Lafayette Crime Rate: Official Data by Year and How to Check an Address

Lafayette crime: the official numbers by year

The California Department of Justice publishes the crimes reported by every law enforcement agency in the state each year. The table shows the counts reported for Lafayette from 2015 to 2025, the latest year in the file.

Property crime in Lafayette fell 47.4% between 2015 and 2025, from 523 to 275 reports, and 23.2% between 2019 and 2025. Violent crime counts are small, so they move a lot in relative terms: 4 in 2019, 25 in 2022 and 14 in 2025. Of the 14 violent crimes in 2025, 7 were robberies, 5 aggravated assaults and 2 rapes, with no homicides reported.

What made up Lafayette's 2025 property crime

Of the 275 property crimes reported in 2025, 244 were larceny-thefts (89%), 22 were burglaries and 9 were motor vehicle thefts. Larceny-theft covers shoplifting, theft from vehicles and theft of bicycles or packages. The OpenJustice file does not split crimes by street or neighborhood.

How Lafayette property crime changed by type, 2015 to 2025

Every property crime category fell over the period. Burglaries dropped from 49 in 2015 to 22 in 2025, motor vehicle thefts from 41 to 9, and larceny-thefts from 433 to 244. Burglaries were lowest in 2023 and 2025, at 22 each, while vehicle thefts rose to 34 in 2022 before falling again. Because the counts are small, a handful of incidents can change a category by a third in a single year, so look at several years together rather than one year against the next.

Cases cleared in Lafayette

The same file reports clearances, meaning cases closed by an arrest or by exceptional means. In 2025 Lafayette cleared 9 of its 14 violent crimes and 79 of its 275 property crimes (29%). Clearance rates swing widely in a small agency from one year to the next.

Lafayette crime rates compared with Moraga, Orinda and California

To compare places of different sizes, we divide each 2025 count by the Census population (ACS 2020-2024) and multiply by 1,000.

Lafayette's violent crime rate was about one eighth of the state's, and its property crime rate about 60% of the state's. Its property rate was higher than Moraga's (2.3) and Orinda's (7.9). These are reported crimes per resident; they do not count visitors, commuters or shoppers, who also use the city.

What the Lafayette crime numbers do and do not tell you

The state counts follow the FBI's summary definitions. Violent crime means homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Property crime means burglary, motor vehicle theft and larceny-theft. Arson is reported separately. Other offenses, such as vandalism, fraud and simple assault, are not in these totals.

Three limits matter for a home buyer. First, the figures are reported crimes: a crime nobody reports does not appear, and reporting rates differ by crime type. Second, a city-wide rate says little about a single street, and small numbers change a lot from year to year. Third, rates use residents as the base, which inflates the rate for cities with shopping areas that draw visitors. Use the data to see the scale and the trend, then check the area around a specific address with the tools below.

How to check crime near a Lafayette address

California DOJ OpenJustice for Lafayette

The OpenJustice data portal publishes the Crimes and Clearances file used on this page, with every agency's annual counts back to 1985. Download it to compare Lafayette with any other California city.

FBI Crime Data Explorer

The FBI's Crime Data Explorer shows agency-level data reported to the national system, including offense detail for agencies that report incident-level data. Search for the Lafayette agency in California and compare it with state and national rates.

CrimeMapping.com and police incident maps

CrimeMapping.com shows recent incidents on a map for agencies that publish to it. Check whether the agency serving the address publishes there, and ask the police department how to get recent call or incident data for a specific block.

California Megan's Law website

The California Department of Justice's Megan's Law website shows registered sex offenders by address or area, as the law allows. Use it as one check among several.

Ask the Lafayette police and neighbors

A short call to the police department's non-emergency line, a walk around the street at different times of day, and a read of recent HOA or neighborhood association notices tell you more about one block than any annual rate.

Fire, flood and earthquake are risks too

For many Lafayette homes, natural hazards matter at least as much as crime when you price insurance and plan repairs.

Fire hazard zones in Lafayette

Lafayette has oak woodland and open hillsides, and Briones Regional Park extends into the north of the city. Look up the address on Cal OES MyHazards and the CAL FIRE fire hazard map, and read the seller's Natural Hazard Disclosure. Our California wildfire zones guide and California FAIR Plan guide explain zones and insurance.

Flood zones and creeks in Lafayette

Check the FEMA Flood Map Service Center for the parcel, especially near Lafayette Creek and its tributaries, and ask about past drainage or slope repairs on hillside lots.

Earthquake risk in Lafayette

The whole Bay Area carries earthquake risk. MyHazards shows mapped hazards near an address, and our California earthquake insurance guide explains cover, which standard home policies exclude.

A checklist before you buy or rent in Lafayette

1. Read the latest OpenJustice figures for Lafayette and the trend over several years.
2. Check recent incidents near the address on the police agency's published map or by request.
3. Search the Megan's Law website for the area.
4. Look up fire, flood and earthquake hazards on MyHazards and FEMA's flood map.
5. Get insurance quotes before removing contingencies.
6. Visit the street in the evening and on a weekend.

For prices and areas, see our Lafayette real estate guide, and for a statewide view, our guide to the safest places to live in California.