Darius David Johnston House · Photo: Einbierbitte · CC BY-SA 4.0Norwalk reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Norwalk’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #253 of 416 graded towns in 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 Norwalk
Norwalk reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 4 California towns on Norwalk’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Bellflower (D), Cerritos (D), Santa Fe Springs (D−). Downey reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024. Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, closer to the middle
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Norwalk’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 39% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 23% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Norwalk is home to Cerritos College, with 13,757 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 8% 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 ↓
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 Norwalk’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 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 | Norwalk property | Rest of California property | Norwalk violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 18.7 | 24.8 | 3.9 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 20.7 | 25.0 | 4.1 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 19.6 | 20.8 | 3.7 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 15.8 | 18.5 | 3.3 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 16 property crimes reported
And about 3 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Norwalk’s police reported 1,078 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.7 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 | Norwalk | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.9 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.1 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.7 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.3 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
1,853 crimes reported in 2025
318 violent and 1,535 property, as reported to the FBI by Norwalk’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
32 people died in crashes on Norwalk’s roads in 2019–2023
Norwalk had 29 fatal crashes in five years, in which 32 people died; 7 were pedestrians. Most of these deaths (17 of 32) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is 6.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as 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.
Norwalk and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norwalk | C− | 3.7 | 18.7 |
| Santa Fe Springs | D− | 8.7 | 62.0 |
| Cerritos | D | 3.0 | 46.4 |
| Bellflower | D | 6.0 | 20.8 |
| Downey | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Downey reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024.
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 Norwalk. 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 Norwalk’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (97,213 in 2025); our figure for Norwalk is 97,104 (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 Norwalk
Is Norwalk, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Norwalk reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #253 of 416 in California. Its police reported 3.7 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 Norwalk?
3.7 violent and 18.7 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 Norwalk?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Norwalk in 2025?
Norwalk’s police reported 3 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 3.1 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Norwalk safer than Santa Fe Springs?
Santa Fe Springs reports more crime per resident than Norwalk: Santa Fe Springs grades D− for safety and Norwalk C−. Santa Fe Springs’s police reported 8.7 violent and 62.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Norwalk?
Norwalk’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Norwalk”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Norwalk.
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.