The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Bethesda, MD
Bethesda is an unincorporated community of 68,000 in Montgomery County, about 8 miles northwest of downtown Washington · Updated November 2026
Is Bethesda, MD safe?
Yes. Most US neighborhoods have little crime, and Bethesda has less than most of them: its overall CrimeGrade™ is A, safer than the neighborhoods where 63% of Americans live. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A+ against A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Bethesda run from A+ to C-, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 889 of 1,000Safer than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
63% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Bethesda as a whole, and 37% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Bethesda scores 889.
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 Bethesda, MD at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Bethesda, 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 Bethesda
Vehicle theft stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.93 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; Bethesda has 1.8.
Aggravated assaults and simple assaults both run low. In Bethesda, each runs at a small fraction of the US rate: 0.40 aggravated assaults and 2.8 simple assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 and 9.7 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Bethesda
Low crime is the norm across Bethesda: 97% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Bethesda run from A+ to C-; 82% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
97%
A or B 97%C 3%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Bethesda, the northeast side has the least crime and the southeast side the most.
Crime rates and types in Bethesda
CrimeGrade™ estimates Bethesda has about 23 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 38% less than the US as a whole and 44% less than Maryland.
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.
The largest share of crime reported in Bethesda is theft, about 62% of the total. It also makes up the largest share of what crime costs here.
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.
How Bethesda compares with nearby cities
Bethesda has less crime than 4 of its 5 nearest cities; only Cabin John has less.
Two things set Bethesda apart: it has 100 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 0.4 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. It also combines many jobs with busy transit: places with both tend to report more theft and robbery than places with only one of them; here theft and robbery sit near the national middle.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.100 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 96% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.4 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 93% of US city residents
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 and assault. 68% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (31 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 81% of US city residents
Show all 6
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 Bethesda: C- (25 of 100).23 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 92% of US city residents
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 92% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.27% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 65% of US city residents
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 Bethesda
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Bethesda about $511 a year per household, 58% less than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $28 million a year, or $419 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1,000,000
$15
Rape
$1.0 million
$15
Robbery
$670,000
$10
Aggravated assault
$770,000
$11
Simple assault
$1.4 million
$20
Burglary
$700,000
$10
Theft
$5.0 million
$73
Vehicle theft
$1.8 million
$27
Arson
$13,000
under $1
Vandalism
$1.0 million
$15
Total
$13 million
$197
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 Bethesda 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 Bethesda, MD average a SchoolGrade of A+: 64% of students test proficient, against 59% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Bethesda on SchoolGrade
