Peterson House · Photo: Sanfranman59 · CC BY-SA 3.0Albany reports more crime per resident than 76% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Albany’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #245 of 416 graded towns in California.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of CA” is every other California city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Albany
1 of the 5 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 5 California towns on Albany’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Kensington (B−), El Cerrito (D), Richmond (D), San Francisco (D), Berkeley (D−). Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, closer to the middle
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Albany’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 41% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 24% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Albany’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (1.7) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Reported crime is falling
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of California.
Show as a table
| Year | Albany property | Rest of California property | Albany violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 29.7 | 24.8 | 2.1 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 28.5 | 25.0 | 1.9 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 24.9 | 20.8 | 1.4 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 23.6 | 18.5 | 1.8 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Albany’s police reported 98 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.7 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Albany | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.1 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.9 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.4 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.8 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 24 property crimes reported
And about 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
490 crimes reported in 2025
35 violent and 455 property, as reported to the FBI by Albany’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Seven people died in crashes on Albany’s roads in 2019–2023
Albany had 7 fatal crashes in five years, in which seven people died; 2 were pedestrians. Most of these deaths (6 of 7) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is about what is typical for California towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (5.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Albany’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Albany’s own rate (7.2) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Albany and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albany | C− | 1.7 | 25.7 |
| Berkeley | D− | 6.5 | 50.8 |
| El Cerrito | D | 4.6 | 32.3 |
| Richmond | D | 9.3 | 26.5 |
| San Francisco | D | 6.0 | 41.7 |
| Kensington | B− | 0.9 | 14.5 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albany | C− | 1.7 | 25.7 |
| Orinda | B+ | 0.7 | 8.1 |
| Agoura Hills | B | 1.5 | 10.3 |
| La Cañada Flintridge | B− | 1.1 | 16.1 |
| Arcata | C− | 4.9 | 18.0 |
| South El Monte | D | 5.4 | 32.1 |
The five graded California towns closest to Albany’s population (19,195), by grade.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Albany. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Albany’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (19,258 in 2025); our figure for Albany is 19,195 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Albany
Is Albany, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Albany reports more crime per resident than 76% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #245 of 416 in California. Its police reported 1.7 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Albany?
1.7 violent and 25.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of California reports 4.9 and 21.4; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Albany?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Albany safer than Berkeley?
Berkeley reports more crime per resident than Albany: Berkeley grades D− for safety and Albany C−. Berkeley’s police reported 6.5 violent and 50.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Albany?
Albany’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Albany”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Albany.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.