Photo: Proarte · CC BY-SA 4.0Lakewood sees more crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns
On the record of crimes Lakewood’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it takes C− for safety: #300 of 416 graded towns in California. Next door, 2 of 6 towns with figures record less crime per resident. In a usual year, 3.9 violent crimes and 22.8 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of California, 4.9 and 21.4.
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 Lakewood
2 of the 6 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 California towns on Lakewood’s borders, 6 have a Safety Grade: La Palma (C+), Cypress (C), Bellflower (D), Hawaiian Gardens (D), Long Beach (D), Cerritos (D). Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Lakewood’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.
Crime in Lakewood 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 | Lakewood | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.7 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.5 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.5 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.6 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Lakewood’s police reported 898 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Lakewood property | Rest of California property | Lakewood violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 23.4 | 24.8 | 4.7 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 22.3 | 25.0 | 3.5 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 25.9 | 20.8 | 4.5 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 20.4 | 18.5 | 3.6 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
1,856 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.
276 violent and 1,580 property, as reported to the FBI by Lakewood’s police.
17 people died in crashes on Lakewood’s roads in 2019–2023
Lakewood had 14 fatal crashes in five years, in which 17 people died; 7 were pedestrians. 2 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 4.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, below 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.
Lakewood and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lakewood | C− | 3.9 | 22.8 |
| Long Beach | D | 6.4 | 30.0 |
| Cerritos | D | 3.0 | 46.4 |
| Hawaiian Gardens | D | 6.3 | 19.9 |
| Cypress | C | 2.8 | 15.0 |
| Bellflower | D | 6.0 | 20.8 |
| La Palma | C+ | 1.6 | 17.4 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lakewood | C− | 3.9 | 22.8 |
| Rocklin | B | 1.4 | 9.2 |
| Tustin | C | 2.2 | 20.8 |
| Pittsburg | C− | 4.8 | 19.1 |
| Milpitas | D | 2.9 | 31.3 |
| Alameda | D | 3.4 | 46.8 |
The five graded California towns closest to Lakewood’s population (78,010), 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 Lakewood. 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 Lakewood’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (77,590 in 2025); our figure for Lakewood is 78,010 (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 Lakewood
Is Lakewood, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lakewood reports more crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #300 of 416 in California. Its police reported 3.9 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 Lakewood?
3.9 violent and 22.8 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 Lakewood in 2025?
Lakewood’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 1.3 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Lakewood safer than Long Beach?
Long Beach reports more crime per resident than Lakewood: Long Beach grades D for safety and Lakewood C−. Long Beach’s police reported 6.4 violent and 30.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Lakewood?
Lakewood’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lakewood”. 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 Lakewood.
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.