FBI arson data · 2024
California Arson
7,514 arson offenses were reported by 989 California law-enforcement agencies in 2024 — 21.5% of the national total. The most was reported by Los Angeles Police Department (342).
California agencies with the most reported arson
| Agency | Type | County | Arsons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Police Department | City | Los Angeles County | 342 |
| Kern County Sheriff's Office | County | Kern County | 271 |
| San Francisco Police Department | City | San Francisco County | 266 |
| Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office | County | Los Angeles County | 258 |
| Fresno Police Department | City | Fresno County | 211 |
| Stockton Police Department | City | San Joaquin County | 162 |
| Sacramento Police Department | City | Sacramento County | 155 |
| San Jose Police Department | City | Santa Clara County | 147 |
| Long Beach Police Department | City | Los Angeles County | 136 |
| San Diego Police Department | City | San Diego County | 136 |
| Modesto Police Department | City | Stanislaus County | 126 |
| Oakland Police Department | City | Alameda County | 114 |
| Riverside Police Department | City | Riverside County | 93 |
| San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office | County | San Bernardino County | 77 |
| Santa Maria Police Department | City | Santa Barbara County | 75 |
| Concord Police Department | City | Contra Costa County | 73 |
| Merced Police Department | City | Merced County | 73 |
| Compton Police Department | City | Los Angeles County | 70 |
| Victorville Police Department | City | San Bernardino County | 67 |
| Lancaster Police Department | City | Los Angeles County | 53 |
| Oxnard Police Department | City | Ventura County | 53 |
| Madera Police Department | City | Madera County | 52 |
| Anaheim Police Department | City | Orange County | 52 |
| San Bernardino Police Department | City | San Bernardino County | 52 |
| Berkeley Police Department | City | Alameda County | 48 |
California arson by county
By the reporting agency's headquarters county — multi-jurisdiction agencies land in one county. Counties with no reported arson are not listed.
About this data
- Counts are arson offenses (fires), not arrests. Each figure is a fire that a law-enforcement agency determined or suspected was intentionally set. Arson arrests are a different, much smaller number — most arsons are never cleared — and are tracked separately in our Arrests dataset.
- The figures are de-duplicated across the FBI's two overlapping reporting streams — the legacy SRS summary system and NIBRS incident data. Most agencies appear in both, so naively summing the two streams, as some published totals do, roughly doubles the count. Each agency here is counted once, from its best available stream.
- Reported agencies only. The total covers agencies in the FBI's 2024 master files — about 96% of the FBI's own de-duplicated figure of 36,558, which comes from its live database and includes some later-arriving reports. Nothing here is estimated, so totals slightly undercount and are not strictly comparable across areas with different reporting coverage.
- Location is the reporting agency's headquarters county, not where the fire happened. Multi-jurisdiction agencies concentrate in one county — every NYPD-reported arson lands in New York County, for example — and county figures cover geolocated agencies only, so they sum to slightly less than the national total.
- Zero and missing mean different things. A zero means agencies in that county reported to the FBI and logged no arson; a county with no figure at all had no reporting agency headquartered there.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, 2024 SRS and NIBRS files, de-duplicated by agency. pumsdata is independent and not affiliated with the FBI. How our data works.
California arson — FAQ
How many arsons were reported in California in 2024?+
7,514 arson offenses were reported to the FBI by 989 California law-enforcement agencies in 2024; 518 of those agencies logged at least one arson. Actual arsons are somewhat higher, since not every agency reports.
Which agency reported the most arson in California?+
Los Angeles Police Department, with 342 reported arson offenses in 2024 (headquartered in Los Angeles County).
What share of U.S. arson happens in California?+
California's 7,514 reported arsons were 21.5% of the 34,990 reported nationwide in 2024. Reporting coverage varies by state, so shares are approximate.
Where does this data come from?+
The FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program's 2024 SRS and NIBRS files, de-duplicated by agency. Counts are arson offenses (fires), not arrests, from reporting agencies only. pumsdata is independent and not affiliated with the FBI.