State crime profile · 2024
District Of Columbia Crime Rates: Safest & Most Dangerous Cities
Crime data for 1 cities and 0 counties in District Of Columbia (DC), ranked safest to most dangerous from 3 reporting agencies.
- 1,015.2
- Violent / 100K
- 3,725.9
- Property / 100K
- 1
- Cities
The verdict
District Of Columbia's 1,015.2 violent crimes per 100,000 runs 188% above the U.S. average, making it among the highest-crime states in the country.
- 1,015.2
- violent crimes per 100K
- +188%
- vs. the U.S. average
- 51st
- safest of 51 states & DC
- 3,725.9
- property crimes per 100K
How safe is District Of Columbia? FBI UCR data snapshot
District Of Columbia (DC) reported 7,129 violent crimes and 26,165 property crimes in 2024, based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program submissions from 3 law enforcement agencies. That translates to a statewide violent crime rate of 1015.2 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 3725.9 per 100,000 against a reporting population of 702,250. The PlainCrime dataset indexes 1 District Of Columbia cities and 0 counties, each with their own detail pages and local crime figures drawn from FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10.
Within the statewide violent crime total, aggravated assault accounted for 0 incidents, robbery 0, murder and non-negligent manslaughter 0, and rape 0. Property crime splits across larceny-theft (0), burglary (0), motor vehicle theft (0), and arson (0).
Across 11 years of state-level UCR history (2014–2024), the violent crime rate moved from 1244.4 to 1015.2 per 100,000, a decline of 18.4%. City-level detail pages within District Of Columbia include safety grades (A+ to F), benchmarks against national averages, per-capita risk estimates, and multi-year trend tables for users comparing specific jurisdictions. All figures above are drawn from FBI UCR 2024 submissions; reporting completeness varies by agency, and the FBI periodically restates prior-year figures as late submissions arrive.
State figures roll up the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) submissions from local and county agencies across the state, then express them per 100,000 residents so one state can be compared with another. Statewide averages hide a great deal of variation: a handful of large cities often account for much of a state's reported violent crime, while most of its land area and population live with markedly lower rates. Reporting completeness also differs between states, so a year-over-year change can reflect which agencies filed data as much as any real shift on the ground. Read a state number as the broad backdrop, then drill into the city and county pages for the local detail that actually shapes day-to-day decisions.
How District Of Columbia ranks nationally
District Of Columbia vs. every U.S. state
Violent crime per 100,000 residents, FBI UCR 2024. Lower is safer.
1,015 0th percentile lower than 0% of 51 U.S. states
Each bar is a band of values; taller bars hold more U.S. states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · 2024
Safest Cities
Top 50 by lowest violent crime rate
Most Dangerous Cities
Top 50 by highest violent crime rate
Crime Trends
Multi-year charts & analysis
Crime Trends
| Year | Population | Violent Crime | Rate | Property Crime | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 702,250 | 7,129 | 1015.2 | 26,165 | 3725.9 |
| 2023 | 678,972 | 7,852 | 1156.5 | 29,438 | 4335.7 |
| 2022 | 671,803 | 5,495 | 817.9 | 24,047 | 3579.5 |
| 2021 | 670,050 | 2,886 | 430.7 | 11,756 | 1754.5 |
| 2020 | 712,816 | 7,127 | 999.8 | 25,108 | 3522.4 |
| 2019 | 705,749 | 7,403 | 1049 | 30,981 | 4389.8 |
| 2018 | 702,455 | 6,995 | 995.8 | 30,921 | 4401.8 |
| 2017 | 693,972 | 6,975 | 1005.1 | 29,960 | 4317.2 |
| 2016 | 681,170 | 8,236 | 1209.1 | 32,931 | 4834.5 |
| 2015 | 672,228 | 8,538 | 1270.1 | 31,683 | 4713.1 |
| 2014 | 658,893 | 8,199 | 1244.4 | 34,357 | 5214.4 |
Cities in District Of Columbia
| City | Population | Violent / 100K | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | 702,250 | 925.9 | F |
Nearby States
Compare District Of Columbia with neighboring states, or use the compare tool for side-by-side jurisdiction benchmarking.
Explore District Of Columbia crime data
Primary source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, Crime in the United States annual release. State-level trends cross-check against the FBI Crime Data Explorer (CDE) API.
Population figures for rate calculations reference U.S. Census Bureau estimates where FBI-reported populations are unavailable. Verify with Census.gov QuickFacts.
Read our methodology , how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Using PlainCrime rankings responsibly
Crime rankings are most useful when they sit alongside other community-quality signals, school performance, housing affordability, employment, and access to healthcare. A safer-than-average violent-crime rate in a small commuter suburb does not by itself make a city a better place to live; it is one data point among many. Likewise, a higher-than-average rate in a dense urban center may reflect that residents and visitors interact with police more often, not that the city is necessarily unsafe for its residents. We provide cross-links from each city profile to neighboring jurisdictions, state averages, and national benchmarks so you can read each number in context rather than in isolation.
For news outlets, researchers, and concerned residents who cite our rankings, the most defensible approach is to quote the per-100,000 rate, the reporting year, and the source agency in the same sentence. Avoid framing crime statistics as predictive, UCR data describes what was reported in a past year, not what will happen tomorrow. Where possible, pair our rankings with longitudinal trend data on the relevant city's profile page to show whether the rate is moving up, holding steady, or falling year over year.