This is a list of notable people from Safed.

• Mahmoud Abbas (born 1935), Palestinian president since 2005^[1]
• Jussuf Abbo (1890–1953), Jewish sculptor and printmaker who was successful in Germany in the 1920s
• Modi Alon (1921–1948), Israeli fighter pilot
• Moshe Amar (1922–2015), politician who served as a member of Knesset between 1977 and 1981
• Elazar ben Moshe Azikri (1533–1600), kabbalist and poet
• Yehoshua Bar-Yosef (1912–1992), writer
• Giovanni Giuda Giona Battista (1588–1668), rabbi who converted to Catholicism
• Fazil Bey (1789–1810), author of Zenanname (The Book of Women)^[2]
• Yehuda Cohen (1914–2009), Israeli Supreme Court justice
• Yaakov Shaul Elyashar (1817–1906), Sephardi Chief Rabbi
• Wadie Haddad (1927–1978), also known as Abu Hani, the Palestinian leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine's armed wing
• Chaim Hirschensohn (1857–1935), rabbi
• Salma Jayyusi (1925–2023), Palestinian-Jordanian poet and translator
• Subhi al-Khadra (1895–1954), Palestinian Arab politician, lawyer, and newspaper columnist
• Baruch Maman (born 1955), Israeli footballer
• Meir Meivar (1918–2000), the Haganah commander of Safed during 1948 and mayor of Safed between 1965 and 1966
• Chava Mond (born 1984), Israeli model
• Israel ben Moses Najara (c. 1555–c. 1625), Jewish poet
• Shalom Moskovitz (c. 1887–1980), painter and artist
• Itay Ne'eman, UCLA mathematics professor and logician
• Abi Ofarim (1937–2018)), musician and dancer
• Esther Ofarim (born 1941), folk singer
• Yogev Ohayon (born 1987), basketball player
• Samir al-Rifai (1901–1965), politician who served six times as Jordanian prime minister
• Moshe Roas (born 1981), artist
• Nabil Shaath (born 1938), negotiator for the Palestinian National Authority and its first foreign minister
• Khalīl b. Aybak al-Ṣafadī (1296–1363), author and historian
• Al-Khalidi al-Safadi (died 1625), Ottoman historian and the Hanafi mufti of Safed
• Arad Sawat (born 1975), set and production designer
• The Shadow (born 1977), rapper
• Moshe Shamir (1921–2004), author
• Khen Shish (born 1970), painter and installation artist
• Ilan Shohat (born 1974), mayor of Safed from 2008 to 2018
• Hayyim ben Joseph Vital (1542–1620), Jewish rabbi and disciple of Isaac Luria

• Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz (c. 1500–1576), rabbi, kabbalist and poet perhaps best known for his composition of the song "Lecha Dodi"
• Moshe Alshich (1508–1593), rabbi, preacher, and biblical commentator
• Jacob Alyashar (1730–c. 1790), Talmudist and emissary
• Jacob Berab (1474–1546), rabbi and talmudist best known for his attempt to reintroduce rabbinic ordination
• Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (1522–1570), leader of mystical school
• Shmuel Eliyahu (born 1956), Chief Rabbi of Safed
• Yitzhak Frenkel Frenel (1899–1981), father of Israeli modern art.^[3] Important Jewish artist of the Ecole de Paris, influenced and taught many notable artists.^[4] Amongst the founders of the Artists Colony/Quarter of Tzfat and amongst the first artists to settle in Safed.^[5]
• Mohamed Anwar Hadid (born 1948), American real estate developer and Olympic speed skier. Remains the only person to have represented Jordan in the Winter Olympics.^[6] Known for being the father of Gigi and Bella Hadid, American models and television personalities.
• Shimshon Holzman (1907–1986), artist
• Joseph Karo (1488–1575), rabbi and author of the great codification of Jewish law, the Shulchan Aruch
• Lior Lubin (1979–2024), basketball player and coach
• Isaac Luria (1534–1572), rabbi and Jewish mystic, considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah.^[7]
• Miriam Mehadipur (born 1960), Dutch-born artist, resident of Safed since 1999,^[8] owner of Mehadipur + Collection^[9]
• Moshe of Trani (1500–1580), rabbi of Safed from 1525 until 1535
• Possibly the Biblical Woman with seven sons whose tomb is often said to be an ancient tomb discovered in the old cemetery of the city