Best Neighborhoods in San Francisco

Going by what residents say about their own streets, the best neighborhoods in San Francisco are Presidio Heights, Noe Valley and West of Twin Peaks. Each scores above 76 out of 100, against 62.3 for the city as a whole. The Tenderloin and South of Market score lowest.

The score averages three questions from the city's resident survey (2023 and 2026): the share of residents who feel safe walking alone in their neighborhood at night, the share who feel safe during the day, and the share who give their streets and sidewalks an A or a B for cleanliness. A higher score means more neighbors answered well. It doesn't measure crime or schools, and it can't tell you whether a place suits you. It's what the people who live there report.

Resident Score vs. Asking Rent

Each dot is a neighborhood, placed by the typical asking rent on a new listing (Zillow, August 2026) and its resident score. The dashed lines are the citywide figures. Dots in the upper left are rated above the city and cost less than the city to rent in: Presidio Heights, Inner Sunset, Oceanview/Merced/Ingleside, Bernal Heights, Sunset/Parkside, Russian Hill and 2 more. In the lower right, Financial District/South Beach costs more than the city to rent and still scores below it.

Zillow publishes asking rents by ZIP code only, so neighborhoods that share a ZIP code show the same rent. Neighborhoods whose ZIP codes have too few listings are left off this chart. See the asking rent ranking.

Resident Score vs. Price per Square Foot

The same score set against the median sale price per square foot (Redfin, March to May 2026), which is closer to what it costs to buy in. The neighborhoods rated above the city that sell for less per square foot than the city are West of Twin Peaks, Oceanview/Merced/Ingleside, Potrero Hill, Bernal Heights, Lakeshore and Outer Richmond.

Redfin reports price per square foot by ZIP code, from all residential sales in the window. See the price per square foot ranking.

35 Neighborhoods Ranked by Resident Score

Not scored: Japantown, Presidio and Treasure Island. Fewer than 40 residents there answered the survey, too few for a steady figure.

How the Score Works

The San Francisco City Survey is run by the Controller's Office and asks a few thousand residents about city services and their own neighborhood. Answers are weighted so the people who answered match the city's population. The survey has recorded which neighborhood people live in since 2023, so the score combines the 2023 and 2026 surveys.

Citywide answers shifted a lot between the two years: 36.6% felt safe at night in 2023 and 59.7% in 2026. Simply adding the years together would favor whichever neighborhoods had more responses in the better year. Instead, each neighborhood is compared with the city in the same year, and that gap is applied to the 2026 citywide figure. The Responses column shows how many residents are behind each score. With a few dozen people in the smaller neighborhoods, a gap of a few points is within the noise.

Each part has its own ranking: safest neighborhoods at night, during the day and cleanest streets. Residents also grade their street pavement and sidewalks, and those are on the streets and sidewalks page.