Dangerous neighborhoods in California

Of the 76 California cities in our ranking, Oakland has the highest violent crime rate: 1,475 offenses per 100,000 residents in 2025, 3.4 times the state average. Stockton and San Bernardino come next. Even in Oakland, crime is concentrated in a few areas, and our Oakland guide shows which ones.

Among the cities we rank, Irvine has the lowest violent crime rate, at 79 per 100,000 residents in 2025, 82% below the state average. Thousand Oaks follows with 127. A low citywide rate doesn't mean every block is the same, but day-to-day risk is lower.

Most visits go without trouble, but California has more violent crime than the US as a whole. California recorded 435 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2025, 1.3 times the national rate of 330. Crime is concentrated in specific neighborhoods and hours rather than spread evenly, so knowing where those areas are matters more than the statewide figure; our 76 city guides cover them block by block.

32 of the 76 cities we rank have a violent crime rate above the California average of 435 per 100,000 residents: Oakland, Stockton, San Bernardino, Richmond, Vallejo, Lancaster, Antioch, Victorville and 24 more. The other 44 are below it.

Violent crime in California went from 503 offenses per 100,000 residents in 2022 to 435 in 2025, down 13%. Property crime went from 2,387 to 1,822 over 2022–2025, down 24%.

From the FBI Crime Data Explorer, which collects the offenses reported by each police department. Rates are offenses per 100,000 residents, so cities of different sizes can be compared, and years with incomplete reporting are left out. Our methodology explains the details.