Photo: Amin Eshaiker · CC BY-SA 3.0Barstow reports more crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Barstow’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D− for safety: #397 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 Barstow
Reported crime is rising
Crime reported per resident rose 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 Barstow’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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Barstow’s police reported 820 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 11.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.8 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Barstow | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 10.9 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 8.6 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 11.1 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 13.3 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Reported crime is rising
Reported crime per resident rose 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 | Barstow property | Rest of California property | Barstow violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 23.1 | 24.8 | 10.9 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 26.3 | 25.0 | 8.6 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 26.4 | 20.8 | 11.1 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 28.2 | 18.5 | 13.3 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 28 property crimes reported
And about 13 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.
1,029 crimes reported in 2025
330 violent and 699 property, as reported to the FBI by Barstow’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
41 people died in crashes on Barstow’s roads in 2019–2023
Barstow had 38 fatal crashes in five years, in which 41 people died; 16 were pedestrians. 15 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 32.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for California towns of 25,000–100,000 people (5.6, 231 towns).
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.
Barstow and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Lenwood is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
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 Barstow. 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 Barstow’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (24,770 in 2025); our figure for Barstow is 24,804 (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 Barstow
Is Barstow, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Barstow reports more crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #397 of 416 in California. Its police reported 11.0 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.8 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Barstow?
11.0 violent and 27.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of California reports 4.8 and 21.4; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Barstow?
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices Barstow?
Barstow’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Barstow”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Barstow.
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.