Crime in California

Crime in California refers to crime occurring within the U.S. state of California. The principal source of law for California criminal procedure is the California Penal Code.
California has a lower murder rate than the US average.

State statistics

In 2019, there were 1,096,668 crimes reported in California including 1,679 murders, 14,720 rapes and 915,197 property crimes. In 2019, there were 1,012,441 arrests of adults and 43,181 arrests of juveniles in California.
In 2014, 1,697 people were victims of homicides. 30% of homicides were gang-related, 28% were due to an unspecified argument, 9% were domestic, and 7% were robbery related. The rest were unknown. In 2017 the violent crime rate in California rose 1.5% and was 14th highest of the 50 states.

By year

This table uses data from the Uniform Crime Report until 2019. Starting in 2020 it uses data from the FBI Crime Data Explorer as the UCR data is no longer published and a switchover has been done.

Year	Population	Index	Violent	Property	Murder	Rape	Robbery	Aggravated assault	Burglary	Larceny theft	Vehicle theft
1960	15,717,204	546,069	37,558	508,511	616	2,859	18,796	18,796	143,102	311,956	53,453
1965	18,602,000	803,487	52,490	750,997	880	3,948	21,081	26,581	225,007	444,217	81,773
1970	19,953,134	1,264,854	94,741	1,170,113	1,376	7,005	45,083	45,083	349,788	682,811	137,514
1975	21,185,000	1,526,293	138,842	1,387,451	2,209	8,807	59,827	67,999	469,726	784,639	133,086
1976	21,520,000	1,556,757	144,041	1,412,716	2,220	9,614	59,318	72,889	467,980	806,086	138,650
1977	21,896,000	1,534,621	154,582	1,380,039	2,515	10,825	62,852	78,390	468,452	766,317	145,270
1978	22,294,000	1,586,483	165,626	1,420,857	2,611	11,316	68,235	83,464	488,966	777,783	154,108
1979	22,696,000	1,695,108	184,087	1,511,021	2,952	12,239	75,767	93,129	496,310	847,148	167,563
1980	23,532,680	1,264,854	210,290	1,633,042	3,411	13,693	102,766	102,766	545,138	913,070	174,834
1981	24,159,000	1,833,787	208,485	1,625,302	3,143	13,566	93,781	97,995	540,806	921,939	162,557
1982	24,724,000	1,801,256	201,429	1,599,827	2,779	12,529	91,988	94,133	499,466	935,831	164,530
1983	25,174,000	1,680,978	194,491	1,486,487	2,639	12,093	85,826	93,933	460,460	867,123	158,904
1984	25,622,000	1,657,320	195,589	1,461,731	2,717	11,702	83,924	97,246	443,094	857,328	161,309
1985	26,365,000	1,718,473	201,763	1,516,710	2,770	11,421	86,387	101,185	448,506	890,967	177,237
1986	26,981,000	1,824,669	248,370	1,576,299	3,038	12,119	92,512	140,701	457,698	913,004	205,597
1987	27,663,000	1,799,871	253,943	1,545,928	2,924	12,109	83,341	155,569	419,969	896,335	229,624
1988	28,168,000	1,869,092	261,912	1,607,180	2,936	11,780	86,141	161,055	407,631	933,636	265,913
1989	29,063,000	1,965,652	284,136	1,681,516	3,158	11,966	96,431	172,581	410,468	972,603	298,445
1990	29,760,021	1,965,237	311,051	1,654,186	3,553	12,688	182,602	182,602	400,392	951,580	302,214
1991	30,380,000	2,057,513	331,122	1,726,391	3,859	12,896	124,939	189,428	424,656	986,120	315,615
1992	30,867,000	2,061,761	345,624	1,716,137	3,921	12,761	130,897	198,045	427,491	968,534	320,112
1993	31,211,000	2,015,265	336,381	1,678,884	4,096	11,766	126,436	194,083	414,182	945,407	319,295
1994	31,431,000	1,940,497	318,395	1,622,102	3,703	10,984	112,160	191,548	384,257	929,640	308,205
1995	31,589,000	1,841,984	305,154	1,536,830	3,531	10,554	104,611	186,458	353,895	902,456	280,479
1996	31,878,000	1,660,131	274,996	1,385,135	2,916	10,244	94,222	167,614	312,212	830,457	242,466
1997	32,268,000	1,569,949	257,582	1,312,367	2,579	10,189	81,468	163,346	299,240	784,405	228,722
1998	32,667,000	1,418,674	229,883	1,188,791	2,171	9,782	68,782	149,148	269,012	724,262	195,517
1999	33,145,121	1,261,164	207,879	1,053,285	2,005	9,363	60,039	136,472	223,814	660,991	168,480
2000	33,871,648	1,266,714	210,531	1,056,183	2,079	9,785	60,249	138,418	222,293	651,855	182,035
2001	34,600,463	1,347,056	212,867	1,134,189	2,206	9,960	64,614	136,087	232,273	697,739	204,177
2002	35,001,986	1,384,872	208,388	1,176,484	2,395	10,198	64,968	130,827	238,428	715,692	222,364
2003	35,462,712	1,420,637	205,551	1,215,086	2,407	9,994	63,770	129,380	242,272	731,486	241,326
2004	35,842,038	1,416,369	189,175	1,227,194	2,392	9,615	61,768	115,400	245,903	728,687	252,604
2005	36,154,147	1,390,710	190,178	1,200,532	2,503	9,392	63,622	114,661	250,521	692,467	257,543
2006	36,457,549	1,350,137	194,120	1,156,017	2,485	9,212	70,968	111,455	246,464	666,860	242,693
2007	36,553,213	1,299,685	191,025	1,108,660	2,260	9,013	70,542	109,210	237,025	652,243	219,392
2008	36,580,371	1,265,939	185,173	1,080,766	2,142	8,903	69,385	104,743	237,724	650,513	192,529
2009	36,961,664	1,184,367	174,934	1,009,433	1,972	8,713	64,093	100,156	230,198	615,402	163,833
2010	37,338,198	1,146,072	164,133	981,939	1,809	8,331	58,116	95,877	228,857	600,558	152,524
2011	37,683,933	1,128,765	154,943	973,822	1,792	7,665	54,291	91,195	230,075	596,905	146,842
2012	37,999,878	1,210,409	160,944	1,049,465	1,884	7,837	56,521	94,702	245,767	635,090	168,608
2013	38,431,393	1,173,646	154,739	1,018,907	1,746	7,464	53,640	89,029	232,058	621,557	165,292
2014	38,792,291	1,100,956	153,763	947,193	1,700	8,389	48,681	91,804	202,669	592,673	151,851
2015	38,993,940	1,191,797	166,883	1,024,914	1,861	9,341	52,862	99,349	197,404	656,517	170,993
2016	39,250,017	1,176,866	174,796	1,002,070	1,930	10,149	54,789	104,375	188,304	637,010	176,756
2017	39,613,045	1,173,972	178,553	986,769	1,829	14,724	56,609	105,391	176,638	641,804	168,327
2018	39,825,181	1,126,387	176,866	940,998	1,739	15,500	54,312	105,315	164,540	621,288	155,170
2019	39,959,095	1,096,668	173,205	915,197	1,679	14,720	52,050	104,756	151,596	622,869	140,732
2020					2,202	13,441	44,693	113,572	145,418	527,896	168,086
2021					391	3,057	6,730	26,239	16,022	100,571	31,839
2022					2,233	14,943	47,919	128,967	144,483	582,322	183,762
2023					1,914	14,681	49,453	135,168	134,030	567,295	198,240