Bakersfield, CA crime rate
In 2025 the Bakersfield Police Department reported 495.7 violent crimes and 2,260.4 property crimes per 100,000 residents it covers. The FBI's estimates for California and the US for the same year are beside each number.
Data as of 2025 (FBI), checked October 30, 2026. How we got these numbers
How does Bakersfield compare with California and the US?
Arson has no FBI state or US estimate, so its row shows Bakersfield only.
What offenses were reported in Bakersfield, 2025?
| Offense | Reported | Per 100k | California | US | vs 2024 | vs 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | ||||||
| Violent crime | 2,085 | 495.7 | 432.7 | 327.6 | down 11.1% | 2021: not reported |
| Murder | 33 | 7.8 | 3.5 | 4.1 | up 16.4% | 2021: not reported |
| Rape | 103 | 24.5 | 33.4 | 36.1 | down 43.0% | 2021: not reported |
| Robbery | 483 | 114.8 | 94.9 | 49.4 | down 8.2% | 2021: not reported |
| Aggravated assault | 1,466 | 348.6 | 301.0 | 238.0 | down 8.9% | 2021: not reported |
| Property crime | ||||||
| Property crime | 9,507 | 2,260.4 | 1,792.2 | 1,534.8 | down 9.2% | 2021: not reported |
| Burglary | 1,759 | 418.2 | 275.1 | 193.6 | down 22.5% | 2021: not reported |
| Larceny-theft | 5,757 | 1,368.8 | 1,200.5 | 1,144.1 | up 7.8% | 2021: not reported |
| Motor vehicle theft | 1,983 | 471.5 | 316.7 | 197.0 | down 30.3% | 2021: not reported |
| Arson | 8 | 1.9 | Not estimated | Not estimated | down 53.7% | 2021: not reported |
Reported = offenses known to the Bakersfield Police Department and sent to the FBI. California and US are FBI estimates for the same year. Changes compare rates of full years only.
Violent crime rate, 2021 to 2025
2021: not reported. No rate is drawn for that year, and the line breaks there.
Show as a table
| Year | Bakersfield | United States | California |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Not reported | 387.0 | 481.2 |
| 2022 | 553.6 | 388.7 | 503.6 |
| 2023 | 651.4 | 379.5 | 506.9 |
| 2024 | 557.5 | 362.9 | 475.3 |
| 2025 | 495.7 | 327.6 | 432.7 |
Property crime rate, 2021 to 2025
2021: not reported. No rate is drawn for that year, and the line breaks there.
Show as a table
| Year | Bakersfield | United States | California |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Not reported | 1,832.3 | 2,165.3 |
| 2022 | 3,997.3 | 1,973.8 | 2,361.5 |
| 2023 | 3,379.5 | 1,934.1 | 2,326.1 |
| 2024 | 2,489.2 | 1,761.1 | 1,964.9 |
| 2025 | 2,260.4 | 1,534.8 | 1,792.2 |
Is Bakersfield safe?
We don't rate cities as safe or unsafe. What the FBI's numbers show: in 2025 the violent crime rate the Bakersfield Police Department reported, 495.7 per 100,000 residents, was higher than California's 432.7, and higher than the US rate of 327.6 (FBI estimates). It fell 11.1% from 2024.
What these numbers can't tell you:
- How crime differs between neighborhoods (the FBI publishes agency totals only).
- Crimes nobody reported to the police.
- How many offenses involved visitors and commuters, who are not in the population count.
Per 100,000 residents covered by the Bakersfield Police Department, 495.7 violent crimes were reported to the FBI in 2025, a total of 2,085. The rate was 1.1 times California's estimate of 432.7 and 1.5 times the US figure of 327.6. Property crime came in at 2,260.4 per 100,000, 1.3 times the state rate and 1.5 times the national rate.
Since 2022, property crime has come down 43.5% from 3,997.3, while California's property estimate went from 2,361.5 to 1,792.2. Violent crime fell 10.5% over the same period and 11.1% from 2024 to 2025. Motor vehicle theft fell the most of the property offenses since 2022, 60.1%, though at 471.5 per 100,000 it is still 2.4 times the US rate.
Larceny-theft had the largest rise in that group in the last year, 7.8%, and was 61% of property crime. Rape fell the most of the violent offenses in both periods, 36.2% from 2022 and 43.0% from 2024. Murder rose 16.4% from 2024, the largest rise among violent offenses, to 7.8 per 100,000 from 33 homicides.
That murder rate was 2.2 times the California estimate of 3.5. No data was reported for 2021, and the 4 of 5 years from 2022 onward each have all 12 months. The department has used NIBRS since 2022 and had 1.67 police employees per 1,000 residents in 2025.
The Kern County Sheriff's Office and California State University police in Bakersfield report separately and are not counted here.
Written from the numbers on this page. Every figure and every comparison is checked against the stored FBI data before publishing.
Police employees, 2025: 1.67 per 1,000 residents (494 officers, 207 civilians), FBI Crime Data Explorer. Shown as context, not as a measure of crime.
Other California cities
The nearest California cities with a page, in alphabetical order. VC = violent crime per 100,000, 2025.
Sources
- FBI Crime Data Explorer, Bakersfield Police Department (ORI CA0150200), offenses known to law enforcement and police employees, 2021 to 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026. Crime Data Explorer
- FBI Crime Data Explorer, California and United States estimated crime (Summary Reporting System estimates), 2021 to 2025.
- FBI, "UCR Statistics: Their Proper Use" (why we don't rank cities).
Every stored file behind this page (11)
- Bakersfield Police Department (CA0150200): violent crime, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0150200_violent_crime__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Bakersfield Police Department (CA0150200): murder, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0150200_homicide__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Bakersfield Police Department (CA0150200): rape, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0150200_rape__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Bakersfield Police Department (CA0150200): robbery, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0150200_robbery__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Bakersfield Police Department (CA0150200): aggravated assault, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0150200_aggravated_assault__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Bakersfield Police Department (CA0150200): property crime, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0150200_property_crime__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Bakersfield Police Department (CA0150200): burglary, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0150200_burglary__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Bakersfield Police Department (CA0150200): larceny-theft, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0150200_larceny__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Bakersfield Police Department (CA0150200): motor vehicle theft, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0150200_motor_vehicle_theft__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Bakersfield Police Department (CA0150200): arson, offenses known to law enforcement, January 2021 to December 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/summarized_agency_CA0150200_arson__from-01-2021-to-12-2025.json)
- Bakersfield Police Department (CA0150200): police employees, 2021 to 2025, fetched Oct 29, 2026 (var/raw/cde/pe_agency_CA0150200__from-2021-to-2025.json)