A new report from SafeWise has named several Southern California cities as the safest places to live in the state.
The list includes 20 different cities, 16 of which are in Orange County, San Bernardino County and Riverside County.
“Of those we surveyed, 50% of Californians feel very concerned about their safety on a daily basis, but that’s a decline of 19% year over year,” said Rebecca Edwards, chief safety reporter at SafeWise.
SafeWise examines several factors in identifying a safe city, including the latest FBI crime report, crime rates and population density.
The top four crimes California residents are concerned about are violent crimes, package theft, property crimes and gun violence. According to the report, 64% of Californians said they are very concerned about violent crimes happening to them, which is the third highest in the United States.
There were 77 cities in California that met the criteria to be considered “safe.” Rancho Santa Margarita topped the list, with a violent crime rate of 0.4 and a property crime rate of 4.8 incidents per 1,000 residents.
Rancho Santa Margarita and Yorba Linda both reported zero homicides, and all of the cities below reported fewer than three violent crimes per 1,000 residents.
Safest Cities in California 2024
1. Rancho Santa Margarita
2. Aliso Viejo
3. Yorba Linda
4. Laguna Niguel
5. Mission Viejo
6. Meerbos
7.Lincoln
8. Poway
9. Rocklin
10. Irvine
11. Santee
12. San Marcos
13. San Clemente
14. Elk Forest
15. Encinitas
16. Murrieta
17. Fontana
18. Menifee
19. Cypress
20. Clovis
Amy Maetzold
