Redwood City's safest neighborhoods are uphill and west

Farm Hill, the 1950s ranch-house neighborhood on Redwood City's western slope, has the city's highest safety score, 4.7 out of 5 on Houseberry's Redwood City safety ranking. Woodside Plaza, the flat grid around the shopping center on Woodside Road, is right behind it at 4.6.

People search "is Redwood City safe" thousands of times a month, and the honest answer depends on which side of El Camino Real you mean. Houseberry scores 15 Redwood City neighborhoods, and the city as a whole averages 3.5, level with Menlo Park. Five neighborhoods clear 4.0. Downtown and the blocks around it sit at the bottom, between 2.7 and 2.8. The safest addresses are almost all uphill and west.

Redwood City's 7 safest neighborhoods

1. Farm Hill, 4.7

2. Woodside Plaza, 4.6

3. Emerald Hills, 4.3

4. Redwood Shores, 4.1

5. Emerald Lake, 4.1

6. Oak Knoll-Edgewood Park, 3.9

7. Clifford Heights, 3.7

Seven, because seven neighborhoods score above the city's 3.5 average. Friendly Acres, east of Highway 101, sits exactly on it.

Prices are Houseberry's typical home prices from each neighborhood's 12-month price history, as of October 2026.

1. Farm Hill, 4.7

Farm Hill is Redwood City's safest neighborhood by Houseberry's score, and its homes are mostly single-story houses from the early 1950s. Farm Hill Boulevard cuts through it on the way to Cañada College. The 42-acre Stulsaft Park, mostly wild creek canyon, sits inside it, and the Easter Cross stands on the city's highest point.

The typical home ran about $2.50 million in October 2026, up from about $2.26 million a year earlier. That is roughly a 10 percent climb, faster than the city. The trade-off is schools. Farm Hill scores 3.3 there, lower than four of the other six on this list.

2. Woodside Plaza, 4.6

Woodside Plaza is the flat, practical one. It runs from Woodside Road toward Valota Road and Fernside Street, with Maddux Park in the middle and the Woodside Plaza shopping center, split by Massachusetts Avenue, on its edge.

At about $2.32 million, it scores higher on safety than every hill neighborhood except Farm Hill. Its weak number is schools, 2.9. Its amenities score, 3.3, undersells how much you can do on foot here.

3. Emerald Hills, 4.3

Emerald Hills is mostly unincorporated San Mateo County with a Redwood City mailing address, so the Sheriff's Office patrols it, not Redwood City police. The roads are narrow, the lots are big and wooded, and the public Emerald Hills Golf Course sits off Wilmington Way.

It is the most expensive neighborhood on this list at about $3.59 million, and the only one of the top seven where the typical price fell over the past year, from about $3.65 million.

4. Redwood Shores, 4.1

Redwood Shores is the lagoon community east of 101, built on bay landfill beginning in the 1960s, with Oracle's towers at its edge and Marine Parkway running through. It scores 4.1 on safety, 5.0 on schools and 4.5 overall, the best overall score in the city.

This is the entry we would tell most buyers to look at first. At about $1.65 million in October 2026, it costs roughly $850,000 less than Farm Hill and $560,000 less than the citywide typical home. Part of that gap is the housing mix, which includes townhomes and condos alongside detached houses. Part of it is the Shores' flood-zone and levee questions, which a buyer should price in.

5. Emerald Lake, 4.1

Emerald Lake sits around the small lake of the same name, next to Emerald Hills. Like its neighbor, it is mostly unincorporated. Homes ran about $3.07 million in October 2026, up from about $2.84 million. Its 4.1 ties Redwood Shores, which costs about $1.4 million less.

6. Oak Knoll-Edgewood Park, 3.9

Oak Knoll-Edgewood Park climbs from the flats near Alameda de las Pulgas into the hills by Edgewood Road. It has some of the city's oldest large homes and a 4.0 amenities score. It also posted the second-biggest price jump on this list, from about $2.73 million to $3.11 million over 12 months.

7. Clifford Heights, 3.7

Clifford Heights is a small hillside pocket next to Emerald Hills. It scores 3.7 on safety and a low 2.6 on amenities, so errands mean a drive down the hill. The typical home ran about $3.57 million in October 2026.

The hills are not the whole story

The obvious read is that money buys safety in Redwood City. The data says something messier.

Woodside Plaza, a flat grid next to a strip mall, outscores Emerald Hills and every other estate-lot neighborhood except Farm Hill. Horgan Ranch, east of El Camino, costs about $2.56 million and scores 2.9. The pattern lines up better with distance from the downtown core and the El Camino and Broadway corridors than with price.

The bottom of the ranking is downtown and its neighbors. Centennial, home to Courthouse Square and the Fox Theatre, scores 2.8. Redwood Village scores 2.8 and Staumbaugh-Heller 2.7. Those are also Redwood City's cheapest neighborhoods, from about $1.03 million to $1.53 million, and they carry amenities scores as high as 3.9. A downtown score reflects a downtown: more people, more cars, more of the reports that drive the number.

How Houseberry scores safety in Redwood City

Houseberry's safety score rates each neighborhood from 1 to 5 using reported crime data, compared against California-wide averages, so a 4.7 in Redwood City means the same thing as a 4.7 in Oakland or Fremont. Scores were updated in November 2026. Two of the seven, Emerald Hills and Clifford Heights, use city-level data for their value figures, which does not change their safety scores.

Redwood City publishes its own figures on a public safety data dashboard launched this year, covering 2023 through 2026 and broken down by area and incident type, as RWC Pulse reported in August. For the unincorporated hills, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office reported violent crime down 14 percent and property crime down 15 percent in 2024, Patch reported.

Questions people ask about Redwood City safety

Is Redwood City safe? By Houseberry's numbers, Redwood City averages 3.5 out of 5, level with Menlo Park (3.5) and close to Belmont (3.6). A third of its neighborhoods score 4 or higher.

What is the safest neighborhood in Redwood City? Farm Hill, at 4.7. Woodside Plaza follows at 4.6.

Is downtown Redwood City safe? Centennial, which holds downtown, scores 2.8, in the bottom three. Courthouse Square and the Broadway restaurant blocks are busy into the evening.

Is Redwood Shores safe? Redwood Shores scores 4.1 on safety and 5.0 on schools, and it has the highest overall score in the city, 4.5.

Which part of Redwood City is safe and under $2 million? Redwood Shores, at about $1.65 million in October 2026, is the only neighborhood scoring 4 or better on safety under that line. Friendly Acres, at 3.5 and about $1.63 million, is the next option.

Before you tour, pull up the exact street on the Redwood City safety ranking or the full Redwood City neighborhood rankings. In this city, a 4.6 and a 2.8 can be two miles apart.

Sources

• Houseberry, Redwood City neighborhood safety ranking, November 2026
• Houseberry, Redwood City city guide, October 2026 prices
• RWC Pulse, Redwood City launches public safety data dashboard, August 19, 2026
• Patch, San Mateo County Sheriff reports 14 percent drop in violent crime, February 7, 2025
• Walking Redwood City, Neighborhoods: Farm Hill and Woodside Plaza