CrimeMetric

Crime in San Francisco, California

Major crime in San Francisco is 1.8 times the U.S. rate per resident: 45% higher for persons crimes and 1.9 times for property crimes. Expected major crimes are down 9.1% from a year earlier.

How we did this

We start from police agencies' crime reports to the FBI (estimated where an agency doesn't report), model how they spread across the census block groups each agency serves, then add up San Francisco's 679 block groups. Numbers are estimates with a range of uncertainty, not counts of individual incidents.

Rates are per resident, so areas where many people work or visit but few live, such as downtowns, airports and stadiums, can look high. More on the method

Major crime
180
1.8 times the U.S. rate
50% above the California rate
down 9.1% in a year
Persons crimes
145
45% above the U.S. rate
8% above the California rate
down 7.2% in a year
Property crimes
188
1.9 times the U.S. rate
1.6 times the California rate
down 9.4% in a year
Social disorder
122
22% above the U.S. rate
20% above the California rate
down 6.2% in a year

Index: crimes per resident compared with the U.S., where 100 is the U.S. rate and 200 is twice it.

Crime by type

Robbery is highest, at 4.1 times the U.S. rate

Expected crimes per year in San Francisco for each type, and the index against the U.S. rate per resident.

Citywide indexWhere the middle half of residents live

IndexPer year

Persons crimes

Robbery4061,456
Aggravated assault1072,069
Murder8225
Rape / sexual assault73204

Property crimes

Theft from vehicle2846,294
Burglary2443,342
Motor vehicle theft1892,511
Other larceny1596,647
Shoplifting1243,292

Social disorder

Vandalism1715,883
Weapons violations1371,138
Simple assault1267,672
Trespassing1222,389
Disorderly conduct1221,213
Drugs and alcohol974,023
Intimidation701,335

How crime varies across San Francisco

Half of San Francisco residents live in neighborhoods with a major-crime index between 72 and 189, and half live where it is below 110. The citywide figure (180) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.

Map of San Francisco, with its census block groups shaded by major-crime index band
Census block groups shaded by their band of major-crime index per resident, the same bands as the bar below. Pale gray areas have fewer than 100 residents, so no index is published. Gray lines are major highways. Boundaries and roads: U.S. Census Bureau.
  • 0–5010.3%
  • 50–10034.8%
  • 100–20032.5%
  • 200–40014.6%
  • 400+7.8%

Share of residents by the index of their census block group, a neighborhood of roughly 600 to 3,000 people.

When it happens

Highest on weeknights

Major-crime index by time of week, against the U.S. rate for the same hours.

Monday to Friday, 6am to 6pm156
Sunday to Thursday nights, 6pm to 6am206
Saturday and Sunday, 6am to 6pm182
Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm to 6am190

Trend and outlook

Past yearBy 2031
Major crime-9.1%-19.3%
Persons crimes-7.2%-14.7%
Property crimes-9.4%-20.1%
Social disorder-6.2%-12.2%

Change in expected crimes. The past year uses the reporting agencies' year-to-date FBI data; 2031 is the model's projection.

Similar-size places

San Francisco against U.S. places with 500,000 to 1 million residents

17 of the 25 other places of this size have a higher major-crime index than San Francisco; the middle of the group is 190. The 9 nearest in population:

Seattle, WA797,520311
Denver, CO748,860273
Nashville-Davidson, TN732,049223
Indianapolis, IN908,810189
Oklahoma City, OK722,104189
Washington, DC706,013180
San Francisco, CA836,685180
Columbus, OH969,953156
Las Vegas, NV688,656141
El Paso, TX687,70583

Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; residents in gray.

How we calculated this

Each police agency's crimes, as reported to the FBI, are spread across the census block groups it serves using population, jobs, points of interest and, where available, local incident records. San Francisco's figures add up its 679 block groups. The index compares crimes per resident with the U.S. rate.

  • San Francisco's published incident records inform the estimate for every neighborhood.
  • 25.9% of residents live in block groups whose estimate has high confidence (80% interval within about 5x).
  • Disorderly conduct and trespassing are modeled, because the FBI records them only through arrests.
  • Residents: 836,685. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2

Full method and validation·Data sources

Cite this page

CrimeMetric. "Crime in San Francisco, California." Vorp Labs, model updated Oct 20, 2026. https://crimemetric.com/ca/san-francisco

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Nearest cities we publish

Major-crime index, U.S. = 100