Arcata, CA carries a PlainCrime D safety grade with violent crime 44% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Arcata, CA shows violent crime at 507.7 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,763.8 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 44% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade D from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
D safety grade
507.7/100K violent
1763.8/100K property
+44% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Arcata, CA
Comparable rate records
Arcata's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the California cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Arcata's 507.7 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Fowler (509.5), Port Hueneme (510.3), Stanton (512.0), Beverly Hills (512.2). 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
Arcata sits mid-pack among comparable California cities
At 507.7 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Arcata ranks 125 of 458 — above 333 of the 457 other California cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +54.5% against the cohort median of 328.5. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 4 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 415.9 per 100,000 in 2020 to 507.7 in 2024 (+22.1%). The highest observed value was 632.1 in 2022 and the lowest 415.9 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 22.4% of the 434 Part I offenses reported in Arcata for 2024, against a median of 17.1% across comparable California cities — a gap of 5.2 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.
Property-offense composition
Larceny-theft dominates the property total more than it does across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 80.7% of reported property offenses in Arcata, against a cohort median of 69.5%. The remainder is burglary (37) and motor vehicle theft (28). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Arcata'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.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Arcata's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 9.4 Census sq mi, Arcata logged 35.8 property and 10.3 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Arcata's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (63% of 434 offenses; mix index 4,272).
Violent offenses are 22% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (9.4 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
-14%
590.3 → 507.7/100K
Property Crime Rate
-11%
1982.2 → 1763.8/100K
Property offenses lead Arcata's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs CA
Property Crime
337
1763.8
1985.9
Larceny-Theft
272
1423.6
-
Burglary
37
193.6
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
28
146.5
-
Arson
2
10.5
-
Violent Crime
97
507.7
476.8
Aggravated Assault
60
314
-
Robbery
23
120.4
-
Rape
14
73.3
-
Murder
0
0
-
Arcata 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.
Arcata property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 4 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Arcata Police Department
Reporting agency for Arcata NIBRS-participating
Arcata Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Arcata's 434 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 Arcata in population. Their populations run from 18,735 to 19,433, against 19,107 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Arcata at 507.7/100K violent and 1,763.8/100K property - matched below outside California (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Arcata reported 97 violent crimes and 337 property crimes, for a total of 434 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Arcata?
From 2023 to 2024, Arcata's violent crime rate decreased by 14%, and the property crime rate decreased by 11%.
What is the most common crime in Arcata?
The most common crime type in Arcata is larceny-theft, accounting for 62.7% of all reported crimes (272 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Arcata 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 Arcata, CA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.