Crime Grade · FBI UCR Data · 2025
Watsonville, CA Crime Grade
How Watsonville grades for violent crime against every other reporting U.S. city — and against the rest of California — based on the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting data.
National
9/10
vs. all U.S. cities ≥ 25,000 population
California
7/10
vs. California cities ≥ 10,000 population
In 2025, the violent crime rate in Watsonville, CA was 413.4 per 100,000 residents (211 incidents over a population of 51,037). That puts Watsonville Infinity% above the U.S. rate of 0.0 and 1% below the California statewide rate of 415.5.
That ranks Watsonville #3,073 of 3,771 ranked U.S. cities, safer than 19% of them, and #257 of 371 in California. Violent crime is down 3% year over year and down 25% over the last five years.
Watsonville, CA crime — key facts
- National Crime Grade
- F (9/10)
- California Grade
- C (7/10)
- Violent crime rate
- 413.4 / 100k
- National rank
- #3,073 of 3,771
- CA rank
- #257 of 371
- Safer than
- 19% of U.S. cities
- Year over year
- down 3%
- 5-year change
- down 25%
- Population
- 51,037
- Reporting agency
- Watsonville Police Department
- Data year
- 2025 · FBI UCR
Reported by Watsonville Police Department (FBI ORI CA0440300) to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Download the full dataset (CSV) · methodology.
About Watsonville, CA
Also known as
- Pajaro
- Sugar City
- Apple City
Name history sourced from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) — public-domain federal geographic-names data.
Violent crime rate, 5-year trend
Per 100,000 residents. Watsonville (red), California (blue), U.S. average (gray dashed).
Watsonville vs. U.S., 2025 — by offense
Rates per 100,000 residents for each offense category.
Full data, last 5 years
Rates per 100,000 residents. Raw counts in parentheses.
| Offense | 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | 552.2(299) | 586.2(302) | 579.9(296) | 425.1(214) | 413.4(211) |
| Murder | 7.4(4) | 1.9(1) | 11.8(6) | 0.0(0) | 2.0(1) |
| Rape | 49.9(27) | 60.2(31) | 33.3(17) | 61.6(31) | 50.9(26) |
| Robbery | 81.3(44) | 108.7(56) | 94.0(48) | 57.6(29) | 82.3(42) |
| Aggravated assault | 413.7(224) | 415.4(214) | 440.8(225) | 305.9(154) | 278.2(142) |
| Property crime | 2116.3(1,146) | 1877.1(967) | 1442.0(736) | 1195.9(602) | 989.5(505) |
| Burglary | 308.4(167) | 265.9(137) | 233.1(119) | 139.1(70) | 94.0(48) |
| Larceny | 1209.6(655) | 1186.0(611) | 940.4(480) | 748.9(377) | 648.5(331) |
| Motor vehicle theft | 572.5(310) | 409.6(211) | 248.8(127) | 300.0(151) | 237.1(121) |
How the Crime Grade is calculated
- What is the source of the Watsonville, CA Crime Grade?
- FBI Uniform Crime Reporting via the Crime Data Explorer. Agency-level data, pulled directly. No third-party aggregators, no proprietary score.
- What metric does the Watsonville Crime Grade use?
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 residents (murder + rape + robbery + aggravated assault), most recent fully-reported year.
- How is the national decile for Watsonville calculated?
- Watsonville's rate placed against all FBI-reporting U.S. cities with population ≥ 25,000. 1 = safest.
- How is the California state decile calculated?
- Same calculation restricted to California cities with population ≥ 10,000.
- How do decile scores convert to a letter grade?
- 1–3 = A · 4–5 = B · 6–7 = C · 8 = D · 9–10 = F.
- How often is the Watsonville Crime Grade refreshed?
- Twice a year. The FBI typically releases the prior year's full data each September.
- What are the limits of this Crime Grade?
- The FBI relies on local agency reporting. Rates reflect what was reported, not what occurred.
Nearby cities in California
Comparable California cities by population.
Compare Watsonville to other places
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