The California commercial burglary rate by county for 2025 depends on one decision: whether a railroad’s police reports count against a county’s residents. As the California Department of Justice published them, San Joaquin County has the state’s highest rate at 380.8 commercial burglaries per 100,000 residents and Los Angeles County the second highest at 280.6. With Union Pacific’s railroad police rows set aside, San Francisco County leads at 256.0, Sacramento County is second at 225.3, and Los Angeles and San Joaquin fall to sixth and seventh.
Isaac Roberts, Security Specialist, Guardian National Security (PPO #120268)
This report covers 2025, the most recent complete year in the California Department of Justice’s crime data, measured against U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 county population estimates. It builds on our statewide California commercial burglary statistics report, which counts every commercial burglary as published.
California Commercial Burglary Rate by County: Key Findings
- 173.2 per 100,000 residents is California’s commercial burglary rate as published for 2025: 68,153 burglaries of non-residential buildings across 39,355,309 residents (CA DOJ; Census Vintage 2025). Without railroad police rows the count is 53,715 and the rate is 136.5.
- 380.8 as published, 155.5 without railroad rows — San Joaquin County. One Union Pacific row supplied 1,856 of the county’s 3,137 commercial burglaries, 59.2 percent.
- 280.6 as published, 163.2 without railroad rows — Los Angeles County. One Union Pacific row supplied 11,389 of the county’s 27,208 commercial burglaries, 41.9 percent, leaving 15,819.
- 256.0 per 100,000 is the highest rate once railroad rows are removed — San Francisco County, which ranks third as published at 256.1. Sacramento (225.3), Alameda (219.4), Kern (216.1) and Santa Clara (164.5) complete the top five.
- 30 railroad police rows in 29 counties reported 14,438 commercial burglaries in 2025 — 21.2 percent of the state’s 68,153. The Los Angeles County and San Joaquin County rows alone account for 91.7 percent of that total.
- 10 counties run above the state’s 136.5 rate without railroad rows, and 21 of the 41 ranked counties change rank when the railroad rows come out.
- 41 counties are ranked and 17 are shown but not ranked: fifteen have fewer than 50,000 residents, and Imperial and Shasta counties reported far fewer burglaries in 2025 than in 2024. Every one of the 58 counties appears in the tables below.
Why Railroad Police Reports Distort a County’s Burglary Rate
The state’s crime file lists every police agency separately — city departments, sheriffs, the California Highway Patrol, campus police and railroad police — and a county’s total is the sum of every agency filed under that county. Union Pacific’s railroad police appear as their own agencies, with names such as “Union Pacific RR – Los Angeles.” Their commercial burglary counts therefore land in the total for the county their jurisdiction sits in, alongside the counts from the county’s own police.
A railroad police force works railroad property: rail yards, tracks and the freight cars and cargo inside them. A rate per 100,000 residents assumes the burglaries and the residents belong to the same place, but a railroad’s yards and cargo do not grow or shrink with a county’s population. Divide those burglaries by residents and the result says more about where the railroad keeps its property than about the risk facing a shop, office or warehouse in that county.
The size of the effect is large. Union Pacific’s Los Angeles County police jurisdiction filed 11,389 commercial burglaries in 2025, up from 91 in 2024 and 42 in 2023; its San Joaquin County jurisdiction filed 1,856, up from 11 and 3. The Los Angeles County row filed 2,556 in 2021, so large counts are not new, but the 2025 figure is more than four times that. The state’s file does not explain the change, and this page does not guess at a cause.
Which Railroad Rows Were Removed, and the Rule for Removing Them
The rule has one line: remove every agency row whose name identifies a railroad company’s police force, and nothing else. In the 2025 file that is 30 rows across 29 counties — 28 named “Union Pacific RR” followed by a county name, one named “Alameda UP RR” and one named “Fresno SP RR.” Together they reported 14,438 commercial burglaries, 21.2 percent of the state’s 68,153. Every other agency stays in, including city police, sheriffs, the California Highway Patrol, campus and park police and transit police.
Six counties hold 99.2 percent of the railroad total. The table shows each one, with the row’s share of the county’s published count and how the county’s rank moves when the row is removed.
| County | Railroad police agency row | Commercial burglaries in that row | Share of county’s published count | Rank as published | Rank without railroad rows |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | Union Pacific RR – Los Angeles | 11,389 | 41.9% | 2 | 6 |
| San Joaquin | Union Pacific RR – San Joaquin | 1,856 | 59.2% | 1 | 7 |
| Alameda | Alameda UP RR | 410 | 10.2% | 4 | 3 |
| San Bernardino | Union Pacific RR – San Bernardino | 277 | 9.0% | 11 | 13 |
| Riverside | Union Pacific RR – Riverside | 236 | 7.3% | 14 | 15 |
| Kern | Union Pacific RR – Kern | 148 | 6.9% | 5 | 4 |
| Other counties | 24 rows in 23 counties | 122 | — | — | — |
| All railroad rows | 30 rows in 29 counties | 14,438 | 21.2% of the state total | — | — |
California Commercial Burglary Rate by County: The Full League Table
The California commercial burglary rate by county table below orders the 41 ranked counties by their rate without railroad police rows. The “as published” columns show what a table built straight from the state’s file would show. Every rate is 2025 non-residential burglaries per 100,000 residents, using Census Bureau Vintage 2025 county estimates. The 17 counties that are not ranked follow in the next section.
| Rank without railroad rows | County | Residents | Burglaries as published | Rate as published | Railroad police burglaries | Burglaries without railroad rows | Rate without railroad rows | Rank as published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco | 826,079 | 2,116 | 256.1 | 1 | 2,115 | 256.0 | 3 |
| 2 | Sacramento | 1,618,460 | 3,652 | 225.6 | 6 | 3,646 | 225.3 | 6 |
| 3 | Alameda | 1,636,630 | 4,001 | 244.5 | 410 | 3,591 | 219.4 | 4 |
| 4 | Kern | 927,068 | 2,151 | 232.0 | 148 | 2,003 | 216.1 | 5 |
| 5 | Santa Clara | 1,914,391 | 3,157 | 164.9 | 7 | 3,150 | 164.5 | 7 |
| 6 | Los Angeles | 9,694,934 | 27,208 | 280.6 | 11,389 | 15,819 | 163.2 | 2 |
| 7 | San Joaquin | 823,815 | 3,137 | 380.8 | 1,856 | 1,281 | 155.5 | 1 |
| 8 | Solano | 455,376 | 729 | 160.1 | 26 | 703 | 154.4 | 8 |
| 9 | Fresno | 1,035,456 | 1,581 | 152.7 | 11 | 1,570 | 151.6 | 9 |
| 10 | Merced | 297,260 | 432 | 145.3 | 3 | 429 | 144.3 | 10 |
| 11 | Contra Costa | 1,170,070 | 1,563 | 133.6 | 3 | 1,560 | 133.3 | 13 |
| 12 | Monterey | 433,729 | 581 | 134.0 | 4 | 577 | 133.0 | 12 |
| 13 | San Bernardino | 2,224,091 | 3,066 | 137.9 | 277 | 2,789 | 125.4 | 11 |
| 14 | Orange | 3,149,507 | 3,799 | 120.6 | 4 | 3,795 | 120.5 | 15 |
| 15 | Riverside | 2,544,916 | 3,236 | 127.2 | 236 | 3,000 | 117.9 | 14 |
| 16 | Yolo | 224,410 | 262 | 116.8 | 2 | 260 | 115.9 | 16 |
| 17 | Sonoma | 486,444 | 511 | 105.0 | 0 | 511 | 105.0 | 17 |
| 18 | Santa Barbara | 442,065 | 448 | 101.3 | 11 | 437 | 98.9 | 18 |
| 19 | Tuolumne | 53,160 | 51 | 95.9 | 0 | 51 | 95.9 | 19 |
| 20 | Tulare | 485,146 | 450 | 92.8 | 11 | 439 | 90.5 | 20 |
| 21 | San Luis Obispo | 282,367 | 240 | 85.0 | 1 | 239 | 84.6 | 22 |
| 22 | Humboldt | 131,647 | 110 | 83.6 | 0 | 110 | 83.6 | 23 |
| 23 | Tehama | 64,665 | 58 | 89.7 | 4 | 54 | 83.5 | 21 |
| 24 | Stanislaus | 557,719 | 445 | 79.8 | 0 | 445 | 79.8 | 24 |
| 25 | Ventura | 830,851 | 654 | 78.7 | 5 | 649 | 78.1 | 26 |
| 26 | Sutter | 98,787 | 76 | 76.9 | 0 | 76 | 76.9 | 27 |
| 27 | Nevada | 101,911 | 81 | 79.5 | 3 | 78 | 76.5 | 25 |
| 28 | San Diego | 3,282,248 | 2,495 | 76.0 | 0 | 2,495 | 76.0 | 28 |
| 29 | Kings | 154,327 | 111 | 71.9 | 0 | 111 | 71.9 | 30 |
| 30 | Butte | 209,211 | 151 | 72.2 | 1 | 150 | 71.7 | 29 |
| 31 | Marin | 253,694 | 157 | 61.9 | 0 | 157 | 61.9 | 31 |
| 32 | Madera | 167,927 | 101 | 60.1 | 1 | 100 | 59.5 | 32 |
| 33 | Santa Cruz | 258,852 | 152 | 58.7 | 0 | 152 | 58.7 | 33 |
| 34 | Lake | 67,772 | 37 | 54.6 | 0 | 37 | 54.6 | 35 |
| 35 | Placer | 442,081 | 244 | 55.2 | 7 | 237 | 53.6 | 34 |
| 36 | El Dorado | 192,323 | 90 | 46.8 | 0 | 90 | 46.8 | 36 |
| 37 | San Mateo | 743,568 | 296 | 39.8 | 0 | 296 | 39.8 | 37 |
| 38 | Napa | 132,949 | 51 | 38.4 | 0 | 51 | 38.4 | 38 |
| 39 | Yuba | 88,691 | 31 | 35.0 | 0 | 31 | 35.0 | 39 |
| 40 | Mendocino | 88,122 | 26 | 29.5 | 0 | 26 | 29.5 | 40 |
| 41 | San Benito | 70,082 | 20 | 28.5 | 0 | 20 | 28.5 | 41 |
Counties Shown but Not Ranked
Two rules keep unreliable rates out of the ranking. First, a county needs at least 50,000 residents: below that, each burglary moves the rate by two points or more, and Alpine County’s rate rests on a single commercial burglary. Second, a county is left out if its total burglary reports fell by more than 40 percent from 2024 to 2025, because a drop that steep may mean agencies did not finish reporting rather than a real fall in crime. Both rules are this page’s own choices, not the state’s. Each county below still shows its full figures.
| County | Residents | Burglaries as published | Rate as published | Railroad police burglaries | Burglaries without railroad rows | Rate without railroad rows | Why it is not ranked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trinity | 15,720 | 20 | 127.2 | 0 | 20 | 127.2 | Under 50,000 residents |
| Plumas | 18,583 | 21 | 113.0 | 0 | 21 | 113.0 | Under 50,000 residents |
| Del Norte | 26,410 | 28 | 106.0 | 0 | 28 | 106.0 | Under 50,000 residents |
| Colusa | 21,836 | 22 | 100.8 | 0 | 22 | 100.8 | Under 50,000 residents |
| Alpine | 1,043 | 1 | 95.9 | 0 | 1 | 95.9 | Under 50,000 residents; total burglary reports down 50.0 percent from 2024 |
| Siskiyou | 42,013 | 41 | 97.6 | 4 | 37 | 88.1 | Under 50,000 residents |
| Imperial | 181,411 | 156 | 86.0 | 6 | 150 | 82.7 | Total burglary reports down 41.5 percent from 2024 |
| Modoc | 8,426 | 6 | 71.2 | 0 | 6 | 71.2 | Under 50,000 residents |
| Inyo | 18,158 | 9 | 49.6 | 0 | 9 | 49.6 | Under 50,000 residents |
| Mariposa | 16,918 | 7 | 41.4 | 0 | 7 | 41.4 | Under 50,000 residents; total burglary reports down 46.8 percent from 2024 |
| Calaveras | 46,605 | 19 | 40.8 | 0 | 19 | 40.8 | Under 50,000 residents; total burglary reports down 50.5 percent from 2024 |
| Glenn | 28,141 | 11 | 39.1 | 0 | 11 | 39.1 | Under 50,000 residents; total burglary reports down 84.5 percent from 2024 |
| Amador | 41,876 | 16 | 38.2 | 0 | 16 | 38.2 | Under 50,000 residents |
| Sierra | 3,098 | 1 | 32.3 | 0 | 1 | 32.3 | Under 50,000 residents |
| Mono | 12,505 | 4 | 32.0 | 0 | 4 | 32.0 | Under 50,000 residents |
| Shasta | 181,648 | 32 | 17.6 | 1 | 31 | 17.1 | Total burglary reports down 73.6 percent from 2024 |
| Lassen | 28,117 | 2 | 7.1 | 0 | 2 | 7.1 | Under 50,000 residents; total burglary reports down 81.5 percent from 2024 |
Where Southern California Counties Land
Eight Southern California counties sit in the league table, shown here by rank and rate only. For counts and each county’s commercial share of burglary, see our statewide commercial burglary report and the county reports linked below.
- Kern County ranks 4 of 41 at 216.1 per 100,000 without railroad rows (232.0 as published); see the Kern County crime statistics.
- Los Angeles County ranks 6 of 41 at 163.2 per 100,000 without railroad rows (280.6 as published); the Los Angeles property crime statistics report covers the City of Los Angeles separately.
- San Bernardino County ranks 13 of 41 at 125.4 per 100,000 without railroad rows (137.9 as published); see the Inland Empire crime statistics, which also cover Riverside County.
- Orange County ranks 14 of 41 at 120.5 per 100,000 without railroad rows (120.6 as published); see the Orange County crime statistics.
- Riverside County ranks 15 of 41 at 117.9 per 100,000 without railroad rows (127.2 as published); covered in the same Inland Empire report.
- Santa Barbara County ranks 18 of 41 at 98.9 per 100,000 without railroad rows (101.3 as published); see the Santa Barbara County crime statistics.
- Ventura County ranks 25 of 41 at 78.1 per 100,000 without railroad rows (78.7 as published); see the Ventura County crime statistics.
- San Diego County ranks 28 of 41 at 76.0 per 100,000 without railroad rows (76.0 as published); see the San Diego County crime statistics.
Los Angeles County ranks second as published at 280.6 per 100,000 and sixth without railroad rows at 163.2, because one railroad row supplies 41.9 percent of its published count. Our California commercial burglary statistics report leaves Los Angeles County’s row open; this page fills it in rate terms. The county’s rate covers every non-railroad agency in it, not any single city.
How These Figures Relate to the Statewide Report
Our California commercial burglary statistics report shows 68,153 commercial burglaries, a rate of 173.2 per 100,000 residents, a 62.2 percent commercial share of all burglaries and a 20.5 percent decline from 2021 to 2025. Those are the state’s figures as published, and they match this page’s “as published” columns exactly.
Without the railroad rows the same statewide figures read differently: 53,715 commercial burglaries, 136.5 per 100,000 residents, a 56.4 percent commercial share of burglaries and a 35.1 percent decline from 2021, when 2,876 of the state’s 85,696 commercial burglaries were reported by railroad police. Both sets of figures are correct for what they count. They differ because railroad police reports are a large and uneven part of the 2025 total.
What the Rankings Mean for Warehouse and Construction Operators
A county’s rate averages every commercial building in it, so it says where a business sits in the state, not what will happen at one address. The state’s non-residential category covers any business, office, warehouse or other non-residential structure, and it does not say which. Operators of industrial and warehouse properties and construction sites in Southern California can read their county’s rank above, then compare what on-site coverage costs.
Guardian National Security matches any comparable licensed quote and publishes its rates: unarmed guards at $25–$40 per hour, armed guards at $35–$65 per hour and mobile patrol at $45–$70 per hour. To price coverage for a specific site, request a quote.
What These Numbers Do Not Tell You
Not claimed on this page: a cause for the 2025 jump in railroad police reports, because the state’s file records counts and not reasons; a commercial burglary clearance rate, because the state does not split clearances between residential and non-residential burglary; the type of building burgled, because the state reports one non-residential category; and any percentage by which security guards reduce burglary, because no public dataset measures that effect.
These are rates per resident, not per business, so a county with many workplaces and few residents can look high without being riskier for any one business. Counties outside Southern California appear for comparison; the table is not a list of service areas. This page counts burglary only. For freight theft, see our report on Port of Los Angeles cargo theft, which uses different data.
Where These Numbers Come From
Burglary counts come from the California Department of Justice’s Crimes and Clearances collection, using the 1985–2025 file (CSV) published in July 2026 through OpenJustice. A county’s figure is the sum of non-residential burglaries reported by every agency filed under that county for 2025. Definitions and reporting rules are in the CA DOJ context document.
Population comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 county population estimates (CSV), which sum to 39,355,309 across the 58 counties. Each rate is burglaries divided by residents, multiplied by 100,000 and rounded to one decimal place. These are offenses reported to police, so unreported crime is not counted.
California Commercial Burglary Rate by County: Frequently Asked Questions
Which California county has the highest commercial burglary rate?
San Francisco County has the highest commercial burglary rate in California once railroad police reports are removed: 256.0 burglaries of non-residential buildings per 100,000 residents in 2025. As published by the California Department of Justice, San Joaquin County ranks first at 380.8, but 1,856 of its 3,137 burglaries came from one railroad police row.
Sacramento County is second at 225.3 without railroad rows, followed by Alameda County at 219.4, Kern County at 216.1 and Santa Clara County at 164.5. Los Angeles County ranks sixth and San Joaquin County seventh. The ranking covers the 41 counties with at least 50,000 residents and steady 2025 reporting.
Why does San Joaquin County rank first for commercial burglary as published?
San Joaquin County ranks first as published because one Union Pacific railroad police row, named “Union Pacific RR – San Joaquin,” reported 1,856 of the county’s 3,137 commercial burglaries in 2025, or 59.2 percent. Without that row, the county’s rate falls from 380.8 to 155.5 per 100,000 residents, seventh among ranked counties.
The same row reported 11 commercial burglaries in 2024 and 3 in 2023. The state’s file does not say why the count rose, and this page does not guess at a cause. Without the row, San Joaquin County still sits above the middle of the ranked counties, at 155.5 per 100,000.
What is the commercial burglary rate in Los Angeles County?
Los Angeles County’s commercial burglary rate was 280.6 per 100,000 residents as published for 2025 and 163.2 without railroad police rows. The published count is 27,208 commercial burglaries; 11,389 of them came from one Union Pacific row, leaving 15,819 from the county’s city police departments, sheriff and other agencies.
That puts Los Angeles County sixth among the 41 ranked counties without railroad rows and second as published. Its population is 9,694,934 in the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 estimate. The county figure is a total across every non-railroad agency in it, not a figure for any single city.
What is California’s statewide commercial burglary rate?
California’s statewide commercial burglary rate for 2025 is 173.2 per 100,000 residents as published: 68,153 non-residential burglaries across 39,355,309 residents, according to the California Department of Justice and the Census Bureau. Without railroad police rows the count is 53,715 and the rate is 136.5 per 100,000, about 21 percent lower.
Ten counties run above the adjusted statewide rate of 136.5. Guardian National Security’s statewide commercial burglary page reports the as-published figures, which match this page’s as-published columns. The commercial share of all burglaries is 62.2 percent as published and 56.4 percent without railroad rows.
Which railroad police rows were removed from the county rates?
Thirty agency rows were removed, each named for a railroad company’s police force in the state’s 2025 file: 28 named “Union Pacific RR” plus a county, one named “Alameda UP RR” and one named “Fresno SP RR.” Together they reported 14,438 commercial burglaries, 21.2 percent of the state’s 68,153.
Six counties account for more than 99 percent of that total: Los Angeles, San Joaquin, Alameda, San Bernardino, Riverside and Kern. The other 24 rows reported 122 burglaries between them. No other type of agency was removed, including transit, campus and highway patrol police.
Why are some counties listed but not ranked?
Seventeen counties are listed but not ranked: fifteen have fewer than 50,000 residents, and Imperial and Shasta counties reported more than 40 percent fewer total burglaries in 2025 than in 2024. Their figures are shown in full, each marked with the reason, so no county is left out of the tables.
Under 50,000 residents, each burglary moves a county’s rate by two points or more, and Alpine County’s rate rests on a single commercial burglary. Shasta County’s total burglary reports fell 73.6 percent and Imperial County’s fell 41.5 percent. Both rules are this page’s own choices, and each unranked county’s figures still appear in full.
How do Southern California counties compare on commercial burglary rate?
Among Southern California counties, Kern ranks fourth at 216.1 per 100,000 residents without railroad rows, followed by Los Angeles County at 163.2 in sixth, San Bernardino at 125.4 in 13th, Orange at 120.5 in 14th and Riverside at 117.9 in 15th.
Santa Barbara County ranks 18th at 98.9, Ventura County 25th at 78.1 and San Diego County 28th at 76.0, so Kern County has the highest rank of the eight and San Diego County the lowest. Rates are 2025 non-residential burglaries per 100,000 residents, using Census Bureau Vintage 2025 estimates, and all 41 ranked counties appear in the league table above.
Guardian National Security publishes its guard rates openly and matches any comparable licensed quote. If a warehouse, construction site or other commercial property needs coverage after reading the California commercial burglary rate by county rankings, request a quote.
