The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Alexandria City, VA
Alexandria is an independent city of 157,000 residents, outside any county · Updated November 2026
Is Alexandria City, VA safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, Alexandria City has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 65% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A- against B-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Alexandria City run from A to D, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 742 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
35% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Alexandria City as a whole, and 65% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Alexandria City scores 742.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Alexandria City, VA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Alexandria City, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Alexandria City
Burglaries are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Alexandria City runs 31% above the US rate, but burglaries run at less than half that rate: 0.95 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.4 nationally.
Aggravated assaults are less common than in most B-graded counties. Alexandria City has 1.4 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US county, the figure is 3.1.
Car thefts happen in parking lots and garages far more often than nationally. In Alexandria City, 59% of reported car thefts happen in parking lots and garages, against 23% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Alexandria City
Most of Alexandria City grades well: 90% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 1% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Alexandria City run from A to D; 4% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
90%
A or B 90%C 9%D or F 1%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Across the county, the south side has the least crime and the southeast side the most.
Is crime going up in Alexandria City?
Reported crime in Alexandria City has risen since 2019: violent crime is up 14% and property crime up 64%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.9 to 2.2 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 16 to 26 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 13%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Alexandria CityUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across Alexandria City. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Alexandria City
Violent, US
Property, Alexandria City
Property, US
2016
-2%
+4%
+16%
+15%
2017
-9%
+4%
+1%
+12%
2018
-12%
+0%
+1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+1%
+4%
+12%
-8%
2021
+16%
+6%
+11%
-10%
2022
-3%
+5%
+22%
-6%
2023
+30%
+2%
+54%
-7%
2024
+14%
-4%
+64%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Alexandria City
CrimeGrade™ estimates Alexandria City has about 49 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 31% more than the US as a whole and 42% more than Virginia.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Theft is the most common crime in Alexandria City, about 47% of everything reported, but assault costs more, because each one does more harm.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Alexandria City
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across Alexandria City, 2022 to 2024.
In Alexandria City, 50% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 62% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (50%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (59%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (62%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (35%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (28%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (37%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Alexandria City compares with nearby counties
Of the 10 counties closest to Alexandria City, 9 have less crime. Falls Church City and Fairfax City have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Alexandria City. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Night lighting, transit and walkability in Alexandria City
Two things set Alexandria City apart: it has 43 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby, and 77% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft and robbery, and they run high here.
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 99% of Americans
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Alexandria City: C- (30 of 100).43 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 97% of Americans
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft.B- (49 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 94% of Americans
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.77% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 96% of Americans
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.51 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 71% of Americans
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.9.9 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 61% of Americans
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Alexandria City
Crime costs Alexandria City about $831 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 31% less than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $63 million a year.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost rises to about $121 million a year, or $773 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$4.0 million
$25
Rape
$780,000
$5
Robbery
$3.5 million
$22
Assault
$19 million
$121
Burglary
$1.3 million
$9
Theft
$18 million
$117
Vehicle theft
$5.8 million
$37
Arson
$89,000
$1
Vandalism
$10 million
$65
Total
$63 million
$401
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Alexandria City means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Alexandria City, VA average a SchoolGrade of D: 63% of students test proficient, against 45% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Alexandria City on SchoolGrade
