Bowie is a city of 82,000 in Prince George's County, about 16 miles east of downtown Washington · Updated November 2026
Is Bowie, MD safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Bowie is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Bowie sits near the middle: 41% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 59% in neighborhoods with less. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A against B. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Bowie run from A to B, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 788 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
41% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Bowie as a whole, and 59% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Bowie scores 788.
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 Bowie, MD at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Bowie, 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 Bowie
Robberies run high for an A-graded city. Bowie has 0.55 robberies a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.13.
Aggravated assaults and simple assaults both run low. In Bowie, each runs at less than half the US rate: 0.95 aggravated assaults and 4.3 simple assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 and 9.7 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Bowie
Every part of Bowie where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Bowie run from A to B; 18% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Bowie, the northwest side has the least crime and the southeast side the most.
Is crime going up in Bowie?
Reported crime in Bowie has risen since 2019: violent crime is up 85% and property crime up 44%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.0 to 1.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 16 to 22 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime rose 19%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
BowieUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Bowie. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Bowie
Violent, US
Property, Bowie
Property, US
2016
-6%
+4%
-15%
+15%
2017
+37%
+4%
-15%
+12%
2018
+35%
+0%
-8%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+12%
+4%
-34%
-8%
2021
+34%
+6%
-25%
-10%
2022
+33%
+5%
-14%
-6%
2023
+98%
+2%
+21%
-7%
2024
+85%
-4%
+44%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Bowie
CrimeGrade™ estimates Bowie has about 33 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 12% less than the US as a whole and 21% 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 Bowie is theft, about 42% 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.
Where and when crime happens in Bowie
Bowie has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Bowie, 39% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 50% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (52%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (48%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (50%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (41%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (42%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (48%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Bowie compares with nearby cities
Bowie has less crime than 6 of its 8 nearest cities; only Crofton and Glenn Dale have less.
Two things set Bowie apart: it has 1.9% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 6.4 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places like that tend to report less burglary, vandalism and arson, yet vandalism runs higher here than that would suggest.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.1.9% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 96% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.6.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 85% 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. 93% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (10 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 77% of US city residents
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.25 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 79% of US city residents
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 Bowie: F (5 of 100).6 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 74% 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.6% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 71% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Bowie on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 Bowie
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Bowie about $947 a year per household, 21% 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 $67 million a year, or $820 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$3.7 million
$45
Rape
$1.4 million
$17
Robbery
$1.4 million
$17
Assault
$4.8 million
$58
Burglary
$920,000
$11
Theft
$5.8 million
$71
Vehicle theft
$4.3 million
$52
Arson
$32,000
under $1
Vandalism
$4.7 million
$57
Total
$27 million
$328
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 Bowie 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 Bowie, MD average a SchoolGrade of C: 33% of students test proficient, against 26% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Bowie on SchoolGrade
