I live in Manhattan and it is extremely rare to see broken car windows/shattered glass in the streets. In SF, it is a common sight, even in nicer seemingly quiet areas (eg. inner Richmond). It used to be that few junkies would do it around SOMA, or only around tourist heavy areas, but now it is organized by smash and grab gangs/groups, that cruise around even quiet neighborhoods to look for easy opportunities.

Some, more sophisticated ones, even use bluetooth seeking/scanning devices to detect when there is a laptop hidden in a car nearby.