South San Francisco, CA has a C safety grade (56/100) with a violent crime rate of 301 per 100,000, 15% below the national average.
FBI UCR 2024 · per-capita rates · large city
South San Francisco, CA Crime Rate & Safety
At 62,229 residents, South San Francisco is a large city: FBI UCR Table 8 rates (per 100,000) here are read against CA and U.S. averages before the offense-family breakdown.
South San Francisco, CA carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 15% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, South San Francisco, CA shows violent crime at 300.5 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,558.8 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 15% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade C from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
C safety grade
300.5/100K violent
1558.8/100K property
-15% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for South San Francisco, CA
Comparable rate records
South San Francisco's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the California cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to South San Francisco's 300.5 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Calistoga (299.7), Tracy (301.4), Chino (299.5), Coachella (299.1). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 4 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 227.1 per 100,000 in 2020 to 300.5 in 2024 (+32.3%). The highest observed value was 386.1 in 2022 and the lowest 227.1 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
South San Francisco sits mid-pack among comparable California cities
At 300.5 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, South San Francisco ranks 250 of 458 — above 208 of the 457 other California cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -9.8% against the cohort median of 333.1. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Property counts dominate South San Francisco's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
On a large city row, these are citywide reported offense totals - not neighbourhood advice. Conditions vary by place and time; reporting rates differ across jurisdictions.
South San Francisco's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 9.2 Census sq mi, South San Francisco logged 105.4 property and 20.3 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
South San Francisco's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (60% of 1,157 offenses; mix index 4,105).
Violent offenses are 16% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (9.2 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-31%
2260.3 → 1558.8/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-17.6%
364.9 → 300.5/100K
Property offenses lead South San Francisco's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs CA
Property Crime
970
1558.8
1985.9
Larceny-Theft
689
1107.2
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
217
348.7
-
Burglary
64
102.8
-
Arson
10
16.1
-
Violent Crime
187
300.5
476.8
Aggravated Assault
151
242.7
-
Robbery
22
35.4
-
Rape
14
22.5
-
Murder
0
0
-
South San Francisco Crime Trend (2020-2024)
The chart omits 2021 rather than drawing an unsupported zero or partial-coverage dip. The table preserves the year and marks the gap.
South San Francisco property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 4 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
South San Francisco Police Department
Reporting agency for South San Francisco NIBRS-participating
South San Francisco Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind South San Francisco's 1,157 reported offenses (4-year span 2020-2024, with internal gaps).
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in California
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the California cities closest to South San Francisco in population. Their populations run from 60,461 to 63,976, against 62,229 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
South San Francisco at 300.5/100K violent and 1,558.8/100K property - matched below outside California (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
How many crimes were reported in South San Francisco?
In 2024, South San Francisco reported 187 violent crimes and 970 property crimes, for a total of 1,157 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in South San Francisco?
From 2023 to 2024, South San Francisco's violent crime rate decreased by 17.6%, and the property crime rate decreased by 31%.
What is the most common crime in South San Francisco?
The most common crime type in South San Francisco is larceny-theft, accounting for 59.6% of all reported crimes (689 incidents in 2024).
Large-city read: South San Francisco's rates come from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, CIUS Table 8, vintage 2024.
Incomplete reporters stay out of rate rankings. Cross-check population with Census ACS; state UCR programs for statewide context. Primary verify links: FBI.gov UCR, Census QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (large city): informational crime rates only - not legal, insurance, or personal-safety advice. Source: FBI UCR. Ask a qualified professional before acting.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 South San Francisco, CA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.