San Francisco’s overall crime rate this year remained below pre-pandemic levels—defying national media coverage about the city as a hellscape of unchecked drug use and theft. But some parts of the city were harder hit than others.
So what crimes were more prevalent in your neighborhood in 2022?
Here’s an overview based on SF Police Department’s geographic breakdown, which goes not by neighborhood but by each district served by its 10 police stations.
Southern
From Mission Bay to the foot of Potrero Hill and all of SoMa, this district is typically one of the most violent—but 2022 was an outlier. The district recorded three homicides, marking a 40% decline from the year prior. The rate of other violent crimes, however, rose by double digits: There were 334 assaults and 264 robberies in the district in 2022. It also saw more rapes than anywhere else in the city, with 36 reported sexual assaults this year.
Ingleside
The southernmost police district covers everywhere from Crocker Amazon to Oceanview, and back north to Bernal Heights, Lower Noe and Glen Park, as well as Visitacion Valley and the Excelsior. Here, SFPD recorded an uptick in slayings: eight in all, a 300% increase from 2021. Assaults ticked up by 13.5% to 235 incidents, while robberies rose slightly to 234 in 2022. There were 19 reported rapes.
Tenderloin
Save for a stretch just south of Market and east of Polk, the neighborhood and police district share nearly the same boundaries. The Tenderloin Station covers one of the smallest but most crime-ridden SFPD jurisdictions—one with a storied reputation for open-air drug dealing. Seven people were killed in the Tenderloin in 2022, a homicide rate on par with some other districts—but it surpassed other parts of the city for other violent crimes. It reported more assaults in 2022 than anywhere else in the city with 486, a 13.6% increase from the year prior. It saw another 13.7% increase in the number of robberies, recording 332 since January. It reported 32 rapes.
Central
Called the “Big Apple” by cops, Central Station covers the northeastern part of the city and tends to deal more with parades and the occasional shoplifter than murder and mayhem. The district spanning Telegraph Hill, Chinatown and North Beach saw one homicide this year and fielded reports about 220 assaults, 328 robberies and 28 rapes.
Taraval
This district covers a southwestern swath of the city encompassing the Inner and Outer Sunset as well as Parkmerced, West Portal, Saint Francis Wood and San Francisco State. Like Central, it doesn’t see much violent crime compared with other parts of the city and, in 2022, reported two killings, 109 assaults, 129 robberies and seven rapes.
Richmond
The district covers Inner and Outer Richmond and pretty much all of Golden Gate Park, Sea Cliff and Presidio Heights. In 2022, it recorded no homicides, 81 assaults, 85 robberies and 10 rapes.
Bayview
The district encompassing Dogpatch, Potrero Hill, Bayview, Hunters Point and Portola and stretching from the Giants’ ballpark to the San Mateo County line reported 16 homicides , 361 assaults, 221 robberies and 24 rapes.
Mission
This busy district covers the Castro parts of Noe Valley and, of course, the Mission, with boundaries running from up against the edge of Potrero Hill and down to Cesar Chavez Street. It saw nine homicides in 2022 and 29 rapes. No other district saw as many robberies or assaults, with the district recording 395 and 375, respectively.
Park
While its name implies Golden Gate Park, the district covers the Panhandle and the eastern nub of the bigger park, but it stretches from Twin Peaks to the Haight and Lone Mountain. It also includes UCSF Parnassus, University of San Francisco and part of Duboce Triangle. In 2022, it recorded two homicides, 61 assaults, 51 robberies and 10 rapes.
Northern
From Pacific Heights to the Marina, to the Fillmore, Western Addition, Polk Gulch, Cow Hollow and the edge of the Presidio, this district covers starkly different neighborhoods and saw a relatively high number of homicides this year: seven, marking a 16% increase from 2021. But it saw single-digit drops in assaults (recording 291 this year) and robberies (290). And it reported 32 rapes.