate in California is found in cheery San Bernardino . Located deep in Southern California ’s Inland Empire region , this city of 216,715 has serious takings with poverty , resulting high rate of violent and attribute crimes .
4. Susanville (13.17)
Susanville , again on the small side with a universe of 14,878 , is a case study in the limitations of the American reprehensible justice system . Almost half of Susanville ’s universe is incarcerated ; the local prison , High Desert State Prison , is the town ’s big employer .
Having a prison house in Ithiel Town — historically , prison are quite violent places — means that the violent crime charge per unit are pretty high , too .
5. Oakland (12.72)
With a population of 434,036 , Oakland is the third - most populous urban center in California ’s famed San Francisco Bay Area , and among the most dangerous in terminus of wild criminal offence . As a hub for narcotic distribution , much of the violent offense comes in the chassis of crew fierceness .
6. Compton (11.42)
locate in the southern portion of Los Angeles County , Compton — with a universe of 96,638 — has long been connect to high violent offence rate .
High rates of homicide and aggravated assaults are often related to crowd activity , although endeavor to permeate the turf war between rival gang have shown procession .
7. Barstow (11.36)
Barstow , with a population of 24,121 , is located in the Mojave Desert , far inland from the famed coastal communities of Southern California . Its remoteness has create economic challenge , which has in turn driven the relatively high red crime charge per unit .
8. Commerce (10.78)
The metropolis of Commerce , a major industrial hub in Los Angeles county , has a universe of 12,804 . A comparatively small country with relatively high-pitched law-breaking rate , it has also struggled with economical severity for the local residents .
9. Richmond (9.32)
Back in the Bay Area , Richmond has a population of 110,998 . In the 1990s it was eff as one of the most violent cities in the nation , but various efforts at offence reduction and prevention have land rate down from their elevation decade ago .
Still , violent crime remains a concern , especially in sure neighborhood .
10. Red Bluff (9.30)
Red Bluff is locate at northmost point of California ’s Central Valley . With a population of 14,308 , it ’s another modest to mid - sized California city with some crime issues . It has also struggled with impoverishment , which has n’t helped the offence rate . Property criminal offense are also higher than average in Red Bluff .
10 California Cities With the Most Property Crime
Now we ’ll count at the proceeds of offense rates in California cities through the lens of the eye of property crime . Here , we ’ll be using the same dataset as before , theFBIUCR theme from 2019 . As you ’ll see , attribute offence numbers will be much higher , and they will often show some correlation with a city ’s red crime pace .
When we let the cat out of the bag about property crime , we ’re referring to burglary , larceny and motor fomite theft . These tend to be the most common crime government issue found in any urban sphere , and the following California urban center are those with the mellow incident charge per unit , asmeasured per 1,000 residents .
1. Emeryville (211.87)
For those of you keeping cart track at base , this arrive out to about one - fifth of residents reporting a belongings criminal offense incident . That said , it should n’t be too surprising that Emeryville has some serious issues with place crimes .
As mentioned in its listing on the cities with high trigger-happy crime rate , where it came in at No . 2 , Emeryville has long - stand issues with poverty and other societal issues such as addiction , which often understand into crime — specially motorcar theft and burglary .
2. Commerce (78.41)
It ’s a sizable drop down to the next entry on our list , although the dimension crime in Commerce is still around four times the internal norm . That ’s quite a bit of property criminal offense , which is a persistent offspring in Commerce .
3. Oakland (64.21)
We ’re still on intimate ground here , with Oakland rated as the third0most dangerous city in California , based on the property crime rate . As with red offence , Oakland ’s attribute crimes are drive by a turgid and complex range of factors , admit crew activity , poverty and addiction .
4. Signal Hill (58.33)
Signal Hill is a small city within the larger metropolis of Long Beach , California . Its population of 11,624 enjoys the weather of seaside SoCal , but has to deal with a mellow crime rate , especially worry dimension crime .
5. Santa Fe Springs (57.37)
Unlike its neighboring city of Compton , Santa Fe Springs ( also in south Los Angeles county ) is plausibly nameless to most proofreader . Like Compton , this urban center of 18,041 has endured dour law-breaking issues over the years , in part driven by class and racial conflicts , some of which are gang - found .
6. San Francisco (55.06)
A brusk hop across the Bay from Oakland is San Francisco , population 886,007 . While overall a wealthy and culturally vibrant city , San Francisco has some neighborhoods where crime pace are mellow , which raises the crime rate for the city overall .
A pertinacious homelessness problem , as well as far-flung grave dependance , contribute to the elevated offence statistics for San Francisco .
7. Red Bluff (55.00)
As mention in the trigger-happy offence list , Red Bluff is a metropolis of 14,308 , located at the northmost reach of the Central Valley . Property crime rates in this city are also higher than average , and it ’s slightly higher on this list than on the previous one .
8. Capitola (52.27)
Capitola , with its universe of 10,101 residents , is something of an outlier on our inclination , as it ’s on the central glide of California — not in the Bay Area , Southern California or the Central Valley .
It ’s also a city that ’s reliant on tourism for much of its saving , so safety is very of import to its image . Still , it has above - mediocre prop offense rates .
9. West Hollywood (51.06)
A metropolis in Los Angeles County , West Hollywood has a population of 37,173 . As home plate to many far-famed Los Angeles watershed , such as the Chateau Marmont and the Laugh Factory , it has a vivacious chronicle and a reputation as being notably LGBTQ - friendly .
Still , property crime is passably high , pointing to the challenge facing many contemporary cities .
10. Berkeley (50.95)
Once again visiting the Bay Area — and attack out our leaning of cities with high pace of holding offense — we have Berkeley .
proportional to most other Bay Area cities , Berkeley ( population 122,788 ) is affluent , although it also suffers from a longstanding homelessness job . This has been exacerbated over late decade by rising housing cost , exacerbating struggle with both caparison and belongings crime .
Where Do the Numbers Come From?
To get a good , dependable dataset for this article , we look at the bestavailable statistic , which are compile and published by the FBI through their Uniform Crime Reporting program ( UCR ) . presently , the datum is only as recent as 2019 , which is the last year that they released data die down by city in the state of California .
You might see other statistics and listings that purport to have more recent info , but since these articles do n’t tend to be transparent about their beginning , we ca n’t say for sure how precise that data is .
It ’s helpful to keep in mind that these rate tend to exchange pretty tardily , so even though we ’re take our numbers from 2019 , this FBI violent criminal offence data is still relevant .
Population Size and Regional Difference
We only grade cities with a population of at least 10,000 . We had to make a cutoff somewhere , and aside from 10,000 being a estimable , pear-shaped number , go much lower than this would get down to skew proportional data .
The other thing to remark is that California metropolitan areas are really big , and often consist of smaller local municipalities that are cities in their own rightfield . The Bay Area , for instance , is an immensely populous office made up of many dissimilar metropolis , some of which have middling high offence rates , and some of which are quite downcast .
This give you a sentiency of how offense rate can change from place to place , even without travel very far in terms of miles .
Keeping Things in Perspective
Danger is , after all , a relative term ; there are very few urban center in American with no mensurable crime , and while there have been many headlines about criminal offense rates increasing , it ’s important to note that criminal offense rates are historically pretty low .
In 2022 , tearing crime pace in California was around 4.9 per 1,000 residents , and the property criminal offense rate was 23 per 1,000 residents . That ’s well below the historical highs in crime , whichpeakedin the 1980 for holding crime and 1993 for red law-breaking .
5 Tips for Staying Safe
No matter where you live , you’re able to practise personal safety . Here are some helpful condom baksheesh , especially if you ’re living in an area that has higher - than - intermediate crime rates .
1. Safety in Numbers
If you ’re out alone , you ’re simply more vulnerable than if you ’re with a friend . By planning ahead , you could arrange to travel with a friend , especially if it ’s later at night and you ’re in an unfamiliar vicinity .
2. Know Your Community
When you ’re in a newfangled surround , it can be difficult to get together masses . But getting to know your neighbors can help in descry unfamiliar side . on-line groups can also help with this , admit locality watch programme that enable community members to see out for one another .
3. Lock Your Doors
This goes for your firm and your auto . It ’s a simple enough measure to take , and once you ’re in the habit , you wo n’t even have to think about it .
4. Pack Some Pepper Spray
Keeping a belittled canister of pepper spray on your someone ( in accordance withstate laws , of path ) can be like having a certificate blanket : You ’ll palpate safer , which can significantly improve your quality of lifetime . And if you ever need it , you ’ll have it there .
5. Consider a Security System
Many security systems represent a magnanimous investment , but if you live in an area where crime is a tangible trouble , it can be deserving the money . If you ’re considering it , be sure to shop around to obtain the best useable deals for your desire point of protection .
