Photo: The Front Page Online · CC BY-SA 4.0Carson reports more crime per resident than 87% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Carson’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #338 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 Carson
Carson reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 5 California towns on Carson’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Los Angeles (D), Long Beach (D), Compton (D−). West Carson and West Rancho Dominguez are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Neighbors ↓
A college town
Carson is home to California State University-Dominguez Hills, with 13,167 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 6% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Carson’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.
For every 1,000 residents, about 26 property crimes reported
And about 4 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
Carson’s police reported 1,172 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.3 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 | Carson | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.7 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.4 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.2 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Reported crime is steady
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of California.
Show as a table
| Year | Carson property | Rest of California property | Carson violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 27.4 | 24.8 | 4.7 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 27.4 | 24.9 | 4.4 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 29.3 | 20.8 | 4.2 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 25.5 | 18.5 | 4.4 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
2,695 crimes reported in 2025
394 violent and 2,301 property, as reported to the FBI by Carson’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
35 people died in crashes on Carson’s roads in 2019–2023
Carson had 35 fatal crashes in five years, in which 35 people died; 13 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists. 5 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 7.5 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.
Carson and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carson | D | 4.3 | 27.4 |
| Los Angeles | D | 7.4 | 21.9 |
| Compton | D− | 12.4 | 30.3 |
| Long Beach | D | 6.4 | 30.0 |
| West Carson | — | — | — |
| West Rancho Dominguez | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. West Carson and West Rancho Dominguez are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carson | D | 4.3 | 27.4 |
| Mission Viejo | B | 1.2 | 11.0 |
| Folsom | C+ | 1.9 | 14.2 |
| Westminster | C− | 4.0 | 24.2 |
| South Gate | D | 5.1 | 34.6 |
| Santa Monica | D− | 7.6 | 45.3 |
The five graded California towns closest to Carson’s population (90,808), 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 Carson. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Carson’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (90,372 in 2025); our figure for Carson is 90,808 (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 Carson
Is Carson, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Carson reports more crime per resident than 87% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #338 of 416 in California. Its police reported 4.3 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 Carson?
4.3 violent and 27.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of California reports 4.9 and 21.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Carson?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Carson in 2025?
Carson’s police reported 2 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 2.2 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Carson safer than Los Angeles?
Los Angeles reports more crime per resident than Carson: Los Angeles grades D for safety and Carson D. Los Angeles’s police reported 7.4 violent and 21.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Carson?
Carson’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Carson”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Carson.
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.