Lemon Grove, CA carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 26% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Lemon Grove, CA shows violent crime at 442.7 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,074.1 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 26% above 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
442.7/100K violent
1074.1/100K property
+26% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Lemon Grove, CA
Comparable rate records
Lemon Grove's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the California cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Lemon Grove's 442.7 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Gridley (442.5), Colusa (441.7), Citrus Heights (439.3), Westminster (436.2). 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.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 29.2% of the 418 Part I offenses reported in Lemon Grove for 2024, against a median of 17.1% across comparable California cities — a gap of 12.1 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.
Position in the state cohort
Lemon Grove sits mid-pack among comparable California cities
At 442.7 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Lemon Grove ranks 161 of 458 — above 297 of the 457 other California cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +34.8% 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 lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 544.9 per 100,000 in 2020 to 442.7 in 2024 (-18.8%). The highest observed value was 664.2 in 2021 and the lowest 442.7 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 55.4% of reported property offenses in Lemon Grove, against a cohort median of 69.5%. The remainder is burglary (50) and motor vehicle theft (82). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Lemon Grove'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.
Lemon Grove's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 3.9 Census sq mi, Lemon Grove logged 76.3 property and 31.5 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Lemon Grove leans on larceny-theft at 39% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 2,528.
Violent offenses are 29% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (3.9 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Both rates shifted (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-29.6%
628.9 → 442.7/100K
Property Crime Rate
-30.9%
1553.8 → 1074.1/100K
Property offenses lead Lemon Grove's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs CA
Property Crime
296
1074.1
1985.9
Larceny-Theft
164
595.1
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
82
297.5
-
Burglary
50
181.4
-
Arson
4
14.5
-
Violent Crime
122
442.7
476.8
Aggravated Assault
82
297.5
-
Robbery
36
130.6
-
Murder
3
10.9
-
Rape
1
3.6
-
Lemon Grove Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Lemon Grove property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Lemon Grove Police Department
Reporting agency for Lemon Grove NIBRS-participating
Lemon Grove Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Lemon Grove's 418 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
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 Lemon Grove in population. Their populations run from 26,702 to 28,792, against 27,559 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Lemon Grove at 442.7/100K violent and 1,074.1/100K property - matched below outside California (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Lemon Grove reported 122 violent crimes and 296 property crimes, for a total of 418 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Lemon Grove?
From 2023 to 2024, Lemon Grove's violent crime rate decreased by 29.6%, and the property crime rate decreased by 30.9%.
What is the most common crime in Lemon Grove?
The most common crime type in Lemon Grove is larceny-theft, accounting for 39.2% of all reported crimes (164 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Lemon Grove 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 Lemon Grove, CA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.