The 10 Safest San Diego, CA Neighborhoods For 2024


The safest San Diego neighborhoods are Nestor and Egger Highlands for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

Safest Neighborhoods In San Diego
Source: Wikipedia User Visitor7 | CC BY-SA 3.0

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.

The Safest Neighborhoods In San Diego For 2024

  1. Nestor
  2. Egger Highlands
  3. Scripps Ranch
  4. Rancho Bernadino
  5. Rancho Penasquitos
  6. Carmel Valley
  7. North City
  8. Sabre Springs
  9. Alta Vista
  10. Tierrasanta

Which neighborhood is the safest in San Diego in 2024? That would be Nestor. 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:


Table Of Contents: Top 10 | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 Safest Neighborhoods To Live In San Diego For 2024

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 16,535
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 5
Property Crime Per 100k: 36
More on Nestor: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 9,453
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 25
Property Crime Per 100k: 73
More on Egger Highlands: Data | Real Estate

Scripps Ranch San Diego, CA

Source: Wikipedia User | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 22,537
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 76
Property Crime Per 100k: 515
More on Scripps Ranch: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 44,185
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 76
Property Crime Per 100k: 699
More on Rancho Bernadino: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 52,735
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 94
Property Crime Per 100k: 661
More on Rancho Penasquitos: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

9.5
/10

Population: 48,364
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 85
Property Crime Per 100k: 744
More on Carmel Valley: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 8,226
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 77
Property Crime Per 100k: 812
More on North City: Data | Real Estate

Sabre Springs San Diego, CA

Source: Flickr User aboutmytripdotcom | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

9.5
/10

Population: 10,313
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 101
Property Crime Per 100k: 745
More on Sabre Springs: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 2,337
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 204
Property Crime Per 100k: 487
More on Alta Vista: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 30,151
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 102
Property Crime Per 100k: 803
More on Tierrasanta: Data | Real Estate

Methodology: How We Determined The Safest San Diego Hoods In 2024

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 84 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, Nestor.

We updated this article for 2024. 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 Nestor is as safe as they come, according to science and data.

The safest neighborhoods in San Diego are Nestor, Egger Highlands, Scripps Ranch, Rancho Bernadino, Rancho Penasquitos, Carmel Valley, North City, Sabre Springs, Alta Vista, and Tierrasanta.

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 East Village, Kearny Mesa, Marina, Midtown District, and Little Italy.

We ranked the neighborhoods from safest to most dangerous in the chart below.

For more California reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Safest Neighborhoods To Live In San Diego For 2024

Rank Neighborhood Crime Per 100K
1 Nestor 41
2 Egger Highlands 98
3 Scripps Ranch 591
4 Rancho Bernadino 775
5 Rancho Penasquitos 755
6 Carmel Valley 829
7 North City 889
8 Sabre Springs 846
9 Alta Vista 691
10 Tierrasanta 905
11 Wooded Area 1,099
12 San Carlos 1,046
13 Mira Mesa 1,110
14 Roseville 1,159
15 Bay Terrace 1,045
16 Paradise Hills 1,060
17 Bay Ho 1,208
18 Del Mar Heights 1,199
19 Lake Murray 1,130
20 La Jolla Village 1,359
21 South Park 1,388
22 University City 1,426
23 Darnall 1,349
24 Jomacha-Lomita 1,335
25 Clairemont Mesa 1,506
26 Allied Gardens 1,564
27 North Clairemont 1,530
28 Sorrento Valley 1,662
29 Sky Line 1,451
30 Linda Vista 1,693
31 Mission Bay 1,875
32 Bay Park 1,724
33 Chollas View 1,649
34 Bario Logan 1,712
35 La Jolla 1,887
36 Encanto 1,729
37 Gateway 1,831
38 Carmel Mountain 1,951
39 Grant Hill 1,828
40 Valencia Park 1,863
41 Del Cerro 2,136
42 Serra Mesa 2,217
43 Webster 1,783
44 Gaslamp Quarter 2,275
45 West University Heights 2,388
46 Southcrest 2,081
47 Moreno Mission 2,445
48 Mount Hope 2,283
49 Grantville 2,482
50 Normal Heights 2,546
51 Talmadge 2,588
52 City Heights West 2,377
53 Mountain View 2,285
54 North Hills 2,710
55 Loma Portal 2,661
56 Emerald Hills 2,483
57 Core 2,875
58 City Heights East 2,694
59 Oak Park 2,838
60 College Area 2,986
61 Lincoln Park 2,926
62 Palm City 3,102
63 El Cerritos 3,017
64 Rolando 3,053
65 San Ysidro 3,175
66 Park West 3,672
67 Balboa Park 3,683
68 Torrey Pines 4,592
69 Kensington 3,736
70 Bird Land 3,668
71 Ocean Beach 3,842
72 Pacific Beach 4,706
73 Midtown 4,412
74 Old Town 4,624
75 Memorial 4,343
76 Cortez Hill 6,927
77 Columbia 7,905
78 Horton Plaza 6,868
79 Mission Valley 10,029
80 Little Italy 8,359
81 Midtown District 10,485
82 Marina 10,501
83 Kearny Mesa 13,258
84 East Village 12,693
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.