The National Council for Home Safety and Security (NCHSS) released a study of the safest cities in California. The cities had to have a population over 10,000 and have submitted full reports to the FBI. This left 3,381 cities (out of a total of 9,251).
The NCHSS reports:
“California is in the lower half of states in terms of safety when you look at statewide crime rates. The Golden State’s violent crime rate of 4.47 is 21% higher (FBI 2018 Crime Report) than the national average, and its property crime rate is also higher than the national level.” (28.04 per 1,000)
“However, with a state as large and diverse as California, there’s bound to be a high variance in crime rates and other characteristics between the state’s cities. Sure enough, California’s safest cities performed very well in both major crime categories.”
So, the California crime record is mixed. Some residents live in a relatively safe situation. Others are dealing with a nightmare.
Their Methodology
They took the crime rate for each city; that is, the number of violent crimes and property crimes combined per 1,000 residents. “Then we transformed the total crime rate variable so that the skewness was reduced and normalized.“~NCHSS
Then, to determine police adequacy, they collected data from 2,831 law enforcement agencies. “We consider that the smaller the police adequacy statistic is, the safer the city is. This variable was also transformed and normalized.“~NCHSS
In the end, these 2 numbers were added together to create a safety score for 263 California cities. (click here to view full list)
The Good News
First it must be pointed out that if you are a victim of crime, the crime rate for you is 100%. For this reason, we advocate strongly for the defense of your home in practical, sensible ways.
The following shows the crime of the top 10 safest cities and their rate per one thousand residents in that city. (Remember, their police adequacy is factored in to determine their spot on the listing.)
- Imperial 4.78
- Hillsborough 8.55
- Palos Verdes Estates 8.11
- Truckee 9.63
- Sierra Madre 9.23
- Moraga 5.93
- Soledad 6.50
- Los Altos 9.58
- Coronado 13.56
- Foster City 11.75
With the California crime rate being as bad as it is, folks living in these towns are more fortunate than most. I’m also lucky to live in a relatively safe part of the country. But I don’t bank on such things. Knowing that a door is penetrated 3 times every minute somewhere in this country, my family and I have back and front door security devices.
The Bad News
We discuss defense, deterrence and detection here on this site. But here we are looking at something you may not be able to change; location demographics. With that, and remembering that police adequacy is factored in, let’s look at the 10 least safe cities; #263 thru #254.
- Montclair 47.54
- Eureka 62.12
- Barstow 57.56
- Bakersfield 44.66
- Vallejo 44.32
- San Bernadino 54.68
- Oroville 57.02
- El Cerrito 57.57
- Oakland 66.64
- Emeryville 181.76
I would like to add that even though the police adequacy is factored in, home security is not. So it’s important to know that you can stop 64% of all burglars my making your door impenetrable with a door jamb reinforcement kit. And you can stop another 23% with window security.
The Best News
You don’t have to be a victim. Maybe you live in a state with a high crime rate. Maybe you live in a city with a high crime rate. But you are clearly getting informed so that you can act. And the most important thing to remember is that you and I are still free to act. For that we can be quite thankful.
Stay safe!