City Travel Stats

San Francisco

United States · North America

65Safety indexModerate
1CA flagGlobal Affairs CanadaLevel 1 · Normal precautions
1GB flagUK FCDOLevel 1 · Normal precautions
1AU flagSmartraveller (AU)Level 1 · Normal precautions
5/5metric categories covered
Open comparison
37.77°, -122.42°
Regional locator · ring ≈ the figure's geographic unit

The safety picture

A plain-language read of the sourced figures below

San Francisco scores 65 out of 100 in our index, which places it safer than only about 29% of the cities we score.

The recorded homicide rate is a low 2 per 100,000, about 1.3 times the median tracked city, and it covers the municipality. Robbery is recorded at 5 per 100,000 from police data, so the count reflects only reported incidents and the true figure sits higher. Canada, the UK, and Australia all hold the United States at their lowest advisory level, and each advisory names pickpocketing and scams for visitors. A national survey put the share of people who feel safe walking alone at night at 60%, measured for the country rather than San Francisco specifically.

Safety dimensions

Larger area = more concern
Violent crimeRobbery & theftTravel advisory
Violent crime4
Robbery & theft1
Travel advisory0
The radar shows the three sourced, comparable risk measures (homicide, robbery, the strictest travel-advisory level). Tourist petty-crime signals are a different kind of measure — how often advisories mention them — so they are shown as rows under Tourist-specific incidents, not as radar axes.

Homicide / general violence

Intentional homicides (per 100,000)
1–2/100k
Sources disagree
Figure is for San Francisco (municipality), wider than San Francisco itself.

Primary source: Policía Nacional de Colombia — Homicidios (datos abiertos)

Where this sits on the scaleGuarded
01·3·8·20·40 /100k
Among tracked citiessafer than 43% of tracked cities
2/100k
0/100k safest101.2/100k

Robbery (police-recorded)

Robbery (per 100,000)
1–5/100k
Sources disagree
Police-recorded robbery (hurto con violencia) — Colombian hurto is under-reported (cifra negra), so read this as recorded robbery, not total robbery.
Figure is for San Francisco (municipality), wider than San Francisco itself.

Primary source: Policía Nacional de Colombia — Estadística delictiva (hurtos por arma, Cuadro 10)

Where this sits on the scaleLow
040·120·250·400·600 /100k
Among tracked citiessafer than 90% of tracked cities
5/100k
0.4/100k safest3097.8/100k

Travel advisories

U.S. State Department

No advisory on record.

Global Affairs Canada
1CA flagGlobal Affairs CanadaLevel 1 · Normal precautions

Primary source: Global Affairs Canada — United States Travel Advice and Advisories

UK FCDO
1GB flagUK FCDOLevel 1 · Normal precautions

Primary source: UK FCDO — United States travel advice

Smartraveller (Australia)
1AU flagSmartraveller (AU)Level 1 · Normal precautions

Primary source: Australian Government (DFAT Smartraveller) — United States travel advice

Perceived safety

How safe people say they feel, from official population surveys — a separate signal, not part of the Safety Index.
Feel safe walking alone at night
National survey
60%feel safe
60% of people surveyed · United States · 2023
Survey figure is for United States (country), wider than San Francisco itself.

Primary source: UN SDG 16.1.4 — feel safe walking alone at night (UNODC)

Tourist-specific incidents

How often government travel advisories mention each — a source-consensus signal, not a risk rate.
Pickpocketing & petty theft in travel advisories
1 of 2 advisories mention this
project-atlas count: 1 of 2 reviewed government advisories mention this. A source-consensus signal, not a measured risk rate.
Based on only 2 reviewed advisories — a thin sample; treat as indicative.

Primary source: Global Affairs Canada — United States travel advice (Safety and security)

Scams & fraud in travel advisories
1 of 2 advisories mention this
project-atlas count: 1 of 2 reviewed government advisories mention this. A source-consensus signal, not a measured risk rate.
Based on only 2 reviewed advisories — a thin sample; treat as indicative.

Primary source: Global Affairs Canada — United States travel advice (Safety and security)