Crimes across the city of San Diego — including homicides, sexual assaults and non-fatal shootings — fell by 6% in 2025, police said, marking the fourth consecutive year the city has seen a decline in overall crime.
Violent and property crime dropped across the board, but crimes against society, which include drugs, gambling and loitering offenses, rose, in some cases substantially.
Officials credited policing strategies, community partnerships and the work of all city departments for addressing and preventing crime. Officials also pointed to the use of technology such as license plate readers for declines in car thefts.
Officials say San Diego remains one of the safest big cities in the country, with a violent crime rate of 4.1 per 1,000 residents.
“Today’s announcement that crime is down once again for the fourth year in a row is something that is truly worth celebrating,” Mayor Todd Gloria said during a press conference Monday. “It also proves something that is extremely important, and that’s that a big city can also be a safe city.”
Similar declines are occurring in other California cities and across the nation, as crime continues to drop from pandemic-era highs.
The annual crime report is based on the National Incident-Based Reporting System, or NIBRS, managed by the U.S. Department of Justice. The system provides statistics for more than two dozen crimes, broken into three broad categories: crimes against a person, such as homicide and sexual assault; crimes against property, including robbery, larceny and vandalism; and crimes against society, such as drug offenses, prostitution and animal cruelty.
“Overall, crime citywide decreased by 6.3% in 2025 from 2024, continuing a multi-year downward trend since SDPD began reporting NIBRS crime stats in 2023,” a city statement said. “Many of the major offense categories saw numbers similar to decades ago, when the city’s population was significantly smaller.”
While the crimes against persons and crimes against property categories saw decreases during 2025, there were slight increases in the crimes against society category. City officials attribute the jump in offenses to Proposition 36-related enforcement.
Approved by voters in November 2024, Proposition 36 increased punishments for people who have at least two prior convictions for petty theft or possession of hard drugs. A third offense for those crimes increased from a misdemeanor to a potential felony.
And instead of just giving a person a misdemeanor ticket at the scene, police can book a repeat offender who meets the criteria into jail. The law also gives people the option of going into treatment.
Police Chief Scott Wahl said the penalty increases mandated by the proposition have changed the way his officers respond to criminal activity.
“We’ve seen the laws change recently or be added back into the books,” Wahl said. “We’re arming and equipping our police officers with the tools they need to have an impact.”
The report highlights a number of criminal categories that have been heading in a positive direction.
The city saw a nearly 19% decline in the number of homicides. Of the 39 last year, 12 were DUI-related fatal crashes. Twenty-seven were murders — a 25% decline compared to 36 murders in 2024.
Police officials say they’ve arrested or identified a suspect in 26 of those 27 cases considered murders or intentional killings.
Sexual assaults decreased by 6.9%, continuing a downward trend noted in the previous two years as well. And non-fatal shootings decreased by 21%.
The data can be viewed by individual neighborhoods, giving residents a sense of what crimes are reported near where they live.
According to the report, the East Village area of downtown, near Petco Park, had the highest number of crimes in the people and society categories reported of any neighborhood in the city.
Over the past year, violent and property crimes reported in the neighborhood declined, but they increased in the crimes against society category. Drug violations increased to 1,393 in 2025, up from 1,220 a year earlier.
Other areas showing increases in crimes against persons included Mission Valley West, Mission Beach, Mission Bay, Lake Murray, Normal Heights, Oak Park, Otay Mesa, Tierrasanta, Talmadge, Serra Mesa, Skyline and Southcrest. According to the report, the community with the sharpest rise in crimes against persons was Sorrento Valley, which had a 60% increase, 40 offenses in 2025, up from 25 a year earlier.
Officials said technology is helping officers cut down crime rates.
Motor vehicle thefts declined by 22%, following declines in 2023 and 2024. Officials say the city’s use of smart streetlight cameras and automated license plate readers has helped bring about that decline.
Hate crime reports also decreased by 32%, from 60 cases in 2024 to 41 cases in 2025. Bias against a religion accounted for nearly half of the hate crimes in 2025, officials said.
Dozens of activists and members of community groups attended Monday’s press conference. Wahl said community groups were a major component in officers building deeper relationships with the neighborhoods they patrol. The chief said residents are regularly helping law enforcement with crime intervention and prevention, and the joint effort between officers and the community they serve leads to a safer San Diego.
“Trust is our No. 1 priority and will always be our No. 1 priority,” Wahl said. “All of San Diego is better when we work together.”