See the California cities with the highest, lowest homicide rates
The number of homicides in California rose for the second consecutive year in 2016, and some cities were hit much harder than others, according to new FBI data.
Cities with high poverty rates tend to have high homicide rates. Cities with low poverty rates tend to have few murders – if any at all.
Six California cities with more than 50,000 residents saw murder rates of more than triple the statewide rate. But 46 cities of that size saw no murders in 2016, including a few in the Sacramento region.
Almost 80 percent of large California cities with no murders last year also had lower poverty rates than the statewide average, FBI and census figures show. By comparison, just 14 percent of the 50 California cities with the highest murder rates also had less poverty than the statewide average.
Listed below are the six California cities with the highest murder rates last year. Below that are the six largest California cities with zero murders.
Cities with the highest murder rates
#1: Compton | County: Los Angeles | Population: 98,861 | Murders, 2016: 35 | Murders per 100,000 residents: 35.4 | Poverty rate: 27%
#2: San Bernardino | County: San Bernardino | Population: 217,303 | Murders, 2016: 62 | Murders per 100,000 residents: 28.5 | Poverty rate: 29%
#3: Salinas | County: Monterey | Population: 158,729 | Murders, 2016: 35 | Murders per 100,000 residents: 22.1 | Poverty rate: 15%
#4: Oakland | County: Alameda | Population: 424,998 | Murders, 2016: 85 | Murders per 100,000 residents: 20 | Poverty rate: 19%
#5: Richmond | County: Alameda | Population: 110,868 | Murders, 2016: 21 | Murders per 100,000 residents: 18.9 | Poverty rate: 15%
#6: Stockton | County: San Joaquin | Population: 308,348 | Murders, 2016: 49 | Murders per 100,000 residents: 15.9 | Poverty rate: 18%
The largest California cities with ZERO murders in 2016
#1: Fremont | County: Alameda | Population: 235,881 | Murders, 2016: 0 | Murders per 100,000 residents: 0 | Poverty rate: 3%
#2: Elk Grove | County: Sacramento | Population: 169,742 | Murders, 2016: 0 | Murders per 100,000 residents: 0 | Poverty rate: 7%
#3: Roseville | County: Placer | Population: 132,566 | Murders, 2016: 0 | Murders per 100,000 residents: 0 | Poverty rate: 7%
#4: Thousand Oaks | County: Ventura | Population: 129,853 | Murders, 2016: 0 | Murders per 100,000 residents: 0 | Poverty rate: 8%
#5: Carlsbad | County: San Diego | Population: 115,040 | Murders, 2016: 0 | Murders per 100,000 residents: 0 | Poverty rate: 5%
#6: Murrieta | County: Riverside | Population: 111,043 | Murders, 2016: 0 | Murders per 100,000 residents: 0 | Poverty rate: 12%
Photo Credits: All photos from Wikipedia Commons, except Roseville, which is a Sacramento Bee file photo. | Sources: Crime and population figures from FBI. Poverty figures from U.S. Census Bureau. | Excludes cities with fewer than 50,000 residents.
This story was originally published October 28, 2017 at 4:00 AM with the headline "See the California cities with the highest, lowest homicide rates."