Photo: Armona · CC BY-SA 3.0In Avenal, the kinds of crime the grade counts fell 75% per resident from 2023 to 2025
In sum, crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025 put Avenal at B− (#81 of 416 graded towns in California): close to the middle of U.S. towns. On property crime it beats 93% of U.S. towns; on violent crime, only 19%. Police counts work out at 3.9 violent crimes and 2.5 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the rest of California they are 4.9 and 21.4.
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 Avenal
Among California towns, higher
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Avenal’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 81% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 51% 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 Avenal’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Avenal’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Avenal property | Rest of California property | Avenal violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.8 | 24.8 | 3.1 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 5.0 | 25.0 | 5.0 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 2.0 | 20.8 | 4.7 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 0.5 | 18.5 | 2.0 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Avenal | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.1 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 5.0 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.7 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.0 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Avenal’s police reported 162 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Avenal per 1,000 residents
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.
And about 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
36 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
29 violent and 7 property, as reported to the FBI by Avenal’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Avenal’s roads in 2019–2023
Avenal had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 2 were pedestrians.
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 Avenal’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Avenal’s own rate (2.9) 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.
Avenal and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avenal | B− | 3.9 | 2.5 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avenal | B− | 3.9 | 2.5 |
| Mill Valley | B+ | 0.7 | 8.6 |
| Kingsburg | B− | 1.6 | 12.5 |
| California City | C− | 5.7 | 15.8 |
| Hawaiian Gardens | D | 6.3 | 19.9 |
| Emeryville | D− | 11.6 | 132.7 |
The five graded California towns closest to Avenal’s population (13,479), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
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 Avenal. 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 Avenal’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (14,286 in 2025); our figure for Avenal is 13,479 (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 Avenal
Is Avenal, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Avenal reports less crime per resident than 51% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #81 of 416 in California. Its police reported 3.9 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 Avenal?
3.9 violent and 2.5 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.
Who polices Avenal?
Avenal’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Avenal”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Avenal.
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.