Photo: Mliu92 · CC BY-SA 3.0Reported crime per resident in San Bruno fell 34% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, San Bruno grades C for safety (#207 of 416 graded towns in California): more crime per resident than 72% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of CA” is every other California city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in San Bruno
1 of the 2 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 3 California towns on San Bruno’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Pacifica (B−), South San Francisco (C). Millbrae has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among California towns, closer to the middle
California’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so San Bruno’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 50% of the 416 California towns we grade, against 28% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
San Bruno is home to Skyline College, with 5,706 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 7% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind San Bruno’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.9) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Reported crime is falling
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of California.
Show as a table
| Year | San Bruno property | Rest of California property | San Bruno violent | Rest of California violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 25.8 | 24.8 | 2.9 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 21.0 | 25.0 | 4.2 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 19.7 | 20.8 | 2.6 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 14.7 | 18.5 | 1.9 | 4.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 15 property crimes reported
And about 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
Violent crime, by year and by type
San Bruno’s police reported 355 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | San Bruno | Rest of California | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.9 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.2 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.6 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.9 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
692 crimes reported in 2025
80 violent and 612 property, as reported to the FBI by San Bruno’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Six people died in crashes on San Bruno’s roads in 2019–2023
San Bruno had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which six people died; 3 were pedestrians. 1 died in crash on an Interstate.
That is fewer than is typical for California towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (5.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of San Bruno’s size would see about 12 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so San Bruno’s own rate (2.8) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
San Bruno and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Bruno | C | 2.9 | 18.4 |
| South San Francisco | C | 3.3 | 16.6 |
| Millbrae | — | — | — |
| Pacifica | B− | 1.6 | 11.8 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Millbrae has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of San Bruno. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against San Bruno’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (41,622 in 2025); our figure for San Bruno is 42,305 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in San Bruno
Is San Bruno, CA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, San Bruno reports more crime per resident than 72% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #207 of 416 in California. Its police reported 2.9 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the rest of California and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in San Bruno?
2.9 violent and 18.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of California reports 4.9 and 21.4; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in San Bruno?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in San Bruno in 2025?
San Bruno’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is San Bruno safer than South San Francisco?
South San Francisco reports more crime per resident than San Bruno: South San Francisco grades C for safety and San Bruno C. South San Francisco’s police reported 3.3 violent and 16.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices San Bruno?
San Bruno’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “San Bruno”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in San Bruno.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.