Fillmore, the Last Best Small Town in Southern California, has been named one of the Safest Cities in California by Safewise.com. Out of the top 50 cities named, Fillmore ranked No. 17. Below is the article at http://www.safewise.com/blog/safest-cities-California-2015/

17. FILLMORE
Situated in the Santa Clara River Valley, “Sunset Magazine” named Fillmore one of “The West’s Best Cities,” a title bestowed on only two dozen communities. Indeed, the unspoiled Southern California town has a lot to offer those looking for small town charm, not the least of which is safe neighborhoods. In fact, only a few cities on our list reported less property crime than Fillmore.

Cool ocean breezes, a landscape dotted with citrus groves and a comfortable average yearly temperature of 78 degrees are more reasons you’ll fall in love with “The last, best small town in Southern California.”
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 1.70 - Property Crimes per 1,000: 9.99

With approximately 38 million residents, California is by far the most populated state in the U.S. But that doesn’t mean it has a particularly high crime rate. In fact, according to recent FBI Crime Report data, the Golden State’s crime rate is about on par with the national average, reporting 3.96 violent crimes per 1,000 residents and 26.65 property crimes per 1,000 residents. The report reveals that the typical American city reported 3.67 violent crimes per 1,000 citizens and 27.30 property crimes per 1,000 citizens. As a whole, crime went down in California over the last year. Specifically, violent crime was reduced by seven percent and property crime was lessened by four percent.

When we took a close look at the 50 safest cities in California, we found they reported much lower incidents of crime than the national average. The average violent crime rate among our safest cities was 1.12 per 1,000 people, and the average property crime rate was 11.32 per 1,000 people. That means the average safe city listed below experienced 70 percent less violent crime and 60 percent less property crime than the typical U.S. city. We were particularly impressed to discover that 42 of California’s 50 safest cities (84 percent) reported no murders. And the safest city on our list, Hillsborough, reported no incidents of violent crime whatsoever.

If you’re looking for a safe place to call home in California, start by looking at our list to make sure you’re going somewhere with a good safety record. Once you’ve become familiar with the safest cities in California, you’ll want to explore the security and safety information found in our comprehensive California Safety Directory. In addition to finding the latest information on crime prevention programs, you can explore an interactive map of the most (and least) burglarized counties in the state.

How We Chose the Safest Cities in California
We followed a strict protocol to arrive at the 50 safest cities in California. First, we identified cities with a population of over 10,000 residents in 2013 and evaluated recent FBI Crime Report data. From there, we determined the number of Violent Crimes, which are considered murder, aggravated assault, robbery and forcible rape, as well as Property Crimes, consisting of burglary, motor vehicle theft, arson, and larceny-theft that were reported in each city. Then, to create a level playing field and make it easy to compare crime rates among several cities, we calculated the chance of these crimes happening out of 1,000 people.

When reviewing the list, you should keep in mind that although the annual FBI Crime Report is considered a premier source for a myriad of crime data, not every city in California reported complete information to the FBI. If you think we overlooked one of the state’s safest cities, it could be because its law enforcement agency did not report complete data to the FBI, and that caused it to be removed from consideration.

If you want to see how your city did in our past report, check out last year’s crime data.