The city of Irvine has experienced significant change over its 50-year history, and yet one constant is that crime has remained at a low level, and, if anything, has been declining in the most recent decade. Why is that? In this report, we explore some of the possible factors that may help account for this phenomenon. Although Irvine contains some characteristics that criminologists typically identify in cities with higher crime rates–such as population growth, racial and ethnic diversity, a relatively high concentration of rental housing units, and the presence of a large industrial area–nonetheless, the city has maintained a relatively low level of crime. In fact, for 15 straight years Irvine has been named America’s safest city of its size, based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting statistics from 18,000 jurisdictions.
Report Highlights
- Irvine’s crime level is so low that for 15 straight years it has been named America’s safest city of its size, based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting statistics from 18,000 jurisdictions (https://www.irvinestandard.com/2020/irvine-residents-live-in-americas-safest-city/).
- By the 2010s, Irvine’s violent crime rate was one half to one third the rate of the 1980s and 1990s, and one fifth the rate of the late 1970s
- Property crime declined in Irvine during the 1990s and 2000s, and in the 2010s is about one half to one third the rate of the 1990s and 1980s
- Property crime in Irvine began declining in 1995 and by the late 2000s was just 45% that of an average U.S. city
- Violent crime in Irvine has always remained less than 40% that of the average U.S. city; by the early 1990s it was just 20%, and since the mid-2000s is just 15% that of an average city
- Although the size of the Irvine police force has grown, the officers per capita has steadily declined since 1988
- Since 1990, Irvine has had about 40-70% less violent crime than is predicted given the city’s demographic profile
- Since 2000, Irvine has had about 35-50% less property crime than predicted
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