Washington, DC has a F safety grade (0/100) with a violent crime rate of 926 per 100,000, 163% above the national average.
FBI UCR 2024 · per-capita rates · very large city
At 702,250 residents, Washington is a very large city: FBI UCR Table 8 rates (per 100,000) here are read against DC and U.S. averages before the offense-family breakdown.
Data updated 2026-08-24
Washington, DC carries a PlainCrime F safety grade with violent crime 163% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Washington, DC shows violent crime at 925.9 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 3,588 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 163% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade F from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
2020–2024 direction
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 957.9 per 100,000 in 2020 to 925.9 in 2024 (-3.3%). The highest observed value was 1052.9 in 2023 and the lowest 371.8 in 2021. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
2024 reported record
Of the 31,699 Part I offences Washington reported for 2024, 20.5% were violent. Robbery leads the violent categories at 3,080, and larceny-theft leads the property categories at 18,220, against a population of 702,250. District Of Columbia has too few cities with a comparable 2024 submission to place this record against an in-state cohort, so it is reported on its own terms.
Property counts dominate Washington's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
On a very large city row, these are citywide reported offense totals - not neighbourhood advice. Conditions vary by place and time; reporting rates differ across jurisdictions.
Across 61.1 Census sq mi, Washington logged 412.2 property and 106.4 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Washington leans on larceny-theft at 57% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 3,797.
Violent offenses are 21% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Washington offense mix (2024)
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (61.1 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
| Offense | Count | Rate /100K |
|---|---|---|
| Property Crime | 25,197 | 3588 |
| Larceny-Theft | 18,220 | 2594.5 |
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 5,306 | 755.6 |
| Burglary | 1,671 | 237.9 |
| Arson | 0 | 0 |
| Violent Crime | 6,502 | 925.9 |
| Robbery | 3,080 | 438.6 |
| Aggravated Assault | 3,004 | 427.8 |
| Rape | 239 | 34 |
| Murder | 179 | 25.5 |
The chart omits 2021 rather than drawing an unsupported zero or partial-coverage dip. The table preserves the year and marks the gap.
Lead series · rose across 4 comparable years · FBI UCR
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
| Year | Coverage | Population | Violent Rate | Property Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Comparable | 712,816 | 957.9 | 3431.3 |
| 2021 | Insufficient reporting | 670,050 | - | - |
| 2022 | Comparable | 671,803 | 751.1 | 3501.8 |
| 2023 | Comparable | 678,972 | 1052.9 | 4166.7 |
| 2024 | Comparable | 702,250 | 925.9 | 3588 |
Washington Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Washington's 31,699 reported offenses (4-year span 2020-2024, with internal gaps).
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Washington at 925.9/100K violent and 3,588/100K property - matched below outside District Of Columbia (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
925.9/100K here; nearest out-of-state matches.
3,588/100K here; violent-rate peers above excluded.
Out-of-state cities whose violent rate moved a similar share from 2023→2024 (-12.1% here); level-based peers above are excluded.
In 2024, Washington reported 6,502 violent crimes and 25,197 property crimes, for a total of 31,699 reported offenses.
From 2023 to 2024, Washington's violent crime rate decreased by 12.1%, and the property crime rate decreased by 13.9%.
The most common crime type in Washington is larceny-theft, accounting for 57.5% of all reported crimes (18,220 incidents in 2024).
Large-city read: Washington's rates come from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, CIUS Table 8, vintage 2024.
Incomplete reporters stay out of rate rankings. Cross-check population with Census ACS; state UCR programs for statewide context. Primary verify links: FBI.gov UCR, Census QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (very large city): informational crime rates only - not legal, insurance, or personal-safety advice. Source: FBI UCR. Ask a qualified professional before acting.
Large-city rate methodology for how Washington's very large city row is sourced and ranked.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Washington, DC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.
Bulk download: city crime dataset (CSV/JSON)
Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Washington is scored here as a very large city UCR reporter (702,250 on the row). See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.