South Berkeley, Berkeley, CA Violent Crime Rates and Maps
South Berkeley is a neighborhood of 19,300 residents in Berkeley, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in South Berkeley?
Violent crime is high in South Berkeley: a B-, with more violent crime than the neighborhoods where 82% of Americans live. Assaults make up 82% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. Berkeley as a whole grades B for violent crime.
B-
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 581 of 1,000More violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
18% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than South Berkeley as a whole, and 82% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. South Berkeley scores 581.
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 violent crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its violent crime with the people who spend time there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy downtown or nightlife strip can show red while the homes around it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a solid connection. Compare high speed internet in South Berkeley, Berkeley, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in South Berkeley in Berkeley, 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 about violent crime in South Berkeley
Robbery stands out among neighborhoods graded B for violent crime. For the typical resident of a US neighborhood graded B for violent crime, the figure is 0.96 robberies a year per 1,000 residents; South Berkeley has 2.3.
How South Berkeley compares within Berkeley
Violent crime changes a lot from one part of South Berkeley to the next: 62% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 27% live in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across South Berkeley run from A- to F.
62%11%27%
A or B 62%C 11%D or F 27%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
South Berkeley has less violent crime than 2 of the 12 neighborhoods in Berkeley. It covers much of the South Berkeley and Bushrod areas and the Elmwood area.
Is violent crime going up in Berkeley?
Reported violent crime in Berkeley as a whole has risen 23% since 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 5.0 to 6.2 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). Violent crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
BerkeleyUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Berkeley. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Berkeley
Violent, US
2016
-1%
+4%
2017
+8%
+4%
2018
-5%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-13%
+4%
2021
+9%
+6%
2022
+12%
+5%
2023
+32%
+2%
2024
+23%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in South Berkeley
CrimeGrade™ estimates South Berkeley has about 16 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 20% more than the US as a whole and close to Berkeley as a whole.
All violent crime
Assaults
Robbery
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Violent crime here includes simple assaults, which the FBI's violent crime rate leaves out.
Assault is the most common violent crime in South Berkeley, about 82% of the total.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a violent crime with the people who spend time in an area, not only the people who live there. 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.
Violent crime in South Berkeley and nearby neighborhoods
South Berkeley has less violent crime than 5 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from South Berkeley. Beside each violent crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, South Berkeley has more violent crime than 53% of them.
Walkability, density and transit in South Berkeley
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, two set South Berkeley apart: it has a Walk Grade of A (88 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole, and 98% 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 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 assault. 93% of residents here live in walkable areas.A (88 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 90% 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.98% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 87% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for South Berkeley: C+ (41 of 100).22 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 73% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.0.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 72% 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 violent crime costs South Berkeley
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs South Berkeley about $33 million a year, or $1,695 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $7.3 million, or $380 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
How CrimeGrade™ works
The violent crime CrimeGrade™ covers murder, rape, robbery and assault, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each violent crime against the people who spend time in an area, so a busy downtown is graded on its workers and visitors as well as its residents.
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
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
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.
