The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Atlanta, GA
The Atlanta metro area, the eighth-largest in the US, is home to 6.26 million residents; Atlanta itself is the capital and largest city of Georgia · Updated November 2026
Is Atlanta, GA safe?
Crime in the Atlanta area is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 63% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than the Atlanta area. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, A- against B+. The city of Atlanta itself grades C. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within the Atlanta area run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 755 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
37% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than the Atlanta area as a whole, and 63% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Atlanta area scores 755.
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 Atlanta, GA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Atlanta area, 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 the Atlanta area
One part of Atlanta stands out for robbery. Robberies in Thomasville & Ormewood Park-East Atlanta, in southeast Atlanta, run at about triple the rate in the rest of the city.
Car thefts happen at homes more often than nationally. In the Atlanta area, 53% of reported car thefts happen at homes, against 33% nationally.
The safest and most dangerous places in the Atlanta area
Most of the Atlanta area grades well: 81% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 12% in areas graded D or F. Grades across the Atlanta area run from A+ to F; 53% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
81%12%
A or B 81%C 7%D or F 12%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhoods of Atlanta
1Buckhead & Midtown Atlanta, northAggravated assaults run at a small fraction of the rate in the rest of Atlanta.A-770
Neighborhood areas of the city of Atlanta, ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Cities and towns in the Atlanta metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Across the area, the Marietta, Roswell, and Sandy Springs areas have the least crime and the downtown Atlanta area the most.
Crime rates and types in the Atlanta area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Atlanta area has about 36 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about the same as the US as a whole and close to Georgia.
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 makes up about 37% of crime reported in the Atlanta area. Assault is less common but 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 the Atlanta area
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across the Atlanta area, 2022 to 2024.
In the Atlanta area, 58% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 41% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (58%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (53%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (41%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (55%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (34%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (60%)
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 the Atlanta area compares with nearby metro areas
Of the 10 metro areas closest to the Atlanta area, 8 have less crime. The Knoxville area and the Greenville area have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Atlanta area. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Atlanta area is safer than 62% of them.
Density, empty homes and night lighting in the Atlanta area
One thing sets the Atlanta area apart: it has 12% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report less robbery and car theft, yet robbery and car theft run higher here than that would suggest.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.12% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 73% of Americans in metro areas
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary.6.8% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 66% of Americans in metro areas
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.83% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 65% of Americans in metro areas
Show all 4
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for the Atlanta area: D- (8 of 100).4 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 54% of Americans in metro areas
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 the Atlanta area
Crime costs the Atlanta area about $1,315 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 9% more than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $2.98 billion 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 $10.76 billion a year, or $1,719 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$855 million
$137
Rape
$115 million
$18
Robbery
$95 million
$15
Assault
$891 million
$142
Burglary
$107 million
$17
Theft
$425 million
$68
Vehicle theft
$269 million
$43
Arson
$7.1 million
$1
Vandalism
$213 million
$34
Total
$2.98 billion
$476
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 the Atlanta area 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. These figures cover the whole Atlanta metro area. 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 the Atlanta area average a SchoolGrade of B-: 41% of students test proficient, against 42% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in the Atlanta area on SchoolGrade
