Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A city of 199,651, settled in 1898. Home to 58 notable people.
Oxnard earns a D, 697th among California's 841 graded towns, mostly because of safety and schools. Its police reported 1,109 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 85% of U.S. towns. Its public schools trail 76% of California towns on state tests and graduation. What it does well: it is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns. Oxnard’s peak summer temperature is 73°F, where California’s towns sit at 89°F and U.S. towns at 85°F. Oxnard's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 98% of U.S. towns. Oxnard is home to Oxnard College.
Where Oxnard beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Oxnard is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,555 in 1910, 202,063 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 4 maps from 1904 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Oxnard. Close and well known come first.
Big draw38 mi Theme parkSix Flags Magic Mountain3.3M visitors a year
5 mi National ParkChannel Islands National Park227K visitors a year
23 mi MuseumRonald Reagan Presidential Library
38 mi MuseumGetty Villa454K visitors a year
32 mi LakeLake Piru
27 mi MountainPoint DumeSix Flags Magic Mountain: Alton, CC BY 3.0 · Channel Islands National Park: Copernicus Sentinel-2, ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo · Ronald Reagan Presidential Library: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain · Getty Villa: Bobak Ha'Eri, CC BY 3.0 · Lake Piru: tomsaint11, CC BY 2.0 · Point Dume: OMCV, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Oxnard, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Oxnard.
Oxnard has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns and has seen reported crime fall beyond ordinary swings, but it trails even towns with similar incomes on health.
Reported crimes fell from 4,698 to 4,324 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
For Oxnard, the violent offense rate is 5.5 per 1,000 residents. Its level of property crime stands at 16.1 per 1,000 residents.
| Oxnard | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 5.5 per 1,000 residents | 2.9 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 16.1 per 1,000 residents | 13.3 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Three of its 53 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. 6 public schools serve Oxnard, with 5,092 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Blackstock Junior HighLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,239 | C− |
| Pacifica HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,675 | B− |
| Oxnard Middle College HighTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 194 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
Households in Oxnard have drawn federal disaster aid in 7 declared disasters, most recently in 2022. Storm and flood damage is expected to run higher than in 90% of U.S. communities. This California town has had 47 paid flood insurance claims since 1978. Of the losses FEMA expects locally, 64% come from earthquakes and 35% from inland flooding.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
About one worker in four stays in Oxnard for work. 7.4% of Oxnard workers work from home. For half of commuters, work is under 9 miles away. The top destinations are San Buenaventura (Ventura) (13%), Camarillo (8%) and Los Angeles (7%).
| Oxnard | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 27% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Work from home | 7.4% | 14% | 11% |
| Median household income | $96,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 25 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The biggest place to walk is McGrath State Beach, 373 acres with 1.7 miles of trail. There are 27 miles of trail across 50 parks and preserves. Oxnard’s concentration of trails comes in at 0.7 miles per square mile.
| Oxnard | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.7 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 6.5% | 4.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. McGrath State Beach | 1.7 mi | 373 |
| 2. College Park | 1.5 mi | 70 |
| 3. Wilson Park | 0.9 mi | 7 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
January nights average 46.3°, milder than in 97% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 72.8°.
It almost never snows. In Oxnard, the January low is 46°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 9,147 U.S. towns with household incomes like Oxnard’s, it is less healthy than 79%, so it trails even them.
The share of adults in Oxnard who get no exercise outside work: 31%. CDC measures, 32 in all: Oxnard beats California on 2 and trails on 11. Among adults locally, 29% say their health is fair or poor and 70% had a checkup this year.
| Oxnard | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 9% | 8.1% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 16% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 22% | 19% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 70% | 72% | 79% |
| What stands out | Oxnard | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.8% | 6.4% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 17.6% | 20.8% |
| More uninsured adults | 19.2% | 10.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
On the market in Oxnard: a median 41 days to sell. Its rent at the middle of the market is $2,032 a month. 54% of households own their home locally.
| Oxnard | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,032 a month | $1,895 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 54% | 64% | 73% |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 57% | 55% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
4 within 15 miles of the center of Oxnard
About 6 of every 100 Oxnard residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
4 places in Oxnard on the National Register of Historic Places.
58 notable people were born in Oxnard.
City in California, United States
Oxnard ( ) is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. On California's Central Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the 22nd-most-populous city in California. Incorporated in 1903, Oxnard lies approximately 60 miles (97 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It is at the western edge of the fertile Oxnard Plain, adjacent to agricultural fields with strawberries, lima beans and other vegetable crops. Oxnard is also a major transportation hub in Southern California, with Amtrak, Union Pacific, Metrolink, Greyhound, and Intercalifornias stopping there. It also has a small regional airport, Oxnard Airport (OXR). The town also has significant connections to the n…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Oxnard.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oxnard | #697 | D | D | C− | C− | C+ |
| Channel Islands Beach | #397 | C | D− | — | C− | A |
| El Rio | #765 | D− | D | — | C+ | C |
| Port Hueneme | #636 | D | D | C− | C− | B− |
| San Buenaventura (Ventura) | #418 | C | D | C− | B | B+ |
Channel Islands Beach and El Rio report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Oxnard with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Oxnard grades D overall, better than 5% of U.S. towns and #697 of 841 in California. It grades C+ for health, C− for safety and C− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. That is 6.9 years of the area's median household income ($109,797 across the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
58 notable people were born here, including Jeffrey Combs and Tony Ferguson.
