Photo: Jonnyboyca at English Wikipedia · Public domainBrea reports more crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Brea’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #277 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 Brea
3 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 5 California towns on Brea’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Yorba Linda (B+), Placentia (C), La Habra (C), Fullerton (C−). Rowland Heights is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, closer to the middle
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Brea’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 33% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 20% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Brea has 43,605 jobs based in town for 47,260 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
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 Brea’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 (2.1) 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 | Brea property | Rest of California property | Brea violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 32.4 | 24.8 | 1.9 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 32.0 | 24.9 | 2.3 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 28.6 | 20.8 | 2.1 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 22.1 | 18.5 | 1.8 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Brea’s police reported 297 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.1 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 | Brea | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.9 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.3 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.1 | 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 22 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.
1,148 crimes reported in 2025
87 violent and 1,061 property, as reported to the FBI by Brea’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
13 people died in crashes on Brea’s roads in 2019–2023
Brea had 13 fatal crashes in five years, in which 13 people died; 5 were pedestrians.
That is 5.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as 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.
Brea and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brea | C− | 2.1 | 27.6 |
| Yorba Linda | B+ | 0.6 | 8.3 |
| Fullerton | C− | 4.0 | 19.7 |
| La Habra | C | 3.1 | 18.7 |
| Placentia | C | 2.9 | 15.0 |
| Rowland Heights | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Rowland Heights 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 Brea. 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 Brea’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (47,997 in 2025); our figure for Brea is 47,260 (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 Brea
Is Brea, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Brea reports more crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #277 of 416 in California. Its police reported 2.1 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 Brea?
2.1 violent and 27.6 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 Brea?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Brea in 2025?
Brea’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 Brea safer than Yorba Linda?
Yorba Linda reports less crime per resident than Brea: Yorba Linda grades B+ for safety and Brea C−. Yorba Linda’s police reported 0.6 violent and 8.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Brea?
Brea’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Brea”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Brea.
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.