Public safety and crime are major issues in California, a state renowned for its dynamic culture, varied landscapes, and booming economy. A complicated web of interrelated elements influenced the Golden State’s total crime patterns in 2024.
This article explores California’s most recent crime data, singling out areas with higher crime rates and looking into the root causes of these patterns.
People can take the appropriate safety precautions and make educated judgments by being aware of how crime is changing.
California Crime Rates and Statistics: The Most Up-to-Date Information
1. California’s most dangerous city is Emeryville
With just 12,905 residents, Emeryville stands out as California’s most hazardous city due to its high rate of violent crime. There are an astounding 6,284 violent offenses reported for every 100,000 residents.
This means that, considering its small size, about 1 in 15 individuals are at risk of becoming victims of violent crimes.
Property and car theft are among the most common violent crime violations, which contributes to the high rate of violent crime in the area.
The likelihood of a resident becoming a victim of property crime is one in five. Emeryville recorded 211.9 property crimes for per 1,000 events in 2019 and remained in the top spot in 2024.
2. California reportedly has the 17th-highest rate of violent crime in the US, up 6.1% from 2021 to 2022.
California violent crime statistics show that since 2021, the state’s violent crime rates have risen by 6.1%, property crime has increased by 6.2%, and robberies have increased by 10.2%.
Attorney General Rob Bonta of the State of California Department of Justice noted the continued devastating impact of violent crime rates on communities and the remaining threat of gun violence, despite a minor decline in homicides.
3. The violent crime rate in California is lower in 2023 than it was in 2019, when it was 16.28% higher than the national average for violent crime and 10.49% higher than the average for property crime
With 442 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, California has the 17th highest violent crime rate in the US.
174,026 violent crime cases per 100,000 people make California the state with the highest rate of violent crime incidences in the country.
Because of its large population and the high frequency of violent crimes including larceny, theft, murder, and burglary, the state has a high violent crime rate.
According to the most recent FBI study, violent crime is more prevalent in California’s most hazardous cities.
4. Danville is regarded as the safest city in California since it has the lowest rates of property and violent crimes
The security consulting website Safewise has named Danville the safest city in California for the fifth year in a row.
Using the most recent FBI crime report data, Safewise performed this analysis. They looked at recorded violent and property crime incidences to determine each city’s violent crime rate per 100,000 population.
Danville had a low rate of violent crime (0.5 incidents per 1,000 residents) and property crime (5,300 incidents per 100,000 residents) in 2023, despite having a population of 44,800.
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5. The Los Angeles Police Department’s 2023 statistics report showed a drop in crime as compared to 2022.
When compared to the first five months of 2022, the violent crime rate in Los Angeles decreased by more than 10%.
There was a 27% decline in homicides, a 17% decrease in shootings, and a roughly 6% decrease in hate crimes.
These enhancements are in line with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s plan to hire 400 more police officers to the LAPD in the coming months.
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6. Among the states with the greatest rates of auto theft, California comes in third.
California was one of the top five states with the greatest total rates of auto theft, according to reports from 2023.
For every 1,000 registered cars in California cities in 2022, there were 14 vehicle robberies, or around one out of every 71 stolen cars.
With 202,685 cases out of 14,268,528 registered vehicles, California cities had the largest number of stolen vehicles.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau’s (NICB) most current “Hot Wheels” report reveals a number of well-known cars that were most commonly stolen in California in 2021.
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7. About 25% of males and 33% of women in California had been victims of domestic abuse.
According to reports, by the end of 2023, almost 25% of males and 33% of women had experienced domestic abuse.
This suggests that domestic violence rates in California are higher [6] than the national average.
For example, according to one statistic, 10% of men and 30% of women in the US had experienced some form of domestic aggravated abuse, with California having higher rates.