Fresno, CA Crime Map

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions About Crime in Fresno, CA

Is Fresno safe to live in?

By the numbers, Fresno leans safer than its overall C- city-wide crime grade might suggest at first glance. When researchers analyzed all 27 neighborhoods across the city, 74% earned a combined A or B safety rating — meaning roughly three out of four Fresno neighborhoods qualify as low-crime. Only 7.4% of neighborhoods (2 out of 27) landed in the higher-crime D range, and zero neighborhoods received an F grade. Areas like Van Ness Extension (Grade A, median income $134,300), Sierra Sky Park (Grade A, population 17,761), and Copper River Ranch (Grade A, median income $121,432) consistently post the strongest safety profiles. In short, where you live within Fresno matters enormously — the gap between the safest and highest-crime neighborhoods is substantial.

What is the overall crime grade for Fresno, CA in 2026?

Fresno's city-wide overall crime grade is C- for 2026, reflecting a mixed picture across its diverse neighborhoods. However, the city-wide safety rating — which weights neighborhood-level data — comes in at a B (Safe). Of the 27 neighborhoods analyzed, 10 neighborhoods (37%) earned an A grade and another 10 neighborhoods (37%) earned a B grade. Five neighborhoods (18.5%) sit in the C range, while just two (7.4%) fall into D territory. No Fresno neighborhood received an F. This distribution means the majority of Fresno residents live in areas with genuinely low crime rates, even as a handful of concentrated hotspots pull the city-wide average downward.

What are the safest neighborhoods in Fresno?

Ten Fresno neighborhoods earned a top Grade A safety rating in 2026. The five with perfect A scores are Fort Washington (median income $97,857), Van Ness Extension (median income $134,300, population 8,627), Tarpey Village (median income $79,184), Copper River Ranch (median income $121,432), and Sierra Sky Park (median income $102,999, the largest safe neighborhood at 17,761 residents). Five additional neighborhoods earned an A- grade: Calwa, Butler Park, Old Fig Garden, Germantown, and Malaga. Notably, not all safe neighborhoods are high-income — Butler Park (median income $35,924) and Malaga (median income $33,680) both achieved A- grades despite below-average household incomes, demonstrating that safety and affluence don't always move together in Fresno.

Which Fresno neighborhoods have the highest crime rates?

Two neighborhoods received the lowest safety grades in Fresno's 2026 analysis: Little Italy (Grade D+) and Fresno Chandler Executive Airport (Grade D+). Both sit well below the city median and represent the roughly 7% of Fresno neighborhoods classified as higher-crime. Moving up slightly, Lowell (Grade C-), Highway City (Grade C), and Sun Garden Acres (Grade C+) round out the areas with elevated crime relative to Fresno's safer zones. It's worth noting that even the lowest-graded neighborhoods in Fresno did not reach an F — suggesting that while these areas warrant caution, they do not represent the most extreme crime environments seen in comparable California cities.

How does Fresno's crime compare across its neighborhoods?

The spread across Fresno's 27 analyzed neighborhoods is striking. At the top, 37% of neighborhoods hold an A grade — a figure that would be impressive for any major California city. At the bottom, just 7.4% fall into the D range, with no neighborhoods failing entirely. The middle tier — grades B through C+ — accounts for the remaining 55%. This distribution means Fresno is not uniformly dangerous; rather, crime is concentrated in a small number of areas while the majority of the city maintains a solid safety profile. For context, Fresno's population is 702,486 spread across a density of 1,763 residents per square mile, and socioeconomic factors like a 23.5% poverty rate and 9.5% unemployment rate do correlate with the pockets of elevated crime seen in neighborhoods like Little Italy and Lowell.

Is Fresno a good place to buy a home in 2026?

From a crime-data perspective, the majority of Fresno offers a reasonable environment for homeowners. With a median home value of $254,787 and a median household income of $53,368, Fresno remains one of California's more affordable large cities. The 74% of neighborhoods graded A or B for safety — including high-income areas like Van Ness Extension ($134,300 median income) and Sierra Sky Park ($102,999 median income) — provide genuine options for buyers prioritizing both affordability and security. Buyers should, however, research specific neighborhood grades before committing: the C- overall crime grade signals that city-wide averages are weighed down by a small number of higher-crime corridors. Cross-referencing a target neighborhood's letter grade with its income and density data gives the clearest picture of what to expect day-to-day.