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I've also had friends swallowed up by the bay area, also to violence and drugs. They all had in common that they were scraping by on a little over minimum wage or engaging in sex work to survive or homeless or almost homeless
By and large, the bay area is not dangerous for salaried tech folks receiving benefits that, yearly, amount to more than double what most service class folks earn in cash in 5 years. The bay area is dangerous for the homeless and the mentally ill and the folks with vastly fewer resources, working as dishwashers but classed as 1099 contractors or totally under the table.
The bay area is an extremely cruel place to most of the people who aren't on tech or finance salaries. Most of my friends not in tech are constantly having to move because their buildings are getting sold to companies that flip properties into luxury housing.
Anyway, if this isn't you, the bay is your oyster. There's constantly technical talks and dev oriented events and conventions and hackathons and meetups and spaces like noisebridge and sudo room in the east bay. There's great food, excellent excellent healthcare and probably the best mental healthcare in the world in terms of quality of care and accessibility. There are phenomenal libraries and bookstores (see Moe's in Berkeley and SFPL and alleycat books). Lots of great companies, lots of opportunities for mentorship.
My laptop was stolen at a coffee shop while I was typing on it, guy went running. Apple MB and cloud locked but they stole it all the same.
They stole my bike even though it was cheap. My friend was robbed at gunpoint for his laptop. I personally saw a stabbing in the Tenderloin. A man was shot pont blank sitting in a car behind our house. It’s dangerous AF
Noisebridge was fun until it shut down. Half of the stores downtown are boarded up now. Walgreens left because of theft they couldn’t do anything about bc of liberal policies. The whole mall is boarded up. It’s a long long list of exited stores and companies. Much of the real estate both commercial and residential sits empty because the landlords refuse to reduce the rent since they won’t be able to raise it later bc of liberal policies.
The meetups were good before covid that was the one perk. But moving to SF was one of the worst mistakes of my life. Again, run away screaming
... all that being said, I have lived in the Bay Area for a long time and do not intend to leave anytime soon. There aren't many other places in the world that can be called hubs of biotech, software and semiconductors all at the same time. Many parts of the South Bay are S-tier in terms of safety while maintaining the same price point as SF, so if you prioritize safety over having a life outside the confines of your computer terminal you return to after your 8-6 job, then the South Bay is actually pretty good. If you want to be able to hit the beach after a night of raving and clubbing preceded by 5-star dining and zuck-surfing on the Bay, while being willfully ignorant about the constant risk of a homeless man jumping out of the bushes at you, then SF is your best bet.