Bernal Heights is a neighborhood of 19,500 residents in San Francisco, about 3 miles south of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Bernal Heights in San Francisco safe?
Bernal Heights is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of F, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 95% of Americans live. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, B against F. San Francisco as a whole grades C. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Bernal Heights run from D+ to F, so check the map below.
F
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 0 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
5% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Bernal Heights as a whole, and 95% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Bernal Heights scores 0.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Bernal Heights, San Francisco, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Bernal Heights in San Francisco, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Bernal Heights
Robberies run high. Bernal Heights has robberies at more than triple the US rate: 3.5 a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 nationally.
How Bernal Heights compares within San Francisco
Every part of Bernal Heights grades D or F on the national scale. Grades across Bernal Heights run from D+ to F; every part of Bernal Heights has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
D or F 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Bernal Heights has less crime than 6 of the 43 neighborhoods in San Francisco. It covers much of the Bayview, Visitacion Valley, and Silver Terrace areas and the Mission and Potrero areas.
Is crime going up in San Francisco?
Reported crime in San Francisco as a whole has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 14% and property crime down 31%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 6.8 to 5.8 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 56 to 38 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 15% and property crime fell 30%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
San FranciscoUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve San Francisco. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, San Francisco
Violent, US
Property, San Francisco
Property, US
2016
+5%
+4%
-2%
+15%
2017
+6%
+4%
+12%
+12%
2018
+4%
+0%
+1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-19%
+4%
-20%
-8%
2021
-0%
+6%
+4%
-10%
2022
-3%
+5%
+6%
-6%
2023
+0%
+2%
-2%
-7%
2024
-14%
-4%
-31%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Bernal Heights
CrimeGrade™ estimates Bernal Heights has about 63 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 69% more than the US as a whole and close to San Francisco as a whole.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Theft makes up about 34% of crime reported in Bernal Heights. Vehicle theft is less common but costs more, because each one does more harm.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
How Bernal Heights compares with nearby neighborhoods
Of the 10 neighborhoods closest to Bernal Heights, 7 have less crime. Diamond Heights and Potrero have the least.
Walkability, parking lots and nightlife in Bernal Heights
Two things set Bernal Heights apart: it has a Walk Grade of A (84 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole, and 0.1 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. It also combines many bars with dense blocks: places with both tend to report more assault and robbery than places with only one of them, and they run high here.
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault. 84% of residents here live in walkable areas.A (84 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 87% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.1 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 86% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.1.1 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 83% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.95% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 80% of residents of US city neighborhoods
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Bernal Heights
Crime costs Bernal Heights about $1,912 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 59% more than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $32 million a year, or $1,617 per resident.
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Bernal Heights means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Bernal Heights, San Francisco, CA average a SchoolGrade of D+: 28% of students test proficient, against 31% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Bernal Heights on SchoolGrade
