Every city has safe neighborhoods and dangerous neighborhhods. We believe you should know which neighborhoods in San Diego are the safest before you move.
Every year, more than 30 million Americans move. Sometimes, its for a job, other times its to escape the big city. But no matter where you move, you want a neighborhood thats family friendly, clean, and most importantly, safe.
Weve analyzed the FBI crime reports data on violent and property crimes for every single neighborhood in San Diego. Then, we calculated your chances of being the victim of a crime in each one.
What San Diego neighborhoods can you leave your doors unlocked at night? Heres the list.
Which neighborhood is the safest in San Diego in 2025? That would be Rancho Penasquitos. Thats according to the most recent FBI crime data, which takes into account everything from thefts and robberies to assaults and murders.
If you dont see a neighborhood youre looking for in our top , scroll down to the bottom, where we have all San Diego neighborhoods listed in order from safest to most dangerous.
For more California reading, check out:
- Safest Cities To Live In America
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- Worst neighborhoods in San Diego
- Best neighborhoods to live in San Diego.
Table Of Contents: Top 10 | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Safest Neighborhoods To Live In San Diego For 2025
/10
Population: 52,735
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 123
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,025
/10
Population: 5,042
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,178
Property Crime Per 100k: 10,700
/10
Population: 951
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,119
Property Crime Per 100k: 11,871
/10
Population: 22,537
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 134
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,091
/10
Population: 7,490
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,160
Property Crime Per 100k: 12,613
/10
Population: 75,182
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 160
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,080
/10
Population: 13,423
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 159
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,186
/10
Population: 6,705
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 145
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,258
/10
Population: 62,292
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 205
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,240
/10
Population: 10,313
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 155
Property Crime Per 100k: 1,429
Methodology: How We Determined The Safest San Diego Hoods In 2025
You can ask people which neighborhoods are the safest, or you can look at the unbiased raw data. We choose data.
Instead of relying on speculation and opinion, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the numbers from the FBI’s most recent crime report for every neighborhood in San Diego.
To be more specific, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. We then ran an analysis to calculate each neighborhood’s property and violent crimes per capita. We used the following criteria:
- Total Crimes Per Capita
- Violent Crimes Per Capita
- Property Crimes Per Capita
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 85 in each category, where 1 was the safest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a safe neighborhood index.
Finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest safest neighborhood index the “Safest City Neighborhood In San Diego.” We’re lookin’ at you, Rancho Penasquitos.
We updated this article for 2025. This is our fourth time ranking the safest neighborhoods in San Diego.
Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from safest to most expensive.
Summary: The Safest Places In San Diego
Looking at the data, you can tell that Rancho Penasquitos is as safe as they come, according to science and data.
The safest neighborhoods in San Diego are Rancho Penasquitos, Kearny Mesa, Torrey Pines, Scripps Ranch, Mission Valley, Mira Mesa, San Carlos, Roseville, Mission Bay, and Sabre Springs.
But as most California residents would agree, almost every place here has its safe and not safe parts. So make sure you’re informed ahead of time.
The most dangerous neighborhoods in San Diego are Carmel Valley, Tierrasanta, Kensington, Grantville, and Pacific Beach.
We ranked the neighborhoods from safest to most dangerous in the chart below.
For more California reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In California
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- Most Dangerous Cities In California
- Richest Cities In California
- Safest Places In California
- Worst Places To Live In California