Report Highlights: California ranked 32nd for homicides in 2024. The state’s homicide rates have consistently declined since 2008.
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California’s homicide rate was 26% lower than the national average in 2024.
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There are approximately 3.3 million gun owners in California.
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Los Angeles contributed 20% of the state’s homicides in 2024, while making up only 11% of the state’s population.
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California Homicide Rates
In 2024, California’s homicide rate was 4.53 per 100,000 people, with 1,766 homicides. The state ranks 32nd in the nation for its homicide rate, with a rate lower than the national average of 6.00 per 100,000.
How Many Gun Owners in California?
In 2023, there were 3.3 million gun owners in California. 2 However, some estimates state that there are nearly 6 million gun owners in California (15% of the state population). 3
Rural areas in Northern California have the highest percentage of gun owners, or 40% on average. In contrast, the rate of gun ownership in more densely populated areas in parts of Central and Southern California is 24% on average. 3
California Murder Rate by Year
California’s homicide rate in 2024 was 4.45 per 100,000 people; far below the national average of 6.0 per 100,000.
Between 1968 and 1974, California’s murder rate rose from 6.7 per 100,000 to 9.7. The state surpassed the national average in 1975 (10.3 per 100,000 versus 9.9), and peaked in 1980 (14.5 per 100,000).
The state’s murder rate declined only slightly after 1980, while the rest of the nation declined by more than 1.0 per 100,000 murders. In 2001, the state’s murder rate dipped below the national average (6.4 per 100,000 versus 7.1) for the first time in more than two decades.
The rate increased above the national average until 2010 (5.2 per 100,000 versus 5.3), and has remained lower since that year.
California Murder Rates by Gender
In 2024, men in California were four times more likely to be murdered than women. Males died at a rate of 7.21 per 100,000, while women died at a rate of 1.62 per 100,000.
Comparatively, the 2024 homicide rate for men in the U.S. was 9.7 per 100,000; for women, 2.4 per 100,000.
California Murder Rate by City
Los Angeles had the most murders of any city in 2024 (264). However, the city also has nearly 3.8 million people, resulting in a per capita rate of 6.9 per 100,000.
Compton, Oakland, Lancaster, Vallejo, Stockton, Antioch, San Bernardino, Carson, Hawthorne, and Sacramento had the highest homicide rates of all California cities in 2024 (excluding those with populations below 75,000 people).
Note: Cities with fewer than 75,000 people were excluded because per capita rates are too volatile for smaller population sizes.
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