Reported violent-crime rates rose in San Francisco at a higher rate than the rest of the country through the first nine months of the year, while property crimes fell at a slower pace than the U.S. as a whole, according to federal data published this month.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation published its quarterly Uniform Crime Report on Dec. 4, which included reported murders, rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, larceny thefts, motor vehicle thefts and arsons through the end of September in jurisdictions that submitted data to the bureau.
Reports of violent crimes across the U.S. fell 8.2% from the same time in 2022, compared with 7.3% in California and 12 other western states, according to the agency.
During that period, reports of violent crimes increased by 2.8% in The City, according to the San Francisco Police Department’s crime reporting dashboard.
Property crimes fell 6.3% nationally and 12.3% in the western region, which consists of California and a dozen other states. In San Francisco, property crimes fell 1.7%.
In most categories, reported crimes in San Francisco have declined in 2023 compared to last year, albeit not as much as in the U.S. as a whole.
A 16.4% increase in reported robberies largely drove the rise in violent crime, with reported homicides flat and rapes down 12.3%. All categories of property crime — with the exception of motor-vehicle thefts — decreased by 3.4% from 2022.
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Aggravated assaults, which fell 7.8% from the first nine months of 2022 compared with the same time in 2023, marked the only category in which reported crimes decreased more than the rest of the country (minus 6.8%, according to the FBI).
Reported motor-vehicle thefts also rose 11.3% in San Francisco, exceeding a 10.1% increase nationally. Meanwhile, California and its western peers California reported a 5.5% decline.
Residents’ concerns about crime have been the focus of headlines and political races as cities nationwide have emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. San Francisco, which recalled its former district attorney last year, has been no exception.
Although the decline in reported crimes in The City through the first three quarters of the year didn’t match that of the U.S., total reported crimes in San Francisco are still below pre-pandemic levels.
Through Dec. 10, reported violent crimes in The City were down 10.4% from the same time in 2019. Reported property crimes fell 13.2%, largely due to a 23.4% decrease in reported larceny thefts, which are by far the most commonly reported property crimes in San Francisco.
Many categories of total reported crimes have risen substantially since 2019, including burglaries (13.4%), homicides (44%), and motor vehicle thefts (52.7%). In the case of burglaries and motor vehicle thefts, San Francisco reported those crimes at a higher rate than many peer cities prior to the pandemic The City, on the other hand, reported homicides at a lower rate.
