The Bakersfield metro area, the 62nd-largest in the US, is home to 915,100 residents · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in the Bakersfield area?
Violent crime is high in the Bakersfield area: a B, with more violent crime than the neighborhoods where 75% of Americans live. Assaults make up 89% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. The city of Bakersfield itself grades B- for violent crime.
B
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 690 of 1,000More violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
25% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than the Bakersfield area as a whole, and 75% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. The Bakersfield area scores 690.
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 violent crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its violent crime with the people who spend time there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy downtown or nightlife strip can show red while the homes around it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a solid connection. Compare high speed internet in Bakersfield, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Bakersfield area, 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 about violent crime in the Bakersfield area
One part of Bakersfield stands out for robbery. Robberies in Lakeview-Bakersfield, Oakridge & Tyner Homes, in east Bakersfield, run at about triple the rate in the rest of the city.
Aggravated assault at about double the US rate. The Bakersfield area has 5.5 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Where violent crime is lowest and highest in the Bakersfield area
Violent crime changes a lot from one part of the Bakersfield area to the next: 57% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 25% live in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across the Bakersfield area run from A+ to F.
57%18%25%
A or B 57%C 18%D or F 25%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhoods of Bakersfield
1Stockdale Greens, Villages of Brimhall-Brim. Classics & Stockdale Estates, westRobberies run at less than half the rate in the rest of Bakersfield.A847
2Laurelglen, Silver Creek & The Oaks, southwestAggravated assaults run at less than half the rate in the rest of Bakersfield.A-840
Neighborhood areas of the city of Bakersfield, ranked by violent crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Cities and towns in the Bakersfield metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by violent crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Is violent crime going up in the Bakersfield area?
Reported violent crime in the Bakersfield area has risen 14% since 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 6.2 to 7.1 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 12%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Bakersfield areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the Bakersfield area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Bakersfield area
Violent, US
2016
-6%
+4%
2017
-9%
+4%
2018
-4%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+11%
+4%
2021
+40%
+6%
2022
+20%
+5%
2023
+30%
+2%
2024
+14%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in the Bakersfield area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Bakersfield area has about 16 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 19% more than the US as a whole and 32% more than California.
All violent crime
Assaults
Robbery
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Violent crime here includes simple assaults, which the FBI's violent crime rate leaves out.
Assault is the most common violent crime in the Bakersfield area, about 89% of the total. Murder and rape are far rarer, but they account for 43% of the cost of violent crime here.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a violent crime with the people who spend time in an area, not only the people who live there. 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.
Violent crime in the Bakersfield area and nearby metro areas
Of the 10 metro areas closest to the Bakersfield area, 7 have less violent crime. The Oxnard area and the San Diego area have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Bakersfield area. Beside each violent crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Bakersfield area has more violent crime than 87% of them.
The Bakersfield area looks like a typical metro area on the traits that tend to go with violent crime.
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for the Bakersfield area: D (14 of 100).3 trips an hourUS: noneLower than for 66% of Americans in metro areas
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.32% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 66% of Americans in metro areas
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 violent crime costs the Bakersfield area
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs the Bakersfield area about $2.13 billion a year, or $2,323 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $411 million, or $450 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering are about 81% of that full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$150 million
$164
Rape
$28 million
$30
Robbery
$32 million
$35
Assault
$202 million
$221
Total
$411 million
$450
How CrimeGrade™ works
The violent crime CrimeGrade™ covers murder, rape, robbery and assault, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each violent crime against the people who spend time in an area, so a busy downtown is graded on its workers and visitors as well as its residents.
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. These figures cover the whole Bakersfield metro area. 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.
