Once again, I may seem an odd one to be writing about the state of America's urban areas. As you all know, if you've been reading my work, I'm a happy rural dweller myself and have little time for cities. I find them unpleasant; crowded, noisy, and, to be honest, they smell bad. I like the clean country air of the Susitna Valley, and if that means I have to put up with double-digit negative temps and only 3 hours of daylight in the winters, then I do, that's all.
With that being true, why am I still worried about America's cities? Because our cities are the beating hearts of our nation. Much of the country's economic activity happens there. Urban areas contain a lot of the country's industry and academia. What's more, our cities used to be the pride of the nation, but that's not so much the case anymore. Rampant open-air drug use, huge homeless encampments, and rampant crime are taking their toll.
Case in point: Oakland, California, the shame of the West Coast.
Oakland has a long history. The area was settled by Spanish colonists in the 1700s. In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded all of California to the United States, along with Nevada, Utah, and parts of what would become Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. The discovery of gold in the area was one of the first big draws for Americans to cross the plains and settle in California, and in 1851, three men, Horace Carpentier, Edson Adams, and Andrew Moon, started work on what would become the City of Oakland, which holds a major West Coast shipping port and, later, became a major railroad hub. Oakland became a popular place, a prosperous place.
Today, Oakland has the highest crime rate of any West Coast city.
Oakland - the most dangerous city on the West Coast. pic.twitter.com/wLHo68r9Nu
— Ward Clark (@TheGreatLander) August 11, 2025
Oakland has the highest crime rate among its neighboring cities:
The 2023 crime rate in Oakland, CA is 1,508 (City-Data.com crime index), which is 6.3 times greater than the U.S. average.
It was higher than in 99.8% U.S. cities.
The 2023 Oakland crime rate rose by 85% compared to 2022.
The number of homicides stood at 118 - a decrease of 3 compared to 2022.
In the last 5 years Oakland has seen rise of violent crime and rise of property crime.
See how dangerous Oakland, CA is compared to the nearest cities: (Note: Higher means more crime)
- Oakland: 1,507.8
- Piedmont: 304.8
- Alameda: 408.7
- Emeryville: 1,302.6
- Berkeley: 543.9
- Moraga: 78.4
- Orinda: 64.4
- San Leandro: 555.9
- Albany: 207.3
What's more, crime and its aftereffects are costing Oakland taxpayers a small fortune - maybe a big one:
The total projected cost of crime in Oakland for 2025 is $348,193,051. This translates to approximately $795 per resident and $2,110 per household. On average, crime-related costs account for 1.4% of the median household income in Oakland.
These figures reflect only tangible costs, which include the following:
- Criminal justice system costs (law enforcement, courts, and imprisonment): 49.6%
- Direct costs to victims (damaged property, medical expenses, and lost wages): 39.0%
- Lost economic contribution from offenders (time in prison or repeat offenses): 11.3%
The Cost of Crime per resident in Oakland is $795 per year, which is $331 more than the national average and $304 more than California's state average.
In this morning's press briefing, wherein President Trump spoke at some length about steps being taken to bring the equally crime-ridden District of Columbia under control, a reporter asked the president if other cities will be watching:
Q: Do you expect more cities to follow D.C.'s path?
President Trump: "We're going to see what happens." The president predicted his actions will see tremendous success in D.C. and that other cities will be watching.
There's a catch: The District is a federal enclave. The federal government, more specifically the Executive branch, has far broader powers in the District than in any other major city. It is, primarily, in the hands of the municipal, county, and state governments to fulfill the one primary role of government that they are now failing badly - to protect the liberty and property of the people.
That's not happening now. People's property is not safe. The people are not safe. Oakland is a bleeding red sore; even in the unsettled Bay Area, it's a bad place. Rampant crime, homeless encampments, open drug use; it's a mess.
Read More: The Downfall of America's Cities: The Nation's Capital City, a Crime-Ridden Pesthole
The Downfall of America's Cities: San Francisco, a Billion-Dollar Homeless Encampment
Oakland, like so many of its failing sister cities, should be a clean, safe, prosperous place. That it's not is a failure of local government, and since Oakland uses a "strong mayor" system of municipal government, much of the blame for that must be laid at the feet of the mayors, including current Mayor Barbara Lee, who ran for the office in 2025, promising public safety and fiscal sanity. Now, Mayor Lee only assumed the office in May, so we may feel inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt, but historically, the liberal Democrats Oakland has placed in that office have not had good track records.
And, again, we see that it comes down to the voters of Oakland, and the people they put in office. Until that changes, nothing else will.
