Oakland has the #1 property crime rate in America
Oakland also has the highest violent crime rate in California — and the lowest reported rate of solved crimes of any major city in the nation.
Figure 1. Oakland's property crime rate rose 22% since 2010 while California's fell 32% and the nation's fell 40% (through 2024); Oakland ended 2024 with the highest property crime rate of any large U.S. city. (Source: CA DOJ Crimes & Clearances dataset; FBI; CA DOF.)
Figure 2. Ten of twelve comparison cities declined or held flat, along with the state (-32%) and nation (-40%, through 2024); Oakland rose 22%. (Source: CA DOJ; FBI; CA DOF.)
Figure 3. Oakland's violent crime rate has been the highest of 13 California cities in all 16 years since 2010 - 3.5 times the 2025 statewide rate. (Source: CA DOJ; CA DOF.)
Figure 4. On the definition-stable measure, Oakland fell 46% from 2010 to 2025 - a decline in line with its peers - though its level remains the region's highest. (Source: CA DOJ; CA DOF.)
Figure 5. Oakland's reported violent-crime clearance rate fell from 27.8% in 2010 to under 10% in 2024-25 - the lowest of the 13 cities and roughly one-fifth the statewide rate. (Source: CA DOJ Crimes & Clearances dataset.)
Figure 6. Oakland's homicide clearance rate held near or above 50% while clearances for other violent crime and property crime collapsed - a pattern consistent with triage of scarce investigative capacity. Near-zero property figures may partly reflect records-system breakdowns. (Source: CA DOJ Crimes & Clearances dataset.)
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“Crime rates are coming down in all categories”
OAKLAND REPORT ∙ AUGUST 2, 2026
Marking one year in office in May, mayor Barbara Lee told local television station KTVU that “crime rates are coming down in all categories.”
That same day, Lee told television station KRON that Oakland’s public safety turnaround has become a model for other cities.
Marking one year in office in May, mayor Barbara Lee told local television station KRON4 that Oakland's public safety turnaround has become a model for other cities.
"Oakland is seen as one of the top cities in terms of what we're doing here so be proud of what we're doing even though we know we haven't accomplished everything and we still have crime and we still have fear. But everyone is working on it every day."
— Mayor Barbara Lee
Lee’s claim is supported by a single year of crime data: violent crime is down more than 20% since Lee took office just over one year ago, and homicides are at a 58-year low.
Despite these impressive statistics, Oaklanders continue to experience the highest violent crime rate in California — far above peer cities — and the second-highest violent crime rate in the nation.
To help our readers understand the larger picture of Oakland’s crime trends, Oakland Report examined where Oakland stands among other cities on the stated crime declines — not over one good year, but over the past 15 years.
Using Department of Justice (DOJ) crime data, we compared Oakland with 12 comparable and neighboring California cities — Alameda, Berkeley, Fremont, Hayward, Long Beach, Richmond, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose, San Leandro, and Santa Clara — and against statewide and national averages, from 2010 through 2025. [4]
We also examined clearance rates, the share of reported crimes police report solving.
Key findings
Oakland has the highest property crime rate of any large city in America. In the FBI's most recent national city data (2024), Oakland ranked first among all reporting cities over 100,000 residents.
Oakland’s property crime rate has gone up, not down. Oakland’s property crime rate rose 21.8% from 2010 to 2025. Meanwhile, California's property crime rate fell 32.1% over the same period, and the nation's fell 40.1% (through 2024).
Oakland has the highest violent crime rate in California. No city in the state with a meaningful residential population comes close to Oakland's violent crime rate. Also, Oakland had the second-highest violent crime rate in the nation among cities over 250,000, exceeded only by Memphis.
Oakland’s violent crime rate has remained higher than every other city in California for 16 straight years. Among our 13 comparison cities, Oakland ranked highest in violent crime in all 16 years — and is 3.5 times the statewide rate.
Oakland reports solving a smaller share of its crimes than any major U.S. city for which figures could be found. Its violent crime clearance rate fell from 27.8% in 2010 to 9.8% in 2025 — far less than the statewide rate — and its combined clearance rate across all Part I crimes was 2.1% in 2024. The national average was far higher, around 20%.