The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Ashland, CA
Ashland is an unincorporated community of 24,600 in Alameda County, about 18 miles east of downtown San Francisco · Updated November 2026
Is Ashland, CA safe?
Ashland is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of F, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 95% of Americans live. Violent crime grades D+ and property crime F. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Ashland run from C to F, so check the map below.
F
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 0 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
5% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Ashland as a whole, and 95% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Ashland scores 0.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Ashland, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Ashland, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Ashland
Car thefts and robberies both run high. In Ashland, each runs at more than triple the US rate: 20.0 car thefts and 2.7 robberies a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 and 0.62 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Ashland
High crime is widespread across Ashland: 95% of residents live in areas graded D or F, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Ashland run from C to F; every part of Ashland has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
95%
C 5%D or F 95%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Ashland, the west side has the least crime and the center the most.
Crime rates and types in Ashland
CrimeGrade™ estimates Ashland has about 85 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than double the rate for the US as a whole and about double the rate for California.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
The largest share of crime reported in Ashland is assault, about 34% of the total. It also makes up the largest share of what crime costs here.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
How Ashland compares with nearby cities
Of the 10 cities closest to Ashland, 9 have less crime. Union City and Fairview have the least.
Density, night lighting and walkability in Ashland
Two things set Ashland apart: it has 84% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally, and 0.5 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places where many residents live in dense blocks tend to report more robbery and car theft, and they run high here.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.84% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 93% of US city residents
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 92% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault.C (39 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 87% of US city residents
Show all 6
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.5 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 90% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Ashland: C- (28 of 100).14 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 89% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.19 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 88% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Ashland on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Ashland
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Ashland about $3,295 a year per household, more than double the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $85 million a year, or $3,444 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$4.6 million
$187
Rape
$530,000
$22
Robbery
$2.1 million
$85
Assault
$9.0 million
$368
Burglary
$650,000
$26
Theft
$2.8 million
$114
Vehicle theft
$7.5 million
$307
Arson
$180,000
$7
Vandalism
$1.3 million
$54
Total
$29 million
$1,170
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Ashland means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Ashland, CA average a SchoolGrade of D: 28% of students test proficient, against 32% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Ashland on SchoolGrade
