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Police Operations and Data Analysis Report, Morgan Hill, California
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Section 2. Community Overview
Morgan Hill Demographics
Morgan Hill, California, located in Santa Clara County, had an estimated populationof 42,068 in July
2014, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. This represents an increase of 11.1 percent since
2010. The city encompasses an areaof approximately 12.88 square miles.
As of 2010, the city’s population demographics were: 50.3 percent White, 34.0 percent Hispanic,
10.2 percent Asian, 6.2 percent two or more races, and 2.0 percent Black. The percentage of persons
living below the federal poverty level in Morgan Hill from 2010 to 2014, 11.0 percent, was nearly
33 percent lower than the state of California average of 16.4 percent. The owner-occupied housing
unit rate from 2010 to 2014 stood at 71.4 percent compared to the state of California rate of 54.8
percent.
Generally, higher than average home ownership rates coupled with lower than average poverty
rates are representative of a stable community with lower than average crime rates. That is
certainly the case in Morgan Hill, as will be illustrated in the following report on crime rates/trends.
Uniform Crime Report/Crime Trends
This section presents information obtained from Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) collected by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). That information is funneled through the California
Department of Justice. The table and figures include the most recent information that is publicly
available.
The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) contains seven major Part 1 offenses used to measure the
extent and distribution of serious crime in a geographic area. Part 1 crimes are the seven most
serious violent and property crimes: murder, robbery, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny,
and motor vehicle theft.
One must be cautious in interpreting comparative crime data. Many variables unique to a
community can affect crime rates. The data that follows reflect the FBI UCR violent and property
crime rate per 100,000 residents for local communities, similarly sized communities in relatively
close proximity to Morgan Hill, the state of California and the nation.
The data show that Morgan Hill has a significantly lower violent crime rate than the California and
national averages. Property crime rates are lower as well. This applies not only to state and the
national averages, but reflects that Morgan Hills’ crime rate is lower than comparative California
communities. Table 2-1 reflects crime rates from 2014, the last year for which comparative data are
officially available. Once again, these rates reflect crimes per 100,000 population and are calculated
as such to enable presentation of comparative data.
As shown in Table 2-1, in 2014 Morgan Hill had a UCR Part I violent crime rate of 156 crimes per
100,000 population, which is 60 percent below the state average and 59 percent below the national