Photo: University of California, Berkeley - College of Environmental Design · Public domainReported crime per resident in Kensington fell 42% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Kensington grades B− for safety (#81 of 416 graded towns in California): close to the middle 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 Kensington
Kensington reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 4 California towns on Kensington’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Albany (C−), El Cerrito (D), Richmond (D), Berkeley (D−). Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, higher
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Kensington’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 81% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 51% 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 Kensington’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Kensington’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (14.5) 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 | Kensington property | Rest of California property | Kensington violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 21.5 | 24.8 | 0.4 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 20.3 | 25.0 | 0.6 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 12.4 | 20.8 | 1.1 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 11.3 | 18.5 | 0.9 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Kensington’s police reported 14 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.9 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 | Kensington | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.4 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.6 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.1 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.9 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 11 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, 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.
66 crimes reported in 2025
5 violent and 61 property, as reported to the FBI by Kensington’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
No one died in a crash on Kensington’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for California towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (5.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Kensington’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Kensington’s own rate (0.0) 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.
Kensington and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kensington | B− | 0.9 | 14.5 |
| El Cerrito | D | 4.6 | 32.3 |
| Berkeley | D− | 6.5 | 50.8 |
| Richmond | D | 9.3 | 26.5 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kensington | B− | 0.9 | 14.5 |
| St. Helena | B+ | 1.4 | 7.3 |
| La Habra Heights | B | 1.2 | 8.6 |
| Buellton | B− | 1.7 | 11.1 |
| Jackson | C | 4.4 | 13.6 |
| Lakeport | D | 8.6 | 17.7 |
The five graded California towns closest to Kensington’s population (5,179), 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 Kensington. 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 Kensington’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,397 in 2025); our figure for Kensington is 5,179 (census survey, 2020–24).
- 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 Kensington
Is Kensington, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Kensington reports less crime per resident than 51% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #81 of 416 in California. Its police reported 0.9 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 Kensington?
0.9 violent and 14.5 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 Kensington?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Kensington safer than El Cerrito?
El Cerrito reports more crime per resident than Kensington: El Cerrito grades D for safety and Kensington B−. El Cerrito’s police reported 4.6 violent and 32.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Kensington?
Kensington’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Kensington”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Kensington.
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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.