Trump calls for National Guard deployment in San Francisco loom over city's AI-driven resurgence

President Donald Trump is stepping up his calls to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco at the very moment that the city is undergoing a post-pandemic resurgence, propelled by artificial intelligence.

Crime rates are down 30% from 2024, homicide levels hit their lowest levels in 70 years and car break-ins haven't been this low in 22 years. Meanwhile, event bookings and tourism are on the rise, residential real estate is becoming more scarce and the office market is heating up.

Business momentum in the city is largely built on the AI boom.

New data from CBRE show venture capital funding in 2025 is expected to surpass the record high of $276 billion hit in 2021. The bulk of that investment has been in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, where 80% of AI venture funding through the third quarter has been targeted to the tune of $115 billion.

By the end of the September, the San Francisco Bay Area was already 35% above its previous annual investment peak, according to CBRE's VC Funding analysis.

"San Franciscans are feeling positive about the direction of our city once again," Daniel Lurie, the city's Democratic mayor said in a statement last week released by Governor Gavin Newsom's office. "And we are going to continue working every single day to build on this progress and keep our city safe 365 days a year."

The statement was meant to tout the successful efforts of local law enforcement ahead of Salesforce's annual Dreamforce conference last week. The issue became particularly controversial after Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told the New York Times that he'd support Trump's call for federal troops to be sent to San Francisco. His sentiments were publicly supported by Elon Musk and David Sacks, high-profile techies with close ties to the Trump Administration.

On Friday, facing mounting criticism, Benioff backtracked, posting on X that, "Having listened closely to my fellow San Franciscans and our local officials, and after the largest and safest Dreamforce in our history, I do not believe the National Guard is needed to address safety in San Francisco."

The Trump administration recently deployed the National Guard to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, sparking protests and lawsuits. Over the weekend, President Trump repeated his plans to send troops to San Francisco, telling Fox News' Maria Bartiromo that, "the difference is I think they want us in San Francisco."

The White House didn't immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on the President's plans.

Lurie cheered the safety of events that took place in the last week including Dreamforce and No Kings Protests over the weekend. Lurie didn't directly respond to Trump's calls for the National Guard and, in contrast to Newsom, has taken a far less combative approach to Trump since taking office in January.

"San Francisco is on the rise," Lurie wrote in a post on X on Oct. 12, a couple days before Dreamforce was set to begin.

The data support that view.

Tourism spending is expected to increase modestly this year to $9.35 billion, up from $9.26 billion, according to the San Francisco Travel Association. Conferences, sporting events such as NBA All-Star weekend, and music festivals like Outside Lands have contributed to the growth.

The commercial real estate market is also recovering as Covid-era work from home policies get slowly unwound.

Tech companies increased their share of leasing activity by square footage to 53% in 2025, the highest since 2019, CBRE said. Apartment rental prices are surging as well. Multifamily rentals increased 6% in August, much more than the 3.75% jump in Chicago, the city with the second-steepest climb, according to CoStar.

Ted Egan, chief economist for San Francisco, told CNBC in an interview that "housing is probably as cheap as it's going to get for a while."

There remains plenty of room for improvement. The city has lost key tenants in its downtown shopping district in recent years, including its flagship Nordstrom store. The Nordstrom location was part of San Francisco City Centre, which was the city's largest mall but is now effectively empty.

Office vacancies remained high at 33.6% in the third quarter, according to Cushman and Wakefield. Homelessness and open drug use are longstanding issues, heavily concentrated in certain parts of the city.

But Egan said that, in addition to the data, he's noticed a significant change in the city's health.

"It seems cleaner and safer now than it's ever been in any of the time that I've been here," said Egan, who's worked in San Francisco for more than 20 years. "I still think it's a great place to move to because it's got tons of economic opportunity. It's got tons of long-term economic strengths for people starting out in their career."

WATCH: Salesforce CEO faces pushback over support for potential National Guard deployment