Is California a safe place to live? Regrettably, no, California is not one of the safest states. By volume, the most crimes are committed in California annually out of the entire US; that is to be expected as it is the state with the largest population.
1. Danville. Danville is a small town of just over 44,000 people. It is located in the San Ramon Valley and was named the safest town in California in 2020.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the violent crime rate in California was 441.2 per 100,000 residents while it was 5 percent lower in Texas at 418.9 (FBI, 2020 ). In contrast, the property crime rate in Texas was slightly higher at 2,390.7 per 100,000 versus 2,331.2 per 100,000 in California.
For 2020, California's violent crime rate ranked 16th nationwide and was higher than the national rate of 387 per 100,000 residents. While robbery and rape decreased, homicides increased by 30% and aggravated assaults went up by 7.5%.
Emeryville
Emeryville is the number one most dangerous city in California. Emeryville has a population of 12,104 people and has a total crime rate of 18,192 crimes per 100,000 people.
As the largest city in California, Los Angeles has a population of over 4 million – 4,015,546 to be exact. There were 29,400 reported violent crimes in the city. The violent crime rate in Los Angeles is 732 per 100,000 people.
Maine has the lowest murder rate in the United States with less than 1 murder per 100,000 residents.
Maine. Maine has the lowest crime rate of 1,360.72 incidents per 100,000 people. In 2018, the total number of crimes reported in Maine dropped for the seventh straight year.
The most dangerous city in the United States is Detroit, Michigan. Detroit has a violent crime rate of 2,007.8 incidents per 100,000 people with a total of 261 homicides in 2018.
1. Fresno, Calif. comprised of Fresno-Madera metro area ranks #1 dirties city in America for its power-punch combo of groundwater polluted by agriculture and air quality.
Almost half of the state's billionaires come from tech. Much of that wealth is concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area, where 116 of the state's billionaires reside. That includes the state's richest residents: Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Better Quality of Living – Overall, living in California is a positive experience for most. If you're willing to deal with the higher costs of living and drop a few extra 100ks on a house, then the golden state lifestyle exceeds that of many other places in the world.
The most dangerous countries to visit in 2022 are Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen according to the latest Travel Risk Map, an interactive tool produced by security specialists at International SOS.
Crime in San Diego
Statistics indicate that San Diego's crime rate is lower than the national average and is one of the safest large cities in the country. The most recent report from SANDAG describes San Diego as an overall low-risk city in terms of crime.
More than 360,000 people left California in 2021, in what some are calling “The California Exodus” — many leaving for states like Texas, Arizona and Washington. And a rising number of former Californians are migrating out of the country altogether and are instead heading south of the border.
The latest statistics provided by the California Department of Justice from 2020 show the state's homicide rate hit its highest rate since 2007, but it still was well below the peaks of the 1990s. There were 397 homicides in L.A. in 2021, the highest number of killings in 15 years.