How has crime changed in California since 1985?

Police in California reported about 435 violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2025 (U.S.: 329), down from a high of 1,121 in 1992, and 1,821 property crimes in 2025 (U.S.: 1,552), down from a high of 5,915 in 1986. There's no figure for 2021, when police departments covering fewer than 3 in 4 of its people reported a full year. Rates count only the agencies that reported. Choose another state to compare.

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Source
FBI Crime Data Explorer, Uniform Crime Reporting Program
License
Public domain (U.S. government work); source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program
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Chartly. “How has crime changed in your state since 1985?” Chart. Data: FBI Crime Data Explorer, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend (data as of December 31, 2025). https://chart.ly/charts/crime-rates-by-state-since-1985 (accessed October 10, 2026).

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This table shows California's rates and the U.S. rates each year; the download has the state the chart opens with.

Crimes per 100,000 people in California and the U.S., each year
Year Violent, California Violent, U.S. Property, California Property, U.S.
1985 765.4 570.3 5,830.9 4,780.0
1986 920.6 633.6 5,914.6 5,015.3
1987 918.2 624.9 5,656.1 5,090.1
1988 931.9 630.2 5,784.8 5,045.9
1989 977.0 680.5 5,847.6 5,211.5
1990 1,043.0 749.8 5,613.0 5,227.0
1991 1,088.4 798.1 5,732.7 5,388.4
1992 1,120.7 785.4 5,635.3 5,089.3
1993 1,078.1 764.1 5,444.0 4,814.1
1994 1,013.3 740.4 5,213.8 4,752.4
1995 950.6 720.6 4,871.9 4,796.6
1996 863.6 658.8 4,404.1 4,553.0
1997 798.1 644.9 4,114.6 4,494.7
1998 703.7 603.8 3,682.1 4,212.6
1999 627.5 545.8 3,221.0 3,872.6
2000 622.1 534.4 3,158.0 3,751.7
2001 616.9 529.5 3,327.4 3,801.5
2002 594.1 512.9 3,392.6 3,737.7
2003 579.6 493.7 3,463.7 3,704.0
2004 550.6 478.6 3,447.2 3,599.4
2005 526.3 483.0 3,351.9 3,518.3
2006 534.3 486.9 3,221.7 3,397.1
2007 524.0 477.9 3,074.7 3,316.1
2008 504.2 463.7 2,970.0 3,252.3
2009 473.4 436.8 2,754.5 3,076.7
2010 440.6 408.1 2,657.4 2,963.4
2011 411.6 390.1 2,606.3 2,925.7
2012 423.1 390.7 2,778.2 2,881.3
2013 396.2 378.2 2,677.6 2,759.3
2014 390.7 373.7 2,459.5 2,591.8
2015 426.2 384.6 2,636.9 2,495.2
2016 445.4 399.5 2,572.8 2,469.1
2017 451.8 397.5 2,518.8 2,372.4
2018 447.4 384.8 2,401.6 2,206.8
2019 440.7 381.0 2,349.5 2,109.0
2020 442.1 399.3 2,168.7 1,955.3
2021 – 360.9 – 1,762.2
2022 502.8 398.2 2,387.5 1,998.5
2023 526.7 385.6 2,373.1 1,950.5
2024 478.5 363.4 1,992.7 1,766.8
2025 434.9 329.3 1,821.3 1,552.1

Crimes per 100,000 people, as police reported them to the FBI.

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