San Diego is the 19th-safest big city in the world by day — and only the 86th after dark. We ranked 249 major cities by how far each one slides from its daytime safety to its after-dark safety, using a night-safety sub-score no other index publishes.
San Diego is the 19th-safest big city in the world by day — and only the 86th after dark, a 21-point drop in its safety score (90 by day to 69 at night).
These cities score well by day but drop hardest once the sun goes down, among places rated broadly safe in daylight (overall score 78+). "Day rank → night rank" shows how far each one slides down a ranking of 249 cities. A big slide is a planning signal, not a verdict — it means plan the evening: booked transport over walking, lit main streets over shortcuts.
| City | Day score | Night score | Drop | Day rank → night rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puebla, Mexico | 86 | 51 | −35 | #53 → #189 |
| Guadalajara, Mexico | 78 | 50 | −28 | #130 → #192 |
| Jerusalem, Israel | 82 | 58 | −24 | #89 → #148 |
| Brasília, Brazil | 80 | 58 | −22 | #112 → #149 |
| Phoenix, United States | 83 | 61 | −22 | #76 → #130 |
| Pune, India | 82 | 60 | −22 | #88 → #137 |
| Dallas, United States | 82 | 61 | −21 | #87 → #131 |
| San Diego, United States | 90 | 69 | −21 | #19 → #86 |
| Bandung, Indonesia | 80 | 60 | −20 | #111 → #138 |
| Almaty, Kazakhstan | 82 | 63 | −19 | #86 → #120 |
| Da Nang, Vietnam | 85 | 66 | −19 | #60 → #102 |
| Gaziantep, Turkey | 78 | 59 | −19 | #128 → #140 |
| Houston, United States | 80 | 61 | −19 | #109 → #132 |
| Hyderabad, India | 78 | 59 | −19 | #129 → #141 |
| Jacksonville, United States | 80 | 61 | −19 | #110 → #133 |
Ranked by night-safety score — personal safety on the street after dark. East Asia and the Gulf dominate; the highest-ranked Western city is Copenhagen. These are the easiest places to land late or walk back from dinner.
| # | City | Night score | Day rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyoto, Japan | 92 | #1 |
| 2 | Tokyo, Japan | 92 | #7 |
| 3 | Singapore, Singapore | 92 | #11 |
| 4 | Fukuoka, Japan | 91 | #2 |
| 5 | Hiroshima, Japan | 91 | #3 |
| 6 | Sapporo, Japan | 91 | #4 |
| 7 | Yokohama, Japan | 91 | #5 |
| 8 | Kobe, Japan | 91 | #8 |
| 9 | Nagoya, Japan | 91 | #9 |
| 10 | Osaka, Japan | 91 | #12 |
| 11 | Taipei, Taiwan | 89 | #10 |
| 12 | Madinah, Saudi Arabia | 89 | #13 |
| 13 | Copenhagen, Denmark | 89 | #17 |
| 14 | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | 88 | #6 |
| 15 | Dubai, United Arab Emirates | 86 | #14 |
| 16 | Vienna, Austria | 86 | #32 |
| 17 | Hong Kong, Hong Kong | 85 | #15 |
| 18 | Makkah, Saudi Arabia | 85 | #18 |
| 19 | Seoul, South Korea | 85 | #20 |
| 20 | Oslo, Norway | 85 | #33 |
Every Kakapo city score breaks into sub-scores; one is night safety — how safe the city is in public after dark. We ranked 249 cities (population above 800,000, US boroughs excluded) by their overall daytime score and again by their night score, then measured the shift between the two rankings. We use the rank shift rather than a raw day-minus-night gap because night safety tracks daytime personal safety almost exactly, so the raw gap is nearly constant — the rank shift is what surfaces the real outliers. Scores draw on national travel advisories from seven governments plus crime and local data; full weighting is at https://kakapo.travel/about/methodology. Scores are comparative model estimates, not incident counts.
This analysis is free to cite in journalism, research, or content — all we ask is a link back. Copy the attribution below:
Kakapo Editorial Team (2026). The Night-Safety Gap: Safe by Day, Riskier After Dark. Kakapo. https://kakapo.travel/blog/night-safety-gap-2026
Writing a travel-safety story? We give journalists and researchers custom data pulls at no cost — the full day-to-night table, a specific region, or a city-by-city breakdown. Email [email protected] and we usually reply the same day.
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Kakapo publishes real safety scores for every destination, drawing on national travel advisories, local crime data, healthcare infrastructure, and night-safety measures. Kakapo Studies is our research imprint — independent editorial, no advertiser influence on scores. Contact: [email protected].