Borrowings and Federal Home Loan Bank Advances (Narrative) (Details)	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($) item	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($) item
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Uncommitted secured lines of credit		$ 1,000,000,000
Number of banks \| item	6	6
Daily borrowings under our uncommitted secured lines	$ 391,000,000	$ 391,000,000
Compensating balances	0	0
Federal home loan advances, floating-rate	760,000	760,000
Revolving Credit Facility [Member]
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Committed revolving credit facility with bank and broker dealer - subsidiary	200,000,000	$ 200,000,000
Credit facility expiration date		2020-03
LIBOR rate		1.75%
Outstanding credit facility	0	$ 0
Stifel Credit Facility [Member]
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Committed revolving credit facility with bank and broker dealer - subsidiary	250,000,000	$ 250,000,000
Credit facility expiration date		2019-06
Outstanding credit facility	0	$ 0
Credit agreement maturity days		364 days
Company Owned Securities [Member]
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Uncommitted secured lines of credit		$ 243,000,000
Trading securities pledged	$ 285,200,000	$ 285,200,000
Federal Home Loan Bank advances [Member]
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Weighted average interest rate on borrowings	1.47%	1.45%

Daily borrowings under credit arrangements.

No definition available.

Name:	sf_DailyBorrowingsUnderCreditArrangements
Namespace Prefix:	sf_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line of credit facility expiration days.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	sf_LineOfCreditFacilityExpirationDays
Namespace Prefix:	sf_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line of credit facility expiration month and year.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	sf_LineOfCreditFacilityExpirationMonthAndYear
Namespace Prefix:	sf_
Data Type:	xbrli:gYearMonthItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of banks with which entity has committed revolving credit facility.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	sf_NumberOfBanksWithWhichEntityHasCommittedRevolvingCreditFacility
Namespace Prefix:	sf_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Uncommitted secured lines of credit.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	sf_UncommittedSecuredLinesOfCredit
Namespace Prefix:	sf_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Weighted average interest rate on borrowings.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	sf_WeightedAverageInterestRateOnBorrowings
Namespace Prefix:	sf_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The amount of a specific compensating balance arrangement that is maintained under an agreement for a bank loan or future credit availability.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_CompensatingBalanceAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Percentage points added to the reference rate to compute the variable rate on the debt instrument.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentBasisSpreadOnVariableRate1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of restricted investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in net income (trading).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 860
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1A
-Subparagraph (b)(1)(i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109249958&loc=SL6224234-111729

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtSecuritiesTradingRestricted
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Par amount of advances made and reported by Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBank) with floating interest rate.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FederalHomeLoanBankAdvancesFloatingRate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The carrying value as of the balance sheet date of the current and noncurrent portions of long-term obligations drawn from a line of credit, which is a bank's commitment to make loans up to a specific amount. Examples of items that might be included in the application of this element may consist of letters of credit, standby letters of credit, and revolving credit arrangements, under which borrowings can be made up to a maximum amount as of any point in time conditional on satisfaction of specified terms before, as of and after the date of drawdowns on the line. Includes short-term obligations that would normally be classified as current liabilities but for which (a) postbalance sheet date issuance of a long term obligation to refinance the short term obligation on a long term basis, or (b) the enterprise has entered into a financing agreement that clearly permits the enterprise to refinance the short-term obligation on a long term basis and the following conditions are met (1) the agreement does not expire within 1 year and is not cancelable by the lender except for violation of an objectively determinable provision, (2) no violation exists at the BS date, and (3) the lender has entered into the financing agreement is expected to be financially capable of honoring the agreement.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02(22))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-03(16))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6876686&loc=d3e534808-122878

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.7-03(16))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6879938&loc=d3e572229-122910

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCredit
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Maximum borrowing capacity under the credit facility without consideration of any current restrictions on the amount that could be borrowed or the amounts currently outstanding under the facility.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityMaximumBorrowingCapacity
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShortTermDebtLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_CreditFacilityAxis=us-gaap_RevolvingCreditFacilityMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_CreditFacilityAxis=sf_StifelCreditFacilityMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShortTermDebtTypeAxis=sf_CompanyOwnedSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShortTermDebtTypeAxis=us-gaap_FederalHomeLoanBankAdvancesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: