Homicides in San Francisco dropped 31% in 2024
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Homicides in San Francisco fell by 31% from 2023 to 2024 amid a drop in overall violent crime, according to preliminary data compiled by the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA).
Why it matters: The stats suggest the COVID-era crime wave all but evaporated from the nation's largest cities during former President Biden's final year in office, even as President Trump's claims that crime was up in cities like San Francisco became a key part of his election strategy.
Zoom in: San Francisco recorded 35 homicides in 2024, down from 51 in 2023, per MCCA's data.
- The city also recorded 195 rapes in 2024 compared to 296 in 2023; 2,098 robberies last year compared to 2,742 in 2023; and 2,289 aggravated assaults in 2024 compared to 2,480 in the year prior.
Between the lines: The figures continue a yearslong decline in violent crime despite the persistence of the doom loop narrative and perceptions of San Francisco as a crime-ridden city.
- The San Francisco Police Department in December attributed the downward trend to its violence prevention efforts and new technology like drones and automated license plate readers.
The big picture: Violent crime, especially homicides, rose during Biden's first two years as president before dropping dramatically the next two years, the MCCA data show.
- An Axios analysis of the 2024 preliminary crime data from 69 self-reporting large police departments in the U.S. found that violent crimes decreased overall by 6%.
- Robberies (-9%), rape (-6%), and aggravated assaults (-5%) all declined, the Axios analysis found.
- Homicides dropped 24% from 2020 (the first nine months of the pandemic and Trump's last year in office) to 2024.