El Cerrito has more crime per resident than nine in ten U.S. towns
Violence and property crime split as 4.6 violent crimes and 32.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 4.9 and 21.4 in the rest of California. Add to that, the graded rate fell 29% from 2023 to 2025. Counting crimes El Cerrito’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades D for safety: #365 of 416 graded towns in California. Among its 3 neighbors with figures, 2 record less crime per resident.
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 El Cerrito
2 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 3 California towns on El Cerrito’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Kensington (B−), Albany (C−), Richmond (D). Neighbors ↓
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 El Cerrito’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | El Cerrito property | Rest of California property | El Cerrito violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 40.4 | 24.8 | 4.3 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 39.5 | 24.9 | 4.9 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 30.4 | 20.8 | 4.8 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 27.1 | 18.5 | 4.2 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
Crime in El Cerrito per 1,000 residents
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.
And about 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | El Cerrito | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.3 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.9 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
El Cerrito’s police reported 358 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
832 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
112 violent and 720 property, as reported to the FBI by El Cerrito’s police.
One person died in crashes on El Cerrito’s roads in 2019–2023
El Cerrito had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is fewer than 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 El Cerrito’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so El Cerrito’s own rate (0.8) 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.
El Cerrito and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Cerrito | D | 4.6 | 32.3 |
| Richmond | D | 9.3 | 26.5 |
| Kensington | B− | 0.9 | 14.5 |
| Albany | C− | 1.7 | 25.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Cerrito | D | 4.6 | 32.3 |
| Hercules | B+ | 1.8 | 5.8 |
| Windsor | B | 1.9 | 6.4 |
| Benicia | B | 1.1 | 10.0 |
| Soledad | B− | 2.6 | 7.4 |
| Dinuba | D | 6.0 | 20.7 |
The five graded California towns closest to El Cerrito’s population (26,121), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
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 El Cerrito. 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 El Cerrito’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (26,528 in 2025); our figure for El Cerrito is 26,121 (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 El Cerrito
Is El Cerrito, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, El Cerrito reports more crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #365 of 416 in California. Its police reported 4.6 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 El Cerrito?
4.6 violent and 32.3 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.
How many homicides were there in El Cerrito in 2025?
El Cerrito’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 3.8 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is El Cerrito safer than Richmond?
Richmond reports more crime per resident than El Cerrito: Richmond grades D for safety and El Cerrito D. Richmond’s police reported 9.3 violent and 26.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices El Cerrito?
El Cerrito’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “El Cerrito”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in El Cerrito.
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.