California’s overall arrest rate has risen for the first time in 20 years.

• Law enforcement agencies in California reported roughly 810,400 arrests in 2024 (year of latest data); this translates to a rate of 2,069 arrests per 100,000 residents. The overall arrest rate increased by 4.2% from 2023 to 2024, after dropping by 0.5% from 2022 to 2023.
• Law enforcement policies and reduced public activity during the pandemic may have contributed to a notable 27.6% drop in misdemeanor arrests from 2019 to 2024; felony arrests declined by 10.9%.
• Arrest rates have been falling over the past few decades: after peaking in 1989 at 6,757 arrests per 100,000 residents (with nearly 2 million arrests reported), the overall arrest rate declined sharply throughout the 1990s.
• The steady decline since 2006 has been driven by a drop in arrests for misdemeanors (offenses with a maximum sentence of one year in jail) and fewer arrests of juveniles and young adults.

Felony arrests increased in 2024.

• 261,400 felony arrests were made in 2024, around 3,000 more than in 2023.
• Violent offenses made up a somewhat larger share of felony arrests in 2024 (39.6%) than in 2023 (38.2%), while drug offenses made up a slightly smaller share of felony arrests in 2024 (7.3%) than in 2023 (7.6%).
• Weapons-related offenses accounted for 8.1% of felony arrests in 2024, down from 8.9% in 2023.

Drug offenses are the largest category of misdemeanor arrests.

• About 548,500 misdemeanor arrests were made in 2024 (30,900 more than in 2023). Over a quarter (25.7%) were for drug offenses, 18% were for driving under the influence, and 15.3% were for battery/assault.
• Public intoxication accounted for 5.1% of misdemeanor arrests, and petty theft accounted for 4.8%.

Men are arrested at a substantially higher rate than women, but the gap has narrowed.

• The male arrest rate in 2024 was 3,257 per 100,000 residents—more than triple the female arrest rate of 928.
• The gender gap has narrowed over time. In 1980, the male arrest rate was more than six times the female rate (11,258 and 1,850, respectively). Since then, the female share of arrests has grown from 14.5% to 22.9%.
• This narrowing has been driven largely by a drop in male misdemeanor arrests, from 8,336 per 100,000 residents in 1980 to 2,168 in 2024.
• While the male violent arrest rate declined from 659 per 100,000 residents in 1980 to 417 in 2024, the female violent arrest rate rose from 72 in 1980 to 118 in 2024.

Racial disparities in arrest rates have lessened over time but remain significant.

• The rise and fall of arrest rates over the past two decades has been especially marked among Black Californians. The Black arrest rate peaked in 2008 at 12,056 per 100,000 residents. By 2024, it had been halved to 6,049 per 100,000 residents, but was slightly above a 25-year low of 5,659, reached in 2021.
• In 2024, the Latino arrest rate was 2,450 per 100,000 residents, and the white arrest rate was 1,907. Since 2008, these rates have declined by 49% (or 2,337 per 100,000) and 45% (or 1,569 per 100,000), respectively.
• Among the 15 largest counties in the state, San Mateo had the largest disparity in Black and white arrest rates in 2024; its Black arrest rate was 9.8 times higher than the white arrest rate, while the Latino arrest rate was 2.7 times higher. The disparity in Latino and white arrest rates was highest in Santa Clara, where the Latino arrest rate was 3.4 times higher than the white arrest rate. The Black/white arrest disparity (2.0) and Latino/white arrest disparity (0.48) were lowest in Kern County.

Arrest rates vary widely across counties.

• In 2024, rural counties had an arrest rate of 3,001 per 100,000 residents, compared to 2,047 in urban counties.
• Arrest rates were highest in Shasta (6,207 per 100,000 residents), Del Norte (4,465), Lake (4,438), and Siskiyou (4,029) Counties. Rates in these counties were more than twice as high as those in Plumas (759), Contra Costa (1,500), and Alameda (1,517), the counties with the lowest rates.
• Many factors, including crime rates, economic and demographic characteristics, and law enforcement staffing and policies, could be driving variation in arrest rates across the state.