El Centro, CA carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 7% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, El Centro, CA shows violent crime at 328.4 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,267.5 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 7% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade C from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
C safety grade
328.4/100K violent
1267.5/100K property
-7% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for El Centro, CA
Comparable rate records
El Centro's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the California cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to El Centro's 328.4 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Kerman (328.5), Perris (327.6), Santa Paula (326.7), American Canyon (325.5). 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.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 49.1% of reported property offenses in El Centro, against a cohort median of 69.5%. The remainder is burglary (207) and motor vehicle theft (74). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 20.6% of the 695 Part I offenses reported in El Centro for 2024, against a median of 17.1% across comparable California cities — a gap of 3.5 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 4 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 357.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 328.4 in 2024 (-8.1%). The highest observed value was 357.2 in 2020 and the lowest 328.4 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
El Centro sits mid-pack among comparable California cities
At 328.4 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, El Centro ranks 231 of 458 — above 227 of the 457 other California cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -1.4% 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.
Property counts dominate El Centro'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.
El Centro's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 12.1 Census sq mi, El Centro logged 45.6 property and 11.8 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
El Centro leans on larceny-theft at 39% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 2,748.
Violent offenses are 21% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (12.1 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-19.4%
1572.9 → 1267.5/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-3.2%
339.3 → 328.4/100K
Property offenses lead El Centro's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs CA
Property Crime
552
1267.5
1985.9
Larceny-Theft
271
622.3
-
Burglary
207
475.3
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
74
169.9
-
Arson
5
11.5
-
Violent Crime
143
328.4
476.8
Aggravated Assault
99
227.3
-
Robbery
32
73.5
-
Rape
10
23
-
Murder
2
4.6
-
El Centro 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.
El Centro 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
El Centro Police Department
Reporting agency for El Centro NIBRS-participating
El Centro Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind El Centro's 695 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 El Centro in population. Their populations run from 42,607 to 45,406, against 43,550 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
El Centro at 328.4/100K violent and 1,267.5/100K property - matched below outside California (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, El Centro reported 143 violent crimes and 552 property crimes, for a total of 695 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in El Centro?
From 2023 to 2024, El Centro's violent crime rate decreased by 3.2%, and the property crime rate decreased by 19.4%.
What is the most common crime in El Centro?
The most common crime type in El Centro is larceny-theft, accounting for 39.0% of all reported crimes (271 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: El Centro 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 El Centro, CA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.