Visalia, CA has a D safety grade (38/100) with a violent crime rate of 435 per 100,000, 24% above the national average.
FBI UCR 2024 · per-capita rates · large city
Visalia, CA Crime Rate & Safety
At 146,090 residents, Visalia is a large city: FBI UCR Table 8 rates (per 100,000) here are read against CA and U.S. averages before the offense-family breakdown.
Visalia, CA carries a PlainCrime D safety grade with violent crime 24% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Visalia, CA shows violent crime at 435.3 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,130.2 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 24% 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
435.3/100K violent
2130.2/100K property
+24% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Visalia, CA
Comparable rate records
Visalia's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the California cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Visalia's 435.3 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Westminster (436.2), El Cajon (434.4), Escondido (433.5), Citrus Heights (439.3). 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
Visalia sits mid-pack among comparable California cities
At 435.3 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Visalia ranks 166 of 458 — above 292 of the 457 other California cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +32.5% 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 408.9 per 100,000 in 2020 to 435.3 in 2024 (+6.5%). The highest observed value was 496.1 in 2022 and the lowest 408.9 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Visalia'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.
On a large city row, these are citywide reported offense totals - not neighbourhood advice. Conditions vary by place and time; reporting rates differ across jurisdictions.
Visalia's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 38.5 Census sq mi, Visalia logged 80.8 property and 16.5 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Visalia leans on larceny-theft at 59% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 3,925.
Violent offenses are 17% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (38.5 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
-13.3%
2456.7 → 2130.2/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-4.8%
457.1 → 435.3/100K
Property offenses lead Visalia's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
3,112
2130.2
1711
Larceny-Theft
2,219
1518.9
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
509
348.4
-
Burglary
384
262.9
-
Arson
30
20.5
-
Violent Crime
636
435.3
352
Aggravated Assault
392
268.3
-
Robbery
138
94.5
-
Rape
99
67.8
-
Murder
7
4.8
-
Visalia 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.
Visalia 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
Visalia Police Department
Reporting agency for Visalia NIBRS-participating
Visalia Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Visalia's 3,748 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 Visalia in population. Their populations run from 136,899 to 153,419, against 146,090 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Visalia at 435.3/100K violent and 2,130.2/100K property - matched below outside California (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Visalia reported 636 violent crimes and 3,112 property crimes, for a total of 3,748 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Visalia?
From 2023 to 2024, Visalia's violent crime rate decreased by 4.8%, and the property crime rate decreased by 13.3%.
What is the most common crime in Visalia?
The most common crime type in Visalia is larceny-theft, accounting for 59.2% of all reported crimes (2,219 incidents in 2024).
Large-city read: Visalia's rates come from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, CIUS Table 8, vintage 2024.
Incomplete reporters stay out of rate rankings. Cross-check population with Census ACS; state UCR programs for statewide context. Primary verify links: FBI.gov UCR, Census QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (large city): informational crime rates only - not legal, insurance, or personal-safety advice. Source: FBI UCR. Ask a qualified professional before acting.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Visalia, CA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.