The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Newark, CA
Newark is a city of 46,900 in Alameda County, about 25 miles southeast of downtown San Francisco · Updated November 2026
Is Newark, CA safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B, Newark has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 75% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A- against C-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Newark run from B+ to D+, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 632 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
25% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Newark as a whole, and 75% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Newark scores 632.
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 Newark, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Newark, 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 Newark
Car thefts run high for a B-graded city. Newark has 8.9 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 2.9.
Burglaries happen at stores and businesses far more often than nationally. In Newark, 64% of reported burglaries happen at stores and businesses, against 28% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Newark
Low crime is the norm across Newark: 61% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 10% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Newark run from B+ to D+; every part of Newark has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
61%29%10%
A or B 61%C 29%D or F 10%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Newark, the southwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Newark?
Reported crime in Newark has risen since 2019: violent crime is up 99% and property crime up 42%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.7 to 3.8 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 28 to 40 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 20%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
NewarkUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Newark. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Newark
Violent, US
Property, Newark
Property, US
2016
+37%
+4%
-9%
+15%
2017
+9%
+4%
+13%
+12%
2018
+16%
+0%
-4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+46%
+4%
+7%
-8%
2021
+78%
+6%
+76%
-10%
2022
+86%
+5%
+55%
-6%
2023
+87%
+2%
+29%
-7%
2024
+124%
-4%
+42%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Newark
CrimeGrade™ estimates Newark has about 58 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 56% more than the US as a whole and 46% more 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.
Theft is the most common crime in Newark, about 45% of everything reported, but vehicle theft 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 Newark
Newark has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 59% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (64%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (49%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (59%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (25%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (42%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
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 Newark compares with nearby cities
Newark has more crime than 7 of its 10 nearest cities. Sunol and Menlo Park have the least crime nearby.
Two things set Newark apart: it has 54% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally, and 8 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. Places like that 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.54% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 85% 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 Newark: D+ (20 of 100).8 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 80% 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. 68% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (26 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 74% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.13.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 79% 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 74% 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.4.5% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 66% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Newark 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 Newark
Crime costs Newark about $1,851 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 54% 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 $59 million a year, or $1,267 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.7 million
$35
Rape
$1.1 million
$24
Robbery
$2.0 million
$42
Assault
$5.9 million
$126
Burglary
$1.9 million
$41
Theft
$6.3 million
$133
Vehicle theft
$6.4 million
$137
Arson
$330,000
$7
Vandalism
$2.0 million
$43
Total
$28 million
$589
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 Newark 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 Newark, CA average a SchoolGrade of B+: 45% of students test proficient, against 49% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Newark on SchoolGrade
