Albany, CA carries a PlainCrime B safety grade with violent crime 61% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Albany, CA shows violent crime at 138.8 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,492.7 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 61% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade B from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
B safety grade
138.8/100K violent
2492.7/100K property
-61% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Albany, CA
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Albany reported 26 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 18,735. At this volume one additional or one fewer report moves the per-100,000 rate noticeably, so the figure is better read as a data point than as a precise measurement, and year-to-year swings here are expected.
Comparable rate records
Albany's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the California cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Albany's 138.8 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Chino Hills (138.0), Aliso Viejo (134.9), Pacific Grove (143.4), Poway (133.9). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
Position in the state cohort
Albany reported a lower violent-crime rate than most comparable California cities
At 138.8 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Albany ranks 390 of 458 — above 68 of the 457 other California cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -58.3% against the cohort median of 333.1. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 5.3% of the 493 Part I offenses reported in Albany for 2024, against a median of 17.1% across comparable California cities — a gap of 11.8 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 146.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 138.8 in 2024 (-5.1%). The highest observed value was 215.7 in 2022 and the lowest 54.5 in 2021. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Albany's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Based on 26 reported violent incidents in a population of 18,735. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Albany's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 1.8 Census sq mi, Albany logged 260.9 property and 14.5 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Albany's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (72% of 493 offenses; mix index 5,457).
Violent offenses are only 5% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (1.8 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-28.6%
194.5 → 138.8/100K
Property Crime Rate
-13.5%
2880.9 → 2492.7/100K
Property offenses lead Albany's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
467
2492.7
1711
Larceny-Theft
355
1894.8
-
Burglary
56
298.9
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
56
298.9
-
Arson
5
26.7
-
Violent Crime
26
138.8
352
Aggravated Assault
14
74.7
-
Robbery
10
53.4
-
Rape
2
10.7
-
Murder
0
0
-
Albany Crime Trend (2020-2024)
The chart omits 2021 rather than drawing an unsupported zero or partial-coverage dip. The table preserves the year and marks the gap.
Albany property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 4 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Albany Police Department
Reporting agency for Albany NIBRS-participating
Albany Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Albany's 493 reported offenses (4-year span 2020-2024, with internal gaps).
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in California
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the California cities closest to Albany in population. Their populations run from 18,310 to 19,270, against 18,735 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Albany at 138.8/100K violent and 2,492.7/100K property - matched below outside California (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Albany reported 26 violent crimes and 467 property crimes, for a total of 493 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Albany?
From 2023 to 2024, Albany's violent crime rate decreased by 28.6%, and the property crime rate decreased by 13.5%.
What is the most common crime in Albany?
The most common crime type in Albany is larceny-theft, accounting for 72.0% of all reported crimes (355 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Albany figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Albany, CA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.