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Ojai Valley Museum 2014 02Photo: Patrick Pelletier · CC BY-SA 3.0
B
Safety in Ojai · FBI data, 2023–2025

Ojai reports less crime per resident than 61% of U.S. towns

On crimes reported to the FBI by Ojai’s police in 2023–2025, it grades B for safety: #46 of 416 graded towns in California.

Violent crime
1.7
per 1,000 a year · Well below rest of CA (4.9)
U.S. (FBI national estimate) 3.6
Property crime
7.6
per 1,000 a year · Well below rest of CA (21.4)
U.S. (FBI national estimate) 17.6
Crimes reported
208
38 violent · 170 property
2023–2025
Trend
→ Steady
2023 to 2025
within ordinary swings

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 · In brief

What stands out about safety in Ojai

Among California towns, higher

California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Ojai’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 89% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 61% nationally. Safety Grade ↓

Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.

Safety Grade

What’s behind Ojai’s grade

Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Ojai’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (1.7) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.

Where Ojai sits
B− Violent 1.7B+ Property 7.6
All U.S. towns we grade (7,426)Less crime than 61%
More reported crimeLess reported crime
California towns we grade (416)Less crime than 89% · #46 of 416
Places of 5,000–25,000 people (3,282)Less crime than 60%
A fairly firm grade. Built on 208 reported crimes over three years. Ordinary swings could put Ojai anywhere from B to B+.

How TownRatings grades safety →

Violent crime

Violent crime, by year and by type

Ojai’s police reported 38 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.7 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.

1,000 neighbors · one year

For every 1,000 residents, about 6 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.

Property crime (6.2)Violent crime (1.2)Everyone else

Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025

Ojai1.2
Rest of CA4.3
U.S. (FBI)3.3

Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025

Ojai6.2
Rest of CA18.5
U.S. (FBI)15.5

Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.

Trend

Reported crime is steady

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.

Show as a table
YearOjai propertyRest of California propertyOjai violentRest of California violent
20229.524.80.55.1
20238.825.01.25.4
20247.720.82.74.9
20256.218.51.24.3

Crimes per 1,000 residents

What gets reported

56 crimes reported in 2025

9 violent and 47 property, as reported to the FBI by Ojai’s police.

2025 offenses reported

Larceny / theft36
Burglary10
Vehicle theft1
Aggravated assault7
Robbery1
Rape1
Homicide0
Arson2
9
violent crimes
47
property crimes

Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.

On the roads

Two people died in crashes on Ojai’s roads in 2019–2023

Ojai had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 1 was a pedestrian and 1 was a cyclist.

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 Ojai’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Ojai’s own rate (5.3) is context, not a ranking.

2
people died in crashes, 2019–2023
1
pedestrian among them
1
cyclist among them
5.3
per 100,000 a year · California towns of 5,000–25,000: 5.6

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.

Next door

Ojai and its neighbors

How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.

A rangeB rangeC rangeD rangeNot graded
TownGradeViolentProperty
OjaiB1.77.6
Meiners Oaks———
Mira Monte———

Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Meiners Oaks and Mira Monte are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.

California towns of a similar size

TownGradeViolentProperty
OjaiB1.77.6
FairfaxB1.28.5
EscalonC+3.511.0
Westlake VillageC+1.718.2
SebastopolC3.914.6
HuronC−7.64.6

The five graded California towns closest to Ojai’s population (7,474), by grade.

How to read these numbers

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 Ojai. 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 Ojai’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
  • Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (7,545 in 2025); our figure for Ojai is 7,474 (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 Ojai

Is Ojai, CA safe?

On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Ojai reports less crime per resident than 61% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #46 of 416 in California. Its police reported 1.7 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 Ojai?

1.7 violent and 7.6 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 Ojai?

Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.

Who polices Ojai?

Ojai’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Ojai”. Its figures are the ones on this page.

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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.