The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Mendota, CA
Mendota is a city of 14,300 in Fresno County, about 35 miles west of downtown Fresno · Updated November 2026
Is Mendota, CA safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, Mendota has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 63% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades B+ and property crime A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Mendota run from A+ to C, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 761 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
37% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Mendota as a whole, and 63% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Mendota scores 761.
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 Mendota, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Mendota, 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 Mendota
Aggravated assaults run above the US rate. Mendota has less crime than the US as a whole, 16% below the US rate, but more aggravated assaults: 6.5 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Thefts are less common than in most B-graded cities. Mendota has 4.2 thefts a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 15.4.
The safest and least safe parts of Mendota
Most of Mendota grades well: 75% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Mendota run from A+ to C; 11% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
75%25%
A or B 75%C 25%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Mendota, the northeast side has the least crime and the north side the most.
Is crime going up in Mendota?
Since 2019, reported property crime in Mendota is down 46%, while violent crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 6.9 to 7.0 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 13 to 6.9 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 20%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
MendotaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Mendota. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Mendota
Violent, US
Property, Mendota
Property, US
2016
+23%
+4%
+3%
+15%
2017
-8%
+4%
-18%
+12%
2018
+5%
+0%
+28%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-13%
+4%
+10%
-8%
2021
+17%
+6%
+22%
-10%
2022
-7%
+5%
+9%
-6%
2023
+26%
+2%
-42%
-7%
2024
+2%
-4%
-46%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Mendota
CrimeGrade™ estimates Mendota has about 31 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 16% less than the US as a whole and 21% less than 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.
Assault is the most common crime in Mendota, about 37% of everything reported, and it also accounts for 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 Mendota compares with nearby cities
Mendota has the most crime of its 5 nearest cities.
Two things set Mendota apart: it has 1.4% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 5.0 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places like that tend to report less burglary, vandalism and arson, yet burglary, vandalism and arson run higher here than that would suggest.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.1.4% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 98% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.5.0 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower 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. 70% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (16 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 55% of US city residents
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.16 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 91% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.69% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 90% 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.82% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 69% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Mendota 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 Mendota
Crime costs Mendota about $2,642 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, about 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 $30 million a year, or $2,119 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.5 million
$104
Rape
$260,000
$18
Robbery
$470,000
$33
Assault
$3.2 million
$221
Burglary
$500,000
$35
Theft
$310,000
$21
Vehicle theft
$620,000
$43
Arson
$280,000
$19
Vandalism
$680,000
$48
Total
$7.7 million
$542
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 Mendota 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 Mendota, CA average a SchoolGrade of D: 26% of students test proficient, against 23% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Mendota on SchoolGrade
