As the pandemic-era spike in gun violence has subsided, the number of mass shootings has dropped precipitously in California. Though the state and its most populous county continue to make national headlines when mass shootings happen, these events are now rarer in California than they were before the pandemic. By contrast, mass shootings remain above pre-pandemic levels in other states.

California has seen a dramatic 36% drop in the number of mass shootings over the past year, from 44 incidents in fiscal year 2024 to 28 incidents in fiscal year 2025. The number of incidents in California is now 36% below the pre-pandemic average of 44 incidents per fiscal year.

California stands in contrast to the rest of the nation. Nationally, the number of mass shootings remains above pre-pandemic levels, even as they have declined in recent years. Other states experienced 428 mass shootings in fiscal year 2025, down 23% from 559 in 2024. Before the pandemic, an average of 340 mass shootings occurred each year.

A sharp drop-off in Los Angeles County drove the statewide decline in mass shooting incidents. In fiscal year 2025, mass shootings occurred in 10 California counties. Los Angeles County—by far the nation’s most populous county—typically sees the most mass shootings. Though this remained true in 2025, the number of incidents across the county nearly halved, falling from 23 in fiscal year 2024 to 12 in 2025. Mass shootings also fell elsewhere in the state, with incidents falling 24%, from 21 to 16, during the same period.

The dramatic drop in statewide mass shooting incidents means that they are now occurring less frequently. As recently as two years ago, the state was experiencing a mass shooting every week. Over the past two fiscal years, the state has experienced a mass shooting every 10 days.

Among states with more than ten million residents, California and New York consistently have the lowest mass shooting victimization rates—the number of people injured or killed in a mass shooting per one million residents. These rates tend to fluctuate a great deal year to year because mass shootings are a small component of the larger problem of gun violence, and many factors determine how they unfold. We therefore report multi-year averages in the chart below.

Over the past ten fiscal years, about 2,650 people were injured or killed by mass shootings around the country, with annual rates ranging between 4.7 and 11.6 per one million residents (an annual average of 8.0). Over the same period, California’s mass shooting victimization rate averaged 5.6 victimizations per one million residents, which has not changed much in the past two years. Like California, most states have seen steady or decreasing mass shooting victimization rates, which aligns with the falling number of mass shooting incidents. However, a few states, including Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, have seen notable increases.

Fewer mass shootings and declining victimization rates constitute good news for California and (most of) the rest of the nation. Yet we should not be complacent amid these declines because they could be short-lived. Just as California experienced a peak in post-pandemic mass shootings (driven by Los Angeles County), last year may turn out to be a low point. Moreover, policy changes do not seem to be causing reductions in mass shootings. The state has yet to develop an integrated policy framework to address mass shootings and the deeper gun violence epidemic. Such a framework would include a three-pillared strategy to prevent attacks before they occur, reduce injuries and deaths as they happen, and mitigate harm afterward.

Earlier versions of this post were published on May 20, 2022, July 5, 2022, and July 16, 2024.