Crime in Pismo Beach, California

Pismo Beach's crime rate

There were 370 crimes reported in Pismo Beach, California in 2019, the most recent year crime data is available. Adjusted for population, the city’s annual crime rate is 4,466 incidents for every 100,000 people.

How does Pismo Beach compare?

Pismo Beach has one of the highest overall crime rates of any U.S. city. For comparison, the national total crime rate is 2,489 incidents for every 100,000 people.

Pismo Beach's overall crime rate is 61% higher than the overall crime rate in California. Statewide, there were 1,095,445 crimes reported in 2019, or 2,772 for every 100,000 people.

What types of crimes are being committed?

The FBI's crime rate includes seven crime categories: three property crimes -- larceny, burglary, and motor vehicle theft, and four violent crimes -- aggravated assault, robbery, rape, and murder.

Property crime

The vast majority of crimes in America are property crimes, accounting for 85% of total crimes in 2019. In Pismo Beach, however, property crimes account for about 92% of all offenses.

Property crime is more prevalent in Pismo Beach than it is nationwide. There were 341 property crimes in Pismo Beach in 2019, or 4,116 for every 100,000 residents. Meanwhile, the national property crime rate is 2,110 incidents per 100,000 people.

Larceny

Larceny is by far the most common type of property crime in the U.S. It is also the most commonly committed type of property crime in Pismo Beach. There were 236 larcenies reported in Pismo Beach in 2019, or 2,849 for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, the larceny rate is 1,550 per 100,000.

Burglary

There were 89 break-ins reported in Pismo Beach in 2019, or 1,074 for every 100,000 residents. For reference, there were 341 reported burglaries for every 100,000 people nationwide in 2019.

Motor Vehicle Theft

Across the United States, the annual motor vehicle theft rate is 220 for every 100,000 people. In Pismo Beach, meanwhile, there were 16 motor vehicle thefts in 2019, or 193 for every 100,000 people.

Violent crime

Violent crime accounts for a relatively small share of crimes nationwide. These offenses, which are generally more egregious than property crimes, account for about 15% of the nearly 8.2 million offenses reported across the U.S. in 2019. In Pismo Beach, however, violent offenses account for a smaller 8% share of all reported crime.

At 350 incidents for every 100,000 people, the violent crime rate in Pismo Beach is below the national violent crime rate of 379 offenses per 100,000 people. Law enforcement in Pismo Beach reported a total of 29 violent crimes in 2019.

Aggravated Assault

Aggravated assault is by far the most common type of violent crime reported in the U.S. It is also the most commonly reported violent offense in Pismo Beach. There were 23 aggravated assaults reported in Pismo Beach in 2019, or 278 for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, the rate is lower, standing at 250 aggravated assaults per 100,000 people.

Robbery

Robbery is the second most common type of violent crime in America. There were 6 robberies reported in Pismo Beach in 2019, a rate of 72 robberies for every 100,000 residents. For comparison, the national robbery rate was 82 per 100,000 in 2019.

Rape

There were 139,815 reported rapes nationwide in 2019, a rate of 43 per 100,000 people. In Pismo Beach in 2019, none were reported.

Murder

While there were 16,425 murders nationwide in 2019, none were reported in Pismo Beach.

Pismo Beach compared to other cities in California

Pismo Beach has a higher crime rate than the vast majority of all comparable cities in California. To be considered comparable, a city must have a complete 2019 FBI crime report and population of 5,000 or more.

Here are all comparable cities ranked by total crime rate. Click any bar or city name to see more about crime in that city.

Click here to see a list of all city crime pages.

Click here to see a list of all state crime pages.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.