What’s a safe area on the Peninsula? Hillsborough?
(I lived in downtown San Mateo for a few years, and we drove through Hillsborough all the time.)
I live in South San Francisco. It is in San Mateo County, some 10 to 15 miles south from the city of SF in SF County. Not to be confused with the big city.
Very safe here, very little crime. Worst thing going on are occasional thefts of catalytic converters overnight. People always out and about walking their dogs or riding bikes, without fear.
My grown up kids have lived in South City (as we call it), San Mateo, San Jose, Santa Cruz without problems. We worried when one lived in Oakland for a few years, thankfully in the Oakland hills but she commuted thru the badlands of Oakland on MLK Drive to her job in Emeryville (between Oakland and Berkeley). We were happy when she moved from Oakland to Kansas. She got bored there and moved to Austin (which isn't that safe), and then back here in SSF where she bought a home. She wouldn't have bought if she thought it wasn't safe.
I wouldn't live in Daly City (at the southern border of SF), I lived there for a few years decades ago and don't consider it safe anymore. San Jose is seeing some crime now, as it grew into a big city over the last 20 years.
The way I look at it, the SF Peninsula is much safer than the LA region, and definitely safer than anywhere on the east coast.