Bidwell Mansion · Photo: Frank Schulenburg · CC BY-SA 4.0Chico reports more crime per resident than 87% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Chico’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #338 of 416 graded towns in California, and #197 of 325 U.S. cities over 100,000.
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 Chico
Homicides: below U.S. cities overall
Chico’s police reported 2 homicides to the FBI in 2025. Over 2023–2025 that is 2.3 per 100,000 residents a year, below the rest of California (4.2) and below all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (5.7). Violent crime ↓
Robberies: below the rest of California
75.2 robberies per 100,000 residents a year over 2023–2025 (71 reported in 2025), below the rest of California (123) and about the same as all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (79.4). Violent crime ↓
Against other big cities
Among the 325 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, Chico reports less crime per resident than 39% (#197). Places like it ↓
A college town
Chico is home to California State University-Chico, with 12,379 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 18% 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 Chico’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.
Homicides and robberies
Chico’s police reported 2 homicides, 71 robberies and 677 violent crimes in all to the FBI in 2025. By year, against the rest of California and all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables.
Show as a table
| Year | Chico | Rest of California | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.0 | 5.6 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 3.0 | 4.9 | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 2.0 | 4.2 | 5.7 |
| 2025 | 1.9 | 3.4 | 4.6 |
Homicides per 100,000 residents
Show as a table
| Year | Chico | Rest of California | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 58.5 | 136 | 95.5 |
| 2023 | 74.3 | 142 | 90.6 |
| 2024 | 82.3 | 128 | 81.9 |
| 2025 | 69.0 | 102 | 66.0 |
Robberies per 100,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 18 property crimes reported
And about 7 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.
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 | Chico property | Rest of California property | Chico violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 16.6 | 24.8 | 5.7 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 18.2 | 25.0 | 6.2 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 19.0 | 20.8 | 7.0 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 18.1 | 18.5 | 6.6 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
2,538 crimes reported in 2025
677 violent and 1,861 property, as reported to the FBI by Chico’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 Chico’s roads in 2019–2023
Chico had 34 fatal crashes in five years, in which 35 people died; 10 were pedestrians.
That is 6.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for California towns of 100,000+ people (7.7, 76 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.
Chico 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. Durham 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 Chico. 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 Chico’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (102,829 in 2025); our figure for Chico is 105,081 (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 Chico
Is Chico, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Chico reports more crime per resident than 87% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #338 of 416 in California. Its police reported 6.6 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 Chico?
6.6 violent and 18.4 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 Chico?
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 Chico in 2025?
Chico’s police reported 2 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 1.9 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Chico?
Chico’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Chico”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Chico.
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.