Reported crime per resident in Bell Gardens fell 28% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Bell Gardens grades C for safety (#192 of 416 graded towns in California): more crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Bell Gardens
Bell Gardens reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 4 California towns on Bell Gardens’ borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Bell (C−), Cudahy (C−), Commerce (D−). Downey reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024. Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, closer to the middle
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Bell Gardens’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 54% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 30% 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 Bell Gardens’ 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. Its property rate (13.5) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) 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 | Bell Gardens property | Rest of California property | Bell Gardens violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 11.0 | 24.8 | 3.9 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 14.8 | 25.0 | 4.5 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 14.8 | 20.8 | 3.9 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 10.9 | 18.5 | 3.0 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 11 property crimes reported
And about 3 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Bell Gardens’ police reported 423 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.8 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 | Bell Gardens | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.9 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.5 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.9 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.0 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
517 crimes reported in 2025
112 violent and 405 property, as reported to the FBI by Bell Gardens’ 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 Bell Gardens’s roads in 2019–2023
Bell Gardens had 7 fatal crashes in five years, in which seven people died; 2 were pedestrians.
That is about what is typical for California towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (5.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Bell Gardens’s size would see about 11 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bell Gardens’s own rate (3.7) 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.
Bell Gardens and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bell Gardens | C | 3.8 | 13.5 |
| Bell | C− | 5.8 | 12.5 |
| Commerce | D− | 13.7 | 123.4 |
| Cudahy | C− | 5.6 | 14.8 |
| Downey | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Downey reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bell Gardens | C | 3.8 | 13.5 |
| Wildomar | B− | 1.4 | 11.2 |
| Pacifica | B− | 1.6 | 11.8 |
| Martinez | C+ | 2.5 | 12.5 |
| San Gabriel | C | 2.0 | 19.6 |
| Montclair | D | 6.9 | 37.8 |
The five graded California towns closest to Bell Gardens’ population (37,367), 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 Bell Gardens. 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 Bell Gardens’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (37,125 in 2025); our figure for Bell Gardens is 37,367 (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 Bell Gardens
Is Bell Gardens, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Bell Gardens reports more crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #192 of 416 in California. Its police reported 3.8 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 Bell Gardens?
3.8 violent and 13.5 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.
Is crime going up or down in Bell Gardens?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Bell Gardens in 2025?
Bell Gardens’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Bell Gardens safer than Bell?
Bell reports more crime per resident than Bell Gardens: Bell grades C− for safety and Bell Gardens C. Bell’s police reported 5.8 violent and 12.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Bell Gardens?
Bell Gardens’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Bell Gardens”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Bell Gardens.
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.