Copyright hoodline
Just as President Trump threatened to deploy federal troops to address what he called San Francisco's "mess" of a crime problem, the city earned a spot on a prestigious international safety ranking—landing at #15 among the world's safest destinations for travelers. The timing couldn't be more striking. San Francisco ranked as one of only two U.S. cities to make the top 15 in Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection's annual survey, alongside Honolulu at #5. The survey, conducted in August and released in October, evaluated cities based on traveler experiences across multiple safety categories including crime, terrorism, disease risk, and safety for travelers of color and LGBTQIA+ communities, according to Travel + Leisure. The ranking puts San Francisco ahead of major global cities and tied with London, with The Economist even rating it safer than Zurich. Reykjavik topped the list for the second consecutive year, followed by Copenhagen and Zurich in the top three. Political Whiplash and Tech Drama The survey's release came amid extraordinary political theater in the Bay Area. Trump had threatened federal intervention, calling San Francisco crime-ridden despite data showing the opposite. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff initially endorsed the National Guard deployment in an interview with The New York Times, only to backtrack days later after fierce criticism. According to TechCrunch, prominent venture capitalist Ron Conway quit the Salesforce Foundation board over Benioff's comments. Mayor Daniel Lurie ultimately talked Trump down from the deployment, with assists from tech CEOs Jensen Huang of Nvidia and, ironically, Benioff himself after his public reversal. "I told him the same thing I told our residents: San Francisco is on the rise," Lurie said in a statement, according to KTVU. The Numbers Tell a Different Story While perceptions of San Francisco's safety crisis dominated national headlines, actual crime data painted a dramatically different picture. According to Governor Newsom's office, San Francisco saw a 22% drop in overall violent crime in 2025, including a 45% decrease in homicides and 40% decrease in robberies compared to 2019. The city's crime rates have plummeted to levels not seen in decades. San Francisco Chronicle analysis found the city's violent crime fell 14% between January 2024 and January 2025—more than double the 6% average for peer cities. Property crime dropped 28%, compared to just 9% in similar-sized cities. The city is on track for its lowest homicide rate since the 1950s, with just 11 murders in the first half of 2025, according to Axios. But What About the Perception Problem? The Berkshire Hathaway survey didn't sugarcoat everything. "There's no way to sugarcoat the fact that homelessness is a problem in San Francisco," the report acknowledged, according to KTVU. "This unfortunate reality does make petty crime more of a problem for travelers." Yet the survey's methodology—which combined traveler experiences with data from Numbeo, GeoSure Global, and The Economist—gave San Francisco marks for being "fairly safe" across multiple indices. Carol Mueller, head of marketing for Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, told Travel + Leisure that "travelers are more thoughtful than ever with where they choose to explore" given global safety concerns. Context Matters The contrast between reality and rhetoric has been stark. When federal agents did arrive in the Bay Area for immigration enforcement operations, protests erupted at Coast Guard Island in Alameda. According to SFGATE, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee warned residents to "stay calm" and "not let ICE or anyone else provoke disorder in our community." Professor Jeffrey Snipes of San Francisco State University put it plainly to Newsweek: "Violent crimes such as homicide, aggravated assault, robberies, rapes, and serious property crimes such as burglaries—which can turn into violent crimes if a resident is inside the property—are the yardstick for public safety, and San Francisco is performing quite well here." For a city that's spent years fighting its reputation as a crime-riddled dystopia, landing on a list with Copenhagen, Zurich, and Tokyo might finally offer ammunition against the narrative. Whether that changes national perceptions—or political rhetoric—remains to be seen.
