The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Los Banos, CA
Los Banos is a city of 48,900 in Merced County, about 25 miles southwest of downtown Merced · Updated November 2026
Is Los Banos, CA safe?
Crime in Los Banos is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 68% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Los Banos. Violent crime grades B+ and property crime B. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Los Banos run from A+ to C, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 710 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
32% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Los Banos as a whole, and 68% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Los Banos scores 710.
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 Los Banos, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Los Banos, 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 Los Banos
Thefts from cars happen in the morning more often than nationally. In Los Banos, 38% of reported thefts from cars happen in the morning (6 am to noon), against 23% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Los Banos
Low crime is the norm across Los Banos: 93% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Los Banos run from A+ to C; 2% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
93%
A or B 93%C 7%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Los Banos, the southeast side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Los Banos?
Reported crime in Los Banos has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 38% and property crime down 15%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.6 to 2.2 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 22 to 19 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime rose 17%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Los BanosUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Los Banos. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Los Banos
Violent, US
Property, Los Banos
Property, US
2016
-9%
+4%
+39%
+15%
2017
+1%
+4%
+26%
+12%
2018
+3%
+0%
+23%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+35%
+4%
-7%
-8%
2021
+31%
+6%
-10%
-10%
2022
+10%
+5%
+6%
-6%
2023
-36%
+2%
-27%
-7%
2024
-38%
-4%
-15%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Los Banos
CrimeGrade™ estimates Los Banos has about 40 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 7% more than the US as a whole and close to 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.
Theft makes up about 37% of crime reported in Los Banos. Assault is less common but costs more, because each one does more harm.
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.
Where and when crime happens in Los Banos
Los Banos has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Los Banos, 52% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (52%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (37%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (29%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (38%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (45%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (36%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Los Banos compares with nearby cities
Los Banos has the most crime of its 6 nearest cities.
Two things set Los Banos apart: it has 17 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 6.5 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places like that tend to report less theft and robbery, yet theft and robbery run higher here than that would suggest.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.17 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 91% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.6.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 84% 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. 80% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (19 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 58% of US city residents
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.44% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 80% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.3.6% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 79% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.1.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 71% of US city residents
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 Los Banos
Crime costs Los Banos about $1,594 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 32% more than 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 $61 million a year, or $1,251 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$3.7 million
$76
Rape
$1.4 million
$29
Robbery
$800,000
$16
Assault
$5.6 million
$115
Burglary
$1.0 million
$21
Theft
$3.7 million
$76
Vehicle theft
$2.0 million
$40
Arson
$230,000
$5
Vandalism
$2.6 million
$54
Total
$21 million
$431
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 Los Banos 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 Los Banos, CA average a SchoolGrade of D-: 22% of students test proficient, against 22% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Los Banos on SchoolGrade
