Choosing Safe Off-Campus Housing in Berkeley
A map-first guide for international students arriving at UC Berkeley
Welcome to Berkeley. Whether you’re flying in from China, Taiwan, Singapore, Mumbai, Lagos, Mexico City, or Seoul, two questions tend to come up before everything else: where will I live, and is it safe? This guide is written for you. We’ll show you a map of the neighborhoods where most UC Berkeley students live, explain what the colors mean, and walk through the free safety services the campus and city provide once the sun goes down.
Berkeley is, on the whole, a friendly college town. But like every American city near a major university, the experience of walking home at 11 p.m. on a Tuesday is different from walking to class at 11 a.m. The map below is designed to make that contrast visible at a glance, so you can plan your routes and choose housing with confidence.
How to read the map
The colored zones are not crime-statistics maps. They blend three practical factors: how close an area is to campus, how well-lit and well-trafficked it tends to be at night, and what published BPD and UCPD safety advisories suggest about that corridor. Treat the colors as planning guidance, not predictions.
Green, yellow, and red zones
| GREEN | On campus or one block out — Northside (Hearst north to Cedar), the campus blocks themselves, and the immediate east-side corridor toward Memorial Stadium. Heavy student foot traffic, strong lighting, and the most consistent UCPD presence. Comfortable to walk most evenings. |
| YELLOW | The Southside student core (Bancroft to Dwight, between Shattuck and College), Downtown Berkeley near Shattuck, and the Elmwood band along College Avenue. Busy and welcoming during the day; use normal city-at-night habits — walk with friends, stick to lit streets, and use Bear Walk if you’re alone after dark. |
| RED | South of Dwight Way along the Telegraph corridor, the Ashby Avenue area, and the far west of University Avenue away from Shattuck. Many of these blocks are perfectly fine in daylight, but at night you should use Bear Walk, the campus night shuttle, or a rideshare rather than walking solo. |
Bear Walk: a free walking escort, every night of the year
Bear Walk (officially Safewalk, run by UCPD’s Community Service Officers) pairs you with a uniformed student officer who walks you to your door. It’s free, it operates 365 nights a year, and you do not need to give a reason to use it.
- Hours: dusk until 2:30 a.m. After 2:30 a.m., the Night Safety Shuttle covers door-to-door service until 5:30 a.m.
- Service area: roughly Cedar Street (north), Prospect/Highland (east), Parker Street (south), and Shattuck Avenue (west). All TBG communities sit inside or right against this boundary.
- How to request: call (510) 642-WALK / (510) 642-9255, or use the Downtowner app. Plan to call 15–20 minutes before you want to be picked up.
- Officers will walk with you within a four to five block radius of campus, beyond the strict boundary if needed.
Save the number in your phone before classes start. Many international students tell us they didn’t know it existed until their second semester — don’t be that student.
Patrol coverage: UCPD, BPD, and what “CalNet” actually is
Two different things often get blended together in conversation, so let’s separate them clearly.
UCPD/BPD Joint Southside Safety Patrol
Since 2010, the campus police (UCPD) and the city police (BPD) have run a shared patrol focused on the Southside neighborhood — exactly where most off-campus student housing sits. Two-officer cars (one from each department) patrol Thursday through Saturday nights between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., with extra deployment on football weekends. On the map, that coverage is shown as the purple-dotted overlay south of campus.
CalNet
“CalNet” is the credential you’ll use to log into UC Berkeley’s safety apps — WarnMe (the campus emergency alert system), the Night Safety Services request app, and CalCentral. It is not itself a patrol. The moment you receive your CalNet ID, opt into WarnMe text and email alerts so you get crime advisories, weather warnings, and shelter-in-place notices in real time. It’s the single most useful 60-second action you can take during orientation week.
TBG communities at a glance
TBG (The Berkeley Group) operates exclusively in Berkeley, almost entirely within walking distance of Sather Gate. The numbered pins on the map correspond to the table below. “Zone” is the color the address sits in, and “Distance” is the practical walking distance to a central campus point such as Sproul Plaza or Memorial Stadium.
| Address | Zone | Walk to campus & notes |
| 2225 Hearst Ave | GREEN | ≈50 ft to campus, directly opposite Barker Hall. Inside Bear Walk and one block from UCPD HQ. |
| 2701 Durant Ave (Polaris) | GREEN/YELLOW | 1 block south of campus, across from Café Strada. Heart of the Joint Southside Patrol zone. |
| 2425 Prospect St | GREEN | 1 block from campus, 5-min walk to Berkeley Law and Haas. Eastern edge of Bear Walk. |
| 2335 Warring St | GREEN | Furnished private residence hall, 1 block south of campus. Fully inside Bear Walk and Joint Patrol coverage. |
| 2618 College Ave | YELLOW | 4 blocks south in Elmwood. College Ave is well-lit and busy; comfortable walk to campus most hours. |
| 2620 Regent St | YELLOW | Traditional apartment community one block from campus. Inside Joint Patrol coverage Thu–Sat nights. |
| 12 Panoramic Way | GREEN | Steps from Memorial Stadium. Hill walk; bring a flashlight or use the campus path lighting. |
| 2901 Channing Way | YELLOW | Co-living community in the Southside core. Use Bear Walk or walk with a roommate after dark. |
| 3228 Adeline St | YELLOW/RED | Steps from Ashby BART, ~1.2 miles from Sproul. Best paired with BART, AC Transit, or rideshare after 9 p.m. |
Five habits we recommend to every international resident
- Save four numbers in your phone before classes start: 911 (emergency), (510) 642-3333 (UCPD non-emergency), (510) 981-5900 (BPD non-emergency), and (510) 642-WALK (Bear Walk).
- Sign up for WarnMe with your CalNet ID during orientation. The text alerts are short, in English, and genuinely useful.
- Walk with a roommate after dark in yellow zones. Use Bear Walk in red zones. The walk takes the same amount of time either way.
- Avoid wearing high-end headphones with both ears covered while walking near Telegraph at night — most reported phone snatches happen when the victim doesn’t see the approach.
- If something feels wrong, step into a lit business (cafés on Telegraph and Shattuck stay open late) and call. You will not be charged for using 911 in California, regardless of visa status.
Resources
UC Berkeley Night Safety Services: nightsafety.berkeley.edu
UCPD home page and crime alerts: ucpd.berkeley.edu
Berkeley Police Department: berkeleyca.gov/safety-health/police
WarnMe alert sign-up (CalNet required): warnme.berkeley.edu
TBG community list and tours: tbgpm.com