Photo: FASTILY · CC BY-SA 4.0Lawndale has more violent crime per resident than nine in ten U.S. towns
2 of the 3 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident. All told, Lawndale grades D for safety (#331 of 416 graded towns in California): more crime per resident than 86% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Still, the crimes the grade counts fell 21% per resident from 2023 to 2025. Typical years here bring 6.0 violent crimes plus 18.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 4.8 plus 21.4 in the rest of 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 Lawndale
2 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 4 California towns on Lawndale’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Redondo Beach (C−), Torrance (C−), Hawthorne (D). Alondra Park is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. 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 Lawndale’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Lawndale property | Rest of California property | Lawndale violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 16.8 | 24.8 | 4.4 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 21.3 | 25.0 | 6.2 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 18.7 | 20.8 | 5.9 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 15.7 | 18.5 | 5.9 | 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Lawndale | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.4 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 6.2 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.9 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 5.9 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Lawndale’s police reported 538 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 6.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.8 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Lawndale 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 6 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
644 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.
175 violent and 469 property, as reported to the FBI by Lawndale’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Lawndale’s roads in 2019–2023
Lawndale had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died; 2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is about what 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 Lawndale’s size would see about 9 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lawndale’s own rate (3.2) 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.
Lawndale and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawndale | D | 6.0 | 18.6 |
| Hawthorne | D | 6.5 | 22.2 |
| Torrance | C− | 2.9 | 26.7 |
| Redondo Beach | C− | 2.7 | 24.4 |
| Alondra Park | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Alondra Park is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
California towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawndale | D | 6.0 | 18.6 |
| Saratoga | A− | 0.7 | 5.6 |
| Atascadero | B | 1.8 | 9.0 |
| Laguna Hills | B− | 2.4 | 10.8 |
| Suisun City | C | 3.5 | 15.0 |
| La Verne | C | 1.9 | 22.3 |
The five graded California towns closest to Lawndale’s population (29,892), 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 Lawndale. 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 Lawndale’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (29,780 in 2025); our figure for Lawndale is 29,892 (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 Lawndale
Is Lawndale, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lawndale reports more crime per resident than 86% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #331 of 416 in California. Its police reported 6.0 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 Lawndale?
6.0 violent and 18.6 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.
How many homicides were there in Lawndale in 2025?
Lawndale’s police reported 2 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 6.7 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Lawndale safer than Hawthorne?
Hawthorne reports more crime per resident than Lawndale: Hawthorne grades D for safety and Lawndale D. Hawthorne’s police reported 6.5 violent and 22.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Lawndale?
Lawndale’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lawndale”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Lawndale.
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.