Burglaries drop steeply across Los Angeles

Eighty-six neighborhoods had fewer break-ins last year
Crime

 

Home break-ins often hit wealthy neighborhoods hardest. Windsor Square, Beverly Grove and Rancho Park all have some of the highest burglary rates in the city, with 837, 781 and 741 burglaries per 100,000 people, respectively. But this year, the numbers fell consistently across the city.

 

There were 13,448 reports of burglaries in the City of Los Angeles in 2019. This marks a 16% drop from 2018, which had 15,998 incidents. Burglaries are down 23% from 2010, the earliest year for which publicly available data exists.

 

 

The decrease is happening across the city. In 2019, 86 out of 110 neighborhoods saw decreases in reported burglaries, according to LAPD data. Leimert Park, Cheviot Hills and Chesterfield Square saw the biggest reductions, at 55%, 50% and 48%, respectively.

 

Twenty-two neighborhoods saw increases in burglary reports. Mount Washington, Elysian Valley and Chinatown had the biggest jumps for 2019, with 90%, 38% and 27%, respectively. Two neighborhoods, South Park and Playa del Rey, saw no change at all.

 

The LAPD did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

 

Reports of burglaries have fluctuated, but generally have been on a decline since 2010. That was also the year with the most reports of burglaries or attempted burglaries, with 17,466. The second-best year for property owners (and the second-worst year for bandits) was 2014, with 15,127 reported break-ins.

 

But numbers are not everything. Burglaries play out differently across different neighborhoods based on how wealthy a neighborhood is and how comfortable its residents are reporting crimes to the police.

 

Echo Park was one of the few LA neighborhoods that registered an increase, with 13% more burglaries last year. According to Lauren Buisson, a 40-year resident of Echo Park and a member of the Echo Park Neighborhood Council, demographic transitions played a role making her neighborhood more of a target. Buisson believes the impacts of gentrification and economic downturns might be impacting neighborhood safety.

 

“Newcomers tend to think their relative wealth insulates them. It’s just common sense not to leave your laptop visible where people can get to it,” Buisson said.

 

But Buisson is hesitant to chalk Echo Park’s uptick in burglaries to a single factor.

 

“It’s not just poverty and homelessness that cause crime,” she said.

 

Where does your neighborhood stand?

 

Click on the arrows in the table to sort by category. Click once to see the category in ascending order, and again to see it in descending order. Use the search bar to find your neighborhood. (The number column refers to alphabetical order.)

Neighborhood Burglary count (2010-19) Burglary count (2019) Burglary count (2018) Total Population Burglary Rate (2019) Burglary Rate (2018) Change (2019-18)
Adams-Normandie 446 35 49 17925 195 273 -29%
Arleta 842 50 42 33780 148 124 19%
Arlington Heights 631 46 76 23768 194 320 -39%
Atwater Village 396 28 31 11206 250 277 -10%
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw 2216 109 155 29672 367 522 -30%
Bel-Air 319 29 46 7615 381 604 -37%
Beverly Crest 482 47 56 11266 417 497 -16%
Beverly Grove 1614 172 216 22023 781 981 -20%
Beverlywood 340 44 52 7244 607 718 -15%
Boyle Heights 2122 237 249 92036 258 271 -5%
Brentwood 1453 149 191 32865 453 581 -22%
Broadway-Manchester 1946 121 148 28280 428 523 -18%
Canoga Park 2174 181 217 59641 303 364 -17%
Carthay 412 30 32 5356 560 597 -6%
Central Alameda 922 49 55 43129 114 128 -11%
Century City 292 37 47 6175 599 761 -21%
Chatsworth 2250 192 238 50435 381 472 -19%
Chesterfield Square 589 37 71 8247 449 861 -48%
Cheviot Hills 556 50 100 8747 572 1143 -50%
Chinatown 236 28 22 13687 205 161 27%
Cypress Park 247 18 27 9786 184 276 -33%
Del Rey 1194 96 105 30010 320 350 -9%
Downtown 3489 422 436 50085 843 871 -3%
Eagle Rock 1151 93 118 34233 272 345 -21%
East Hollywood 1614 132 188 68503 193 274 -30%
Echo Park 1136 117 104 34950 335 298 13%
El Sereno 880 73 81 42077 173 193 -10%
Elysian Park 59 9 8 2386 377 335 13%
Elysian Valley 233 47 34 7404 635 459 38%
Encino 2814 297 353 45712 650 772 -16%
Exposition Park 1369 84 77 35235 238 219 9%
Fairfax 1119 98 136 13484 727 1009 -28%
Florence 2281 176 164 52639 334 312 7%
Glassell Park 754 80 99 24084 332 411 -19%
Gramercy Park 877 46 64 10666 431 600 -28%
Granada Hills 2728 188 213 53296 353 400 -12%
Green Meadows 1860 107 129 34848 307 370 -17%
Hancock Park 910 66 124 10774 613 1151 -47%
Harbor City 860 82 81 25833 317 314 1%
Harbor Gateway 1743 140 180 41308 339 436 -22%
Harvard Heights 520 38 56 19497 195 287 -32%
Harvard Park 600 40 73 9423 424 775 -45%
Highland Park 1058 71 95 53013 134 179 -25%
Historic South Central 1503 127 119 48700 261 244 7%
Hollywood 2798 277 299 73119 379 409 -7%
Hollywood Hills 1231 122 133 21296 573 625 -8%
Hollywood Hills West 796 80 100 15965 501 626 -20%
Hyde Park 2708 143 267 35461 403 753 -46%
Jefferson Park 887 64 95 25339 253 375 -33%
Koreatown 3223 241 335 107316 225 312 -28%
Lake Balboa 1301 74 96 27115 273 354 -23%
Lakeview Terrace 385 28 47 13579 206 346 -40%
Larchmont 435 38 63 8595 442 733 -40%
Leimert Park 1145 48 106 12566 382 844 -55%
Lincoln Heights 607 74 68 28649 258 237 9%
Los Feliz 1415 136 180 33492 406 537 -24%
Manchester Square 756 64 60 11516 556 521 7%
Mar Vista 1481 165 163 37833 436 431 1%
Mid-City 2486 272 291 51962 523 560 -7%
Mid-Wilshire 2276 185 243 42682 433 569 -24%
Mission Hills 793 45 67 18747 240 357 -33%
Montecito Heights 359 32 29 17724 181 164 10%
Mount Washington 383 57 30 14201 401 211 90%
North Hills 1939 100 155 62414 160 248 -35%
North Hollywood 2685 307 268 81849 375 327 15%
Northridge 2773 195 271 67555 289 401 -28%
Pacific Palisades 900 66 90 24990 264 360 -27%
Pacoima 1786 112 138 76726 146 180 -19%
Palms 1282 109 112 42746 255 262 -3%
Panorama City 1845 124 159 70212 177 226 -22%
Pico-Robertson 963 92 123 18307 503 672 -25%
Pico-Union 1010 104 83 42187 247 197 25%
Playa Del Rey 492 41 41 11434 359 359 0%
Playa Vista 587 59 65 11126 530 584 -9%
Porter Ranch 1253 89 134 26040 342 515 -34%
Rancho Park 423 41 45 5531 741 814 -9%
Reseda 2249 160 169 71569 224 236 -5%
San Pedro 3700 213 283 80601 264 351 -25%
Sawtelle 1813 262 294 42223 621 696 -11%
Shadow Hills 582 71 60 12999 546 462 18%
Sherman Oaks 3111 294 373 71575 411 521 -21%
Silver Lake 1435 156 168 31189 500 539 -7%
South Park 1130 86 86 33339 258 258 0%
Studio City 2259 267 285 39851 670 715 -6%
Sun Valley 2789 260 249 71743 362 347 4%
Sunland 631 30 52 14614 205 356 -42%
Sylmar 2343 129 147 80327 161 183 -12%
Tarzana 2436 254 272 37739 673 721 -7%
Toluca Lake 460 62 69 9192 674 751 -10%
Tujunga 929 59 111 27328 216 406 -47%
University Park 1016 86 74 24170 356 306 16%
Valley Glen 2081 168 200 58495 287 342 -16%
Valley Village 987 93 83 25746 361 322 12%
Van Nuys 3558 275 329 111635 246 295 -16%
Venice 2858 279 314 34048 819 922 -11%
Vermont Knolls 1273 91 103 24031 379 429 -12%
Vermont Slauson 1394 91 134 21634 421 619 -32%
Vermont Square 2045 131 180 26836 488 671 -27%
Vermont Vista 1532 115 180 49385 233 364 -36%
Watts 2228 120 111 44939 267 247 8%
West Adams 1118 93 113 21328 436 530 -18%
West Hills 1560 107 143 39299 272 364 -25%
West Los Angeles 852 99 133 12888 768 1032 -26%
Westchester 2523 199 229 41193 483 556 -13%
Westlake 2907 262 313 107760 243 290 -16%
Westwood 1273 124 200 53050 234 377 -38%
Wilmington 2210 181 245 58161 311 421 -26%
Windsor Square 488 56 69 6694 837 1031 -19%
Winnetka 2009 138 168 53895 256 312 -18%
Woodland Hills 3920 408 399 67139 608 594 2%

 

How we did it: We looked at LAPD publicly available data on reported burglaries and attempted burglaries from 2010. For neighborhood boundaries, we rely on the borders defined by the Los Angeles Times.  Learn more about our data here.

 

LAPD data only reflects crimes that are reported to the department, not how many crimes actually occurred. In making our calculations, we rely on the data that the LAPD makes publicly available. On occasion, LAPD may update past crime reports with new information, or recategorize past reports. Those revised reports do not always automatically become part of the public database.

 

Want to know how your neighborhood fares? Or simply just interested in our data? Email us at askus@xtown.la.