Russian Hill is a neighborhood of 15,300 residents in San Francisco, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Russian Hill in San Francisco safe?
Crime in Russian Hill is high, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of D+. Most US neighborhoods have far less: 88% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Russian Hill. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A- against F. San Francisco as a whole grades C. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Russian Hill run from C+ to F, so check the map below.
D+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 302 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
12% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Russian Hill as a whole, and 88% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Russian Hill scores 302.
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 Russian Hill, San Francisco, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Russian Hill 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 Russian Hill
Aggravated assaults are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Russian Hill runs 65% above the US rate, but aggravated assaults run at less than half that rate: 1.1 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Robbery is the exception. Russian Hill grades A- for violent crime, but robbery grades C-, worse than in the neighborhoods where 87% of Americans live.
How Russian Hill compares within San Francisco
High crime is widespread across Russian Hill: 85% of residents live in areas graded D or F, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Russian Hill run from C+ to F; every part of Russian Hill has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
15%85%
C 15%D or F 85%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Russian Hill has less crime than 18 of the 43 neighborhoods in San Francisco. It covers much of the Downtown San Francisco, South of Market, and North Beach areas and the Western Addition, Pacific Heights, and Marina-San Francisco 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 Russian Hill
CrimeGrade™ estimates Russian Hill has about 62 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 65% 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 is the most common crime in Russian Hill, about 39% of everything reported, and it also accounts for the largest share of what crime costs here.
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 Russian Hill compares with nearby neighborhoods
Russian Hill has less crime than 5 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Walkability, density and nightlife in Russian Hill
Two things set Russian Hill apart: it has a Walk Grade of A+ (96 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole, and 100% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% 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 robbery runs 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. 100% of residents here live in walkable areas.A+ (96 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 98% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.100% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 95% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.2.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 94% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.12.4% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 88% 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 Russian Hill
Crime costs Russian Hill about $1,016 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 16% less 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 $17 million a year, or $1,125 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 Russian Hill 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 Russian Hill, San Francisco, CA average a SchoolGrade of A: 50% of students test proficient, against 39% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Russian Hill on SchoolGrade
