Wednesday, August 31, 2016 / by Nicole Solari
100 Safest — And 'Least Safe' — Towns In California
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).
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.
"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:
- Imperial
- Rancho Santa Margarita
- Laguna Woods
- Los Altos Hills
- Kensington
- Hillsborough
- Aliso Viejo
- Palos Verdes Estates
- Clayton
- Moraga
- Orinda
- Atherton
- Ione
- Tiburon
- St. Helena
- Los Altos
- Sierra Madre
- Saratoga
- Danville
- Lincoln
- San Ramon
- La Habra Heights
- Moorpark
- Guadalupe
- Foster City
- Mission Viejo
- Calabasas
- Calistoga
- Walnut
- Truckee
- Rancho Palos Verdes
- Laguna Niguel
- Agoura Hills
- Yorba Linda
- Williams
- Villa Park
- Canyon Lake
- Mill Valley
- Avenal
- Lake Forest
- Rolling Hills Estates
- Poway
- Hercules
- San Clemente
- San Marino
- Soledad
- Temple City
- Oakley
- Diamond Bar
- La Palma
- Irvine
- Orange Cove
- La Canada Flintridge
- San Juan Capistrano
- Murrieta
- Solvang
- Chino Hills
- Ojai
- Goleta
- Carpinteria
- Sebastopol
- Thousand Oaks
- Fillmore
- Belmont
- Fairfax
- Solana Beach
- Simi Valley
- Lafayette
- Colusa
- Laguna Hills
- Cypress
- Camarillo
- Ripon
- Los Alamitos
- Westlake Village
- Twentynine Palms
- Cupertino
- Benicia
- Santa Clarita
- Wildomar
- Novato
- La Mirada
- Dublin
- Bear Valley
- Placentia
- Piedmont
- Maywood
- Newman
- Pleasanton
- Morgan Hill
- Windsor
- Rocklin
- Dana Point
- Eastvale
- South Pasadena
- San Gabriel
- Hughson
- Encinitas
- Glendale
- Indian Wells
Least Safe (in order from 'most safe' to 'least safe'):
- Reedley
- West Sacramento
- El Cerrito
- Fowler
- Brawley
- Adelanto
- San Jose
- Visalia
- Watsonville
- Moreno Valley
- Ventura
- San Jacinto
- Corning
- Monterey
- Santa Monica
- Santa Maria
- Calexico
- Signal Hill
- Lancaster
- Redlands
- South El Monte
- Indio
- San Luis Obispo
- Blythe
- Crescent City
- Pismo Beach
- Arcata
- Huron
- Citrus Heights
- South Gate
- Lodi
- Woodland
- Hayward
- California City
- Arvin
- Palm Desert
- Madera
- Chico
- Pomona
- Oxnard
- Long Beach
- Pleasant Hill
- Dos Palos
- Inglewood
- Riverside
- Hanford
- Los Angeles
- Atwater
- Fairfield
- Turlock
- Culver City
- Huntington Park
- Yreka
- Montclair
- Concord
- Marysville
- Firebaugh
- Selma
- Ukiah
- Victorville
- Desert Hot Springs
- San Leandro
- Berkeley
- El Centro
- Capitola
- Merced
- Hawthorne
- Clearlake
- Tulare
- Gridley
- Hemet
- Salinas
- West Hollywood
- Barstow
- Dinuba
- Big Bear Lake
- Sacramento
- San Pablo
- Bakersfield
- Fresno
- Redding
- Santa Fe Springs
- Antioch
- Oroville
- Richmond
- Grass Valley
- Compton
- Vallejo
- Palm Springs
- Anderson
- Commerce
- Santa Cruz
- Modesto
- Red Bluff
- San Bernardino
- Eureka
- San Francisco
- Stockton
- Oakland
- Emeryville