In a new analysis of California crime statistics, San Joaquin County has been identified as the state’s most dangerous county in terms of violent crime rates.
The study, conducted by Simmrin Law Group using data sourced from the California Department of Justice’s crime statistics portal, analyzed violent crime rates across 55 of the state’s 58 counties between 2013 and 2022. The focus was on the combined number of violent crimes, homicides, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults in relation to the county population sizes.
San Joaquin County leads the ranking with a rate of 72.09 violent crimes per 1,000 residents. The county has a population of around 780,000, and reported a total of 56,177 violent crimes over the ten year period that was measured, which were made up of 617 homicides, 2,379 rapes, 14,592 robberies, and 38,589 aggravated assaults, making it the most perilous county for residents and visitors alike.
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The crime rate in San Joaquin is nearly double the statewide average, which stands at 43.6 incidents per 1,000 people.
San Francisco County has California’s second highest violent crime rate of 70.00 per 1,000 people over the ten year period. Compared against the county’s population of more than 870,000, the total number of violent crimes reported was 61,180, comprising 508 homicides, 2,995 rapes, 31,355 robberies, and 26,322 aggravated assaults.
Plumas County is the smallest area to feature in the top five, ranking third with a violent crime rate of 64.58 per 1,000 individuals based on its population of around 20,000. There was a total of 1,278 violent crimes between 2013 and 2022, including 7 homicides, 124 rapes, 36 robberies, and 1,111 aggravated assaults.
The California county with the fourth highest violent crime rate between 2013 and 2022 is Alameda, which has a population of 1,682,353. The county experienced a total of 102,800 violent crimes, equating to a rate of about 61.10 per 1,000 people. Within these figures, there were 1,175 homicides and 6,373 rapes reported, plus 49,749 robberies and 45,503 aggravated assaults.
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Kern County is ranked fifth in the state for its violent crime rate. The county, with a population of 909,235, reported a total of 54,936 violent crimes, leading to a rate of approximately 60.42 violent crimes per 1,000 people. Among these, there were 887 homicides and 3,066 rapes reported.
The California counties with the highest crime rate per 1,000 people
| Rank | Row Labels | Population | Total number of violent crimes | Violent crimes per 1,000 people |
| 1 | San Joaquin County | 779,233 | 56,177 | 72.1 |
| 2 | San Francisco County | 873,965 | 61,180 | 70.0 |
| 3 | Plumas County | 19,790 | 1,278 | 64.6 |
| 4 | Alameda County | 1,682,353 | 102,800 | 61.1 |
| 5 | Kern County | 909,235 | 54,936 | 60.4 |
| 6 | Del Norte County | 27,743 | 1,651 | 59.5 |
| 7 | Lassen County | 32,730 | 1,943 | 59.4 |
| 8 | Inyo County | 19,016 | 1,113 | 58.5 |
| 9 | Merced County | 281,202 | 16,218 | 57.7 |
| 10 | Fresno County | 1,008,654 | 57,639 | 57.1 |
At the other end of the scale, Orange County has the fifth lowest violent crime rate in the state compared to others. With a population of 3,186,989, it reported 73,019 violent crimes over the ten-year period, which translates to about 22.91 violent crimes per 1,000 people. The county recorded 584 homicides and 7,786 rapes, figures that, while substantial, are relatively lower in proportion to its large population.
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Ventura County has the fourth lowest crime rate in California. With a population of 843,843, the county experienced 19,092 violent crimes, which equates to roughly 22.63 violent crimes per 1,000 people.
The third lowest crime rate in the study was in El Dorado County, which has 191,185 residents and reported 4,047 violent crimes between 2013 and 2022, amounting to about 21.17 per 1,000 people.
Marin County, with a population of 262,321, experienced 5,026 violent crimes over the ten years that were measured, which translates to a rate of about 19.16 per 1,000 people – the second lowest in the study.
The lowest crime rate in California is in Placer County. The county, home to 404,739 residents, reported a total of 6,935 violent crimes over the ten years included in the study, equating to a rate of around 17.13 per 1,000 people. This includes 50 homicides and 867 rapes.
A spokesperson from Simmrin Law Group, commented, “In total there were more than 1.7 million violent crimes recorded in California between 2013 and 2022, with the most common being aggravated assault as there were more than one million reports of this crime. The data demonstrates that some counties experience considerably higher crime rates than others, with the county at the top of the ranking seeing crimes at four times the rate of the lowest ranked county.”
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