Community Corner

100 Safest — And 'Least Safe' — Towns In California, Latest Analysis Shows

You may be surprised when you see who's on these 2 lists, one that shows the 100 safest CA towns, and the other showing the 100 least safe.

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You may be surprised when you see who's on these two lists. A recently released report by ValuePenguin.com, a personal finance and research and analysis website, ranked California towns based on a variety of FBI crime metrics, including property-based crimes, like burglaries and vehicle thefts, and violent crimes, including rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Rankings were based on 2014 statistics, and each town was assigned a "crime score" — the lower, the better (see lists below).

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There were actually three lists: Large towns, with populations of more than 30,000; mid-sized communities, with populations between 15,000 and 30,000; and small towns, with between 5,000 and 15,000 people. Towns with less than 5,000 residents were excluded.

Image courtesy of ValuePenguin. Used with permission.
The agency released lists of the top 10 from each category, with San Ramon, Rancho Santa Margarita and Imperial taking top honors.

The border-community of Imperial took home top billing overall, edging up from last year's number two spot.

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"This small city is not only the safest place, Imperial is the only community with a final crime score below 200. It had the lowest rate of property crime of any California city in this study," ValuePenguin says.

Image courtesy of ValuePenguin. Used with permission.

They also released an overall list, ranking a total of 416 California communities. Below are two lists, one that shows the 100 safest California towns, and the other showing the 100 "least safe."

Safest:

  1. Imperial
  2. Rancho Santa Margarita
  3. Laguna Woods
  4. Los Altos Hills
  5. Kensington
  6. Hillsborough
  7. Aliso Viejo
  8. Palos Verdes Estates
  9. Clayton
  10. Moraga
  11. Orinda
  12. Atherton
  13. Ione
  14. Tiburon
  15. St. Helena
  16. Los Altos
  17. Sierra Madre
  18. Saratoga
  19. Danville
  20. Lincoln
  21. San Ramon
  22. La Habra Heights
  23. Moorpark
  24. Guadalupe
  25. Foster City
  26. Mission Viejo
  27. Calabasas
  28. Calistoga
  29. Walnut
  30. Truckee
  31. Rancho Palos Verdes
  32. Laguna Niguel
  33. Agoura Hills
  34. Yorba Linda
  35. Williams
  36. Villa Park
  37. Canyon Lake
  38. Mill Valley
  39. Avenal
  40. Lake Forest
  41. Rolling Hills Estates
  42. Poway
  43. Hercules
  44. San Clemente
  45. San Marino
  46. Soledad
  47. Temple City
  48. Oakley
  49. Diamond Bar
  50. La Palma
  51. Irvine
  52. Orange Cove
  53. La Canada Flintridge
  54. San Juan Capistrano
  55. Murrieta
  56. Solvang
  57. Chino Hills
  58. Ojai
  59. Goleta
  60. Carpinteria
  61. Sebastopol
  62. Thousand Oaks
  63. Fillmore
  64. Belmont
  65. Fairfax
  66. Solana Beach
  67. Simi Valley
  68. Lafayette
  69. Colusa
  70. Laguna Hills
  71. Cypress
  72. Camarillo
  73. Ripon
  74. Los Alamitos
  75. Westlake Village
  76. Twentynine Palms
  77. Cupertino
  78. Benicia
  79. Santa Clarita
  80. Wildomar
  81. Novato
  82. La Mirada
  83. Dublin
  84. Bear Valley
  85. Placentia
  86. Piedmont
  87. Maywood
  88. Newman
  89. Pleasanton
  90. Morgan Hill
  91. Windsor
  92. Rocklin
  93. Dana Point
  94. Eastvale
  95. South Pasadena
  96. San Gabriel
  97. Hughson
  98. Encinitas
  99. Glendale
  100. Indian Wells

Least Safe (in order from 'most safe' to 'least safe'):

  1. Reedley
  2. West Sacramento
  3. El Cerrito
  4. Fowler
  5. Brawley
  6. Adelanto
  7. San Jose
  8. Visalia
  9. Watsonville
  10. Moreno Valley
  11. Ventura
  12. San Jacinto
  13. Corning
  14. Monterey
  15. Santa Monica
  16. Santa Maria
  17. Calexico
  18. Signal Hill
  19. Lancaster
  20. Redlands
  21. South El Monte
  22. Indio
  23. San Luis Obispo
  24. Blythe
  25. Crescent City
  26. Pismo Beach
  27. Arcata
  28. Huron
  29. Citrus Heights
  30. South Gate
  31. Lodi
  32. Woodland
  33. Hayward
  34. California City
  35. Arvin
  36. Palm Desert
  37. Madera
  38. Chico
  39. Pomona
  40. Oxnard
  41. Long Beach
  42. Pleasant Hill
  43. Dos Palos
  44. Inglewood
  45. Riverside
  46. Hanford
  47. Los Angeles
  48. Atwater
  49. Fairfield
  50. Turlock
  51. Culver City
  52. Huntington Park
  53. Yreka
  54. Montclair
  55. Concord
  56. Marysville
  57. Firebaugh
  58. Selma
  59. Ukiah
  60. Victorville
  61. Desert Hot Springs
  62. San Leandro
  63. Berkeley
  64. El Centro
  65. Capitola
  66. Merced
  67. Hawthorne
  68. Clearlake
  69. Tulare
  70. Gridley
  71. Hemet
  72. Salinas
  73. West Hollywood
  74. Barstow
  75. Dinuba
  76. Big Bear Lake
  77. Sacramento
  78. San Pablo
  79. Bakersfield
  80. Fresno
  81. Redding
  82. Santa Fe Springs
  83. Antioch
  84. Oroville
  85. Richmond
  86. Grass Valley
  87. Compton
  88. Vallejo
  89. Palm Springs
  90. Anderson
  91. Commerce
  92. Santa Cruz
  93. Modesto
  94. Red Bluff
  95. San Bernardino
  96. Eureka
  97. San Francisco
  98. Stockton
  99. Oakland
  100. Emeryville

Click here for the full list, and to see each city's crime rates.

– Patch Editor Tom Davis contributed to this report / Image via Shutterstock.

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