West Central, Pasadena, CA Violent Crime Rates and Maps
West Central is a neighborhood of 21,900 residents in Pasadena, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in West Central?
Violent crime in West Central runs higher than in most US neighborhoods: an A-, with more violent crime than the neighborhoods where 66% of Americans live. Assaults make up 83% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. Pasadena as a whole grades A- for violent crime.
A-
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 778 of 1,000More violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
34% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than West Central as a whole, and 66% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. West Central scores 778.
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 West Central, Pasadena, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in West Central in Pasadena, 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 West Central
Robbery at about triple the US rate. West Central has 2.0 robberies a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 nationally.
How West Central compares within Pasadena
Every part of West Central where people live grades A or B for violent crime on the national scale. Violent crime grades across West Central run from A- to B.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
West Central has less violent crime than 2 of the 10 neighborhoods in Pasadena. It covers much of the West Central area.
Is violent crime going up in Pasadena?
Reported violent crime in Pasadena as a whole has held about steady since 2019, within 7%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.3 to 4.6 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 11%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
PasadenaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Pasadena. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Pasadena
Violent, US
2016
-22%
+4%
2017
-7%
+4%
2018
-11%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-31%
+4%
2021
-17%
+6%
2022
-13%
+5%
2023
+20%
+2%
2024
+7%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in West Central
CrimeGrade™ estimates West Central has about 15 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 11% more than the US as a whole and 53% more than Pasadena as a whole.
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 West Central, about 83% of the total.
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.
Where and when violent crime happens in Pasadena
The Pasadena Police Department polices West Central; these figures cover Pasadena as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Pasadena as a whole, 35% of aggravated assaults happen at a home, against 53% nationally. Robberies happen most often at stores and businesses: 50% of them.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Robbery
Stores and businesses (50%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Streets and sidewalks (35%)
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.
Violent crime in West Central and nearby neighborhoods
Of the 10 neighborhoods closest to West Central, 7 have less violent crime. North East and Madison Heights have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from West Central. Beside each violent crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, West Central is safer than 72% of them.
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, two set West Central apart: it has 134 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 1.2 bars and nightlife spots for every 1,000 residents, against 0.6 nationally. It also combines many bars with dense blocks: places with both tend to report more assault and robbery than places with only one of them, and they run high here.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more robbery.134 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 92% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.1.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 85% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 assault. 50% of residents here live in walkable areas.B+ (65 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 74% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.92% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 76% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 West Central
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs West Central about $32 million a year, or $1,466 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $7.4 million, or $336 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
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. 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.
