Worst neighborhood in San Francisco

This is a clear cut no brainer - Tenderloin. The Tenderloin is one of the scummiest dirties neighborhoods I have ever been to...period. If you are a tourist people can spot you from a mile away. The worst part about the Tenderloin is that it's quite easy to stumble into as the main Market Street leads right into it. Be careful.

hello there, it appears that it is a resounding vote for "Tenderloin" district. I have to agree with everyone, it's very scary in there. I started another forum topic about giving homeless people money, and if it is dangerous. Great advice from everyone as well. Unfortunately though, I think I will be steering well clear of the Ternderloin,

its true the Tenderloin may not be the best neighborhood. but come on for real. its not that bad. i grew up there and people make it seem like the worst when its really not. yea there'a a bunch of homeless but if you really think about it its easy to get used to. i love this hood cuz you know EVERYBODY there.

Hi TxL, So great to hear from someone who has actually grown up there!!! I'm very curios, what makes you think people hate it so much and steer clear? I've spent a bit of time there myself, and have felt quite uncomfortable as you know. Is it a case of don't judge a book by it's cover? Have we got it wrong? AJ

Even Hollywood is giving the Tenderloin a bad wrap! Was watching Monsters v Aliens movie and the Tenderloin gets a mention. They say "Go into the city, but avoid the Tenderloin". Amazing reputation this neighborhood has developed.

Yeah, I made the classic tourist mistake of stumbling into the Tenderloin en route to Union Square (the parking by the Bay Bridge is SO much better than downtown!) I've been to some interesting places in NYC and have seen my share of sketchy neighborhoods, but this is one of the few places where I have actively avoided streets in the middle of broad daylight :/

You know what's worse though? Fisherman's Wharf. You might get killed in the Tenderloin, but Fisherman's Wharf will sap your will to live. A drug addicted mugger is nothing compared to hordes of zombie tourists buying blank postcards of "San Franisco at Night!" Now that is scary!

Despite the dangers of the tourist trap that is the Wharf, I would sitll probably have to go with Hunter's Point. I have no personal experience with it but from what I have heard.

Hehehe, well if we are going THAT route, then you might as well say the Bay Bridge is the worst neighborhood by FAR. Nothing sucks your soul quite like sitting in standstill traffic. Doesn't the 101 go through Hunter's Point? I know it goes near Candlestick Park and thereabouts which is supposedly not so good...but it doesn't seem too terrible driving through. Tenderloin is downright scary, day or night.

I think by Candlestick Park is more around Daly City which is okay in parts but I here has a pretty bad gang problem. I don't know from first hand experience as I really haven't beent there much. Hunter's Point is mostly that shipyard south of 80--lots of abandoned buildings. They are thnking of converting it into a ritzy business neighborhood but locals have environmental concerns.

So Hunter's Point - dangerous, or just gross and abandoned, so dangerous by association? Are there lots of sketchy people walking around, like the Tenderloin, or is it just ugly and abandoned?

Looks like you're right about the location of Hunter's Point's location. Its the area north east of Candlestick, teh 101 and 280 form its borders. I've never been there. As to the dangers of the area, almost a third of all homicides occur in the Bayview/Hunters point area. So in 2007 and 08, there are were almost 100 murders in SF for each of those years and each of those years Hunter's Point had about 30 murders, far more than any other areas, even the Tenderloin. Apparently it also has the largest area of chemical waste in the entire city. All in all, it seems like a real problem area. Here is a good link for mor info: http://21stcenturyurbansolutions.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/a-history-of-bayview-hunters-point-part-2-crime-contamination-and-crisis/

Hunters Point is not really the city (I mean technically it is, but not really) and it is dangerous. In terms of walking around at night in the city, Tenderloin probably the scariest and also parts of the Mission if you are not that familiar - some sketchy areas there. West Portal also not that safe or desirable.

The number of murders certainly bare out this point. You get about 10 murders in both the Mission and the Tenderloin respectively, which is, of course, a third of the murders in Hunter's Point, but far worse than say North Beach, where you get only one murder per year.

Yeah, some of the streets in the Mission are not so nice either, but it seems to be block-by-block. Mission itself isn't that great in terms of food/restaurant selection - I actually had a pretty tough time finding a decent coffee shop. Valencia seems to be far better for the food/drink/nightlife department. Is there a hard-and-fast rule, or is it block by block? I'm still figuring the place out...

The worst part about the city are the places that you think are safe but really aren't. When I used to work in the financial district, all the people around give you a false sense of safety, but if you don't pay attention, let your mind wander, you can suddenly find yourself on a block away from everyone else, and then you suddenly feel like you are on a National Geographic special. You can hear the narrator's voice over in British accent: "The lone calf finds herself suddenly separate from the pack.... Little does she know that laying in wait are..." The most deceiving place for me is SoMa where you are at museum one moment, or restaurant that costs you an arm and leg, and then, suddenly you're in Afghanstan (a total warzone, that is).

Yeah, SoMa can be like that...it's pretty block-by-block, although it does have some cool spots. You are right,the best thing to do is keep your wits about you if you are not sure of an area. How does Berkeley chalk up, safety-wise, by comparison? Realistically, though, there are far worse places to be.

Ok, the TL is dangerous, and Hunter's Point has projects in it and a lot of low income housing. But what do we mean by worst? SOMA is kind of weird and industrial and dangerous, but for all that is has a certain charm and some unique amazing spots. The Marina is by far the most annoying neighborhood in the city - no one I know will even go there because its so full of entitled white people. And what kind of places are there to visit in the Marina? Noah's Bagels? Crate & Barrel? No thanks. North Beach is almost as bad because of the aforementioned entitled douchebags who come down from the Marina on Friday night and get in fights and get shot occasionally, but it has redeeming qualities during the day. The Upper Haight also sucks.

@soulpony - wow! Angry party for 1? LOL. That might be the funniest description I have ever seen about the Marina. I am seriously laughing out loud. SOMA is sketchy in certain areas, especially along 6th street. But there are other parts along 4th and 5th near the Metreon and Westfield Mall that aren't as bad - especially during the day. Marina - it has evolved since you've last been. There's no Crate & Barrel but there is a Willams-Sonoma and a Pottery Barn. I find that the more North you go in the Marina, the less pretentious it is. Like near the Presidio Theater and Judy's Cafe. North Beach - well, I like it there, always have. You need to know where to go so that you don't run into the "douchebags" from the Marina. I SO look forward to reading more of your posts! You crack me up.

Hmm, interesting take on it. "Worst" really is a relative term; "crime-laden" or "most unsafe" may be more relevant to our conversation. As I said earlier, any soul-sucking, traffic-blocked road is worse to me in my book than a place where I have to watch my back a little bit.

Ok, so I work in North Beach and I went to college here a few years back, and its good enough. But it is interesting walking to work every morning like a salmon upstream up the hill from the financial district. Every morning I cross paths with the same pasty folks riding by on the 41 or walking to the financial district from the Marina and i think about how fortunate I am to not be them. But, its somehow better than riding the dirty 30 up Stockton, where old folks shove on to the bus at 6am to ride it two blocks to buy some roots. Note: MUNI does not allow live chickens on the bus, I actually witnessed a confrontation over this - only resolved when the waylaid passenger broke the neck of the chicken. The driver was casually satisfied to have only a dead chicken on the bus and we carried on. I won't defend the TL, after living in the TL I decided to become an East Bay convert. And the only place I ever was mugged was in the Mission off 17th and Capp. That's ugly little place i used to call home. I noted the disparaging comments about these dangerous and dirty venues. I just thought we needed a little balance here. Ungentrified, to me, does not equate to worse. I'd rather get my clothes mended and chat a while at the Tenderloin National Forest (look it up) than get some new salt shakers at Sur la Table - yeah that's right, the ferry building is another one of San Francisco's Worst Neighborhoods if you can count the Bridge. And the Upper Haight also sucks.

I hear you Soulpony. I was by no means saying that SoMa is the worst neighborhood. All I was saying is that, as a woman, I sometimes feel unsafe in certain areas after a certain hour. When the streets empty out, generally I feel unsafe and I feel unsafe when I only see homeless people who are ranting. (I don't blame them for it--my mom has told me about what Reagan did to the mental health system in this state--I get how institutions have failed us.) SoMa, for example, has some of my favorite places as well (the museums etc.). And I fully get that with gentification more and more areas of the city have become unaffordable. Heck, I can't afford to live there. I'm generally an East Bay gal--Berkeley's where I feel most at home, and I actually find places that are overly "white"--that lack diversity-- just as uncomfortable as ones that feel impoverished. Excellence through diversity! It wasn't just a motto, I bought into it at Cal.

@Soulpony, where did you go? I like the balance you bring to the group... Gotta agree with @Flowergirl that being female certainly adds a degree of uncertainty when walking around some neighborhoods, particularly at night. I don't want to get on an entitled gender platform, but I will say that I'll take dirty, gentrified, rude or even congested over genuinely unsafe.

@SoulPony, I don't really care for the Upper Haight either, although I wouldn't consider it dangerous or anything. But how can you say that about the Ferry Building. It's mostly tourists most of the time but that's what I love about it. To live in a city where people want to visit, make it great. @StephSF - ditto - also agree with @Flowergirl about being female at night and feeling unsafe.

Okay - here's one that has sort of been tapped into but not fully explored. That area right by Candlestick Park off of 101 is one of the worst for traffic I have ever seen. I was en route to the airport and was already late, and decided to use this area (mistakenly) to turn around in. I was in a "no left turn" zone and ended up taking a side street to make a U-turn. This would have worked great except that I sat at a red light for (literally) six or seven minutes. You know how sometimes you wonder if a light is broken? There was no wondering if this light was broken - I could tell that it absolutely was. Eventually it turned and I made it back to SFO a minute before my flight was boarding (made it in a pinch!), but it was unbelievably stressful and one of my worst SF experiences. Not recommended.

I grew up in SF, but have lived in Chicago for 25 years, so saying what is the "worst" neighborhood in SF is relative. Chicago is scarier. The worst neighborhood, not in terms of crime, but in the lack of amenities, cultural, social, bars, restaurants, etc. is Visatation Valley. The area is so forgotten that it's about the only part of SF that Google hasn't street mapped. Stuck between the northern border of Daly City and to the east by Hunter's Point and 101, it's virtually a forgotten piece of land. I've never had a problem with the Tenderloin. OK, it's gamey. Just leave the people you see there alone and they won't bother you. Just because some dude is talking to himself doesn't mean you have to talk back. In fact, best not too. Some of the Tenderloin is filled with people who are a part of what is called "Greyhound therapy." Other towns have put their mentally ill and malcontents on a bus and shipped them off where they won't be an eyesore and cause trouble. Having said that, some of the more interesting nights I've spent in SF have been in some of the plethora of bars in the Loin- the Brown Jug, Ha Ra's, the High Tide, etc.

Hey Bradgalt--I think you are definitely right about Tenderloin having some great dive bars--I went to the Outsider once and really liked it--very authentic; not like some of these places that call themselves dive bars but actually are just poser bars. Also, I've been here for twenty years and Visitation Valley barely rings a bell. If you hadn't told me where it was, I would never have known.

I currently live in the tenderloin, on ellis between larkin and polk, and i feel totally safe in my neighborhood. now that being said, i always take larkin from the civic center bart-never ever take hyde, and most of the time when i am walking at night, i am walking with my dog (who is a REAL dog, not a pocket dog) so that always helps me feel safer. I have always felt safer in my hood than in the mission. mostly the tenderloin is just drug addicts and pros. which i will pick any day over gangs and violent crime. most of the druggies and pros know me and my dog from my walks, and most of them just ignore me, but plenty of them also say hey or at least nod and smile. It should also be pointed out that i am a 26 year old white girl, so maybe i shouldnt feel safe, but i totally do. the thug guys who hang out at the corner store by my house have always been really friendly as well, and maybe i am just being naive, but i really do think if i was walking and someone was following me or trying to give me trouble, i could head in that direction and the corner store guys would sort it out for me (they also love my dog) anyhow, those are just my thoughts.... oh, and living a few blocks from polk streets main bars definitely make my neighborhood more attractive to me (i love that the tourists dont go there because they have been warned, and as a result the bars dont hike up the prices as much)

Its probably a toss up between the Mission and the Tenderloin, but I do definitely think you're playing the odds Lizell. It only takes a couple of minutes to get robbed or worse and the thing with drug addicts is they don't always reason very clearly--in my experience anyway. I would actually say that most of SF is fairly dangerous. I've had friends who've been mugged and had close calls in lots of spots. You should definitely stay aware. At some point your luck might run out. And once something bad happens its hard to feel that sense of security again. If you want to give yourself a scare get some of the people at your local watering hole talking about close calls they've had, and you'll probably get enough stories to keep you up at night. Then again, living out here in Carmel I've probably gotten a bit soft. If you were my daughter living out there, I would be worried, though.

@dirtyharry- i guess i just choose to not live my life in fear. i mean, really, there are risks almost anywhere. in my hometown, Gainesville, fl, there were a string of muggings and rapes in one of the richest safest neighborhood in town-terrible things can really happen anywhere. i carry pepper spray, and like i said, i am never walking at night alone (always with friends or with my dog-a pit bull mix.) I only walk on well-lit streets and i do every bit of preventative work that i can when it comes to my safety. But at the end of the day, i am just an admin who works in the financial district and i work non-stop to be able to live in the city. I love san francisco and always have. Sure i could move to some safe suburban town somewhere, but i guess i feel like the happiness that i get from living in what is my opinion, the most beautiful city in America, outweighs the risks. maybe i will be proven wrong someday, and i hope that i am not. but i also hope that i would continue to not live my life in fear forever then too. thanks for the concern though! its actually pretty sweet. :)

@lizell--I totally second you on that. It is a little bit dangerous but life is an adventure. Especially while you're still young it is definitely worth it to have experiences and take a few chances. Otherwise what is the point? I've had a couple of close calls in North Beach, but nothing too bad. And I wouldn't trade my time there for the world. Everybody needs at least a couple of years of living in the most beautiful city in the world.