State crime profile · 2024
District Of Columbia Crime Rates: Safest & Most Dangerous Cities
Crime data for 1 cities (no FBI Table 10 county rows in this vintage) in District Of Columbia (DC), ranked safest to most dangerous from 3 reporting agencies.
Data updated 2026-07-13
- 1,015.2
- Violent / 100K
- 3,725.9
- Property / 100K
- 1
- Cities
District Of Columbia violent crime is 1,015.2 per 100,000, 188% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, District Of Columbia records 1,015.2 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, 188% above the national average (about the 51st-safest of 51 states and D.C.). Statewide averages hide city and county variation; UCR participation is voluntary.
- 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
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.
The FBI's state-level summary reports violent and property crime as aggregate totals rather than broken out by individual offense type (murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson). For an offense-by-offense breakdown, see the individual city and county pages for District Of Columbia below, which draw on FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10 and do report each offense type separately.
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 among 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 |
Counties in District Of Columbia
FBI Table 10 lists no county rows for District Of Columbia in this vintage (1 Census county-equivalents exist; participation is voluntary). Missing counties are absent from the FBI source for this year, not dropped by PlainCrime. See national county coverage and methodology.
No county profile pages for District Of Columbia in this vintage. City and statewide agency totals remain available above.
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.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program State UCR aggregates · 2024 District Of Columbia statewide rates from participating agencies.
Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.