Crime Grade · FBI UCR Data · 2025
Washington, DC Crime Grade
How Washington grades for violent crime against every other reporting U.S. city — and against the rest of District of Columbia — based on the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting data.
National
10/10
vs. all U.S. cities ≥ 25,000 population
District of Columbia
1/10
vs. District of Columbia cities ≥ 10,000 population
In 2025, the violent crime rate in Washington, DC was 745.5 per 100,000 residents (5,171 incidents over a population of 693,645). That puts Washington Infinity% above the U.S. rate of 0.0 and 129% above the District of Columbia statewide rate of 325.3.
That ranks Washington #3,559 of 3,771 ranked U.S. cities, safer than 6% of them, and #1 of 1 in District of Columbia. Violent crime is down 20% year over year and up 101% over the last five years.
Washington, DC crime — key facts
- National Crime Grade
- F (10/10)
- District of Columbia Grade
- A (1/10)
- Violent crime rate
- 745.5 / 100k
- National rank
- #3,559 of 3,771
- DC rank
- #1 of 1
- Safer than
- 6% of U.S. cities
- Year over year
- down 20%
- 5-year change
- up 101%
- Population
- 693,645
- Reporting agency
- Washington Police Department
- Data year
- 2025 · FBI UCR
Reported by Washington Police Department (FBI ORI DCMPD0000) to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Download the full dataset (CSV) · methodology.
About Washington, DC
Also known as
- Federal Capital
- Federal City
- Rome
- Ranatakariáhshne
- Territory of Columbia
- Nations Capital
History
In 1791, city commissioners Thomas Jefferson, Daniel Carroll and David Stewart informed architect Pierre L'Enfant that the Federal City would be called "The City of Washington" for President George Washington. (DC-163/p186). The variant name, "Ranatakariáhshne", is a Mohawk name which translates to: "Place of the village destroyer".
Name history sourced from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) — public-domain federal geographic-names data.
Violent crime rate, 5-year trend
Per 100,000 residents. Washington (red), District of Columbia (blue), U.S. average (gray dashed).
Washington vs. U.S., 2025 — by offense
Rates per 100,000 residents for each offense category.
Full data, last 5 years
Rates per 100,000 residents. Raw counts in parentheses.
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | 371.6(2,490) | 750.4(5,041) | 1052.6(7,147) | 935.4(6,569) | 745.5(5,171) |
| Murder | 17.3(116) | 30.8(207) | 39.3(267) | 25.8(181) | 16.6(115) |
| Rape | 19.3(129) | 45.1(303) | 41.1(279) | 35.5(249) | 23.2(161) |
| Robbery | 150.6(1,009) | 324.4(2,179) | 558.6(3,793) | 442.2(3,105) | 316.3(2,194) |
| Aggravated assault | 184.5(1,236) | 350.1(2,352) | 413.6(2,808) | 432.0(3,034) | 389.4(2,701) |
| Property crime | 1704.5(11,421) | 3501.5(23,523) | 4166.3(28,288) | 3620.2(25,423) | 3060.4(21,228) |
| Burglary | 114.8(769) | 201.5(1,354) | 245.4(1,666) | 241.9(1,699) | 192.7(1,337) |
| Larceny | 1336.5(8,955) | 2731.9(18,353) | 2909.7(19,756) | 2613.7(18,355) | 2219.1(15,393) |
| Motor vehicle theft | 252.8(1,694) | 568.0(3,816) | 1011.1(6,865) | 764.5(5,369) | 648.5(4,498) |
How the Crime Grade is calculated
- What is the source of the Washington, DC Crime Grade?
- FBI Uniform Crime Reporting via the Crime Data Explorer. Agency-level data, pulled directly. No third-party aggregators, no proprietary score.
- What metric does the Washington Crime Grade use?
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 residents (murder + rape + robbery + aggravated assault), most recent fully-reported year.
- How is the national decile for Washington calculated?
- Washington's rate placed against all FBI-reporting U.S. cities with population ≥ 25,000. 1 = safest.
- How is the District of Columbia state decile calculated?
- Same calculation restricted to District of Columbia cities with population ≥ 10,000.
- How do decile scores convert to a letter grade?
- 1–3 = A · 4–5 = B · 6–7 = C · 8 = D · 9–10 = F.
- How often is the Washington Crime Grade refreshed?
- Twice a year. The FBI typically releases the prior year's full data each September.
- What are the limits of this Crime Grade?
- The FBI relies on local agency reporting. Rates reflect what was reported, not what occurred.
Compare Washington to other places
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