Brentwood is a town of 3,940 in Prince George's County, about 5 miles northeast of downtown Washington · Updated November 2026
Is Brentwood, MD safe?
Crime in Brentwood is high by national standards, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of C. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 85% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Brentwood. Violent crime grades C and property crime C-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Brentwood run from C+ to F, so check the map below.
C
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 401 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
15% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Brentwood as a whole, and 85% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Brentwood scores 401.
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 Brentwood, MD at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Brentwood, 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 Brentwood
Theft is a strength. Brentwood grades C- for property crime, but theft grades A-, better than in the neighborhoods where 51% of Americans live.
Crime rates and types in Brentwood
CrimeGrade™ estimates Brentwood has about 28 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 25% less than the US as a whole and 32% 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.
Vandalism is the most common crime in Brentwood, about 37% of everything reported.
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 Brentwood
Brentwood has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
Car thefts happen most often in parking lots and garages: 45% of them, against 23% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (45%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (34%)
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 Brentwood compares with nearby cities
Brentwood has less crime than 5 of its 9 nearest cities.
Parking lots, walkability and night lighting in Brentwood
Two things set Brentwood apart: it has 0.2 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and a Walk Grade of B+ (64 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. Places with little parking-lot space tend to report less theft; here theft sits near the national middle.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 96% 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.B+ (64 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 95% 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
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.16 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 92% 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 Brentwood: C- (26 of 100).18 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 91% 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.65% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 89% 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 Brentwood
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Brentwood about $1,612 a year per household, 34% more 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 $8.1 million a year, or $2,060 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$700,000
$179
Rape
$120,000
$30
Robbery
$200,000
$50
Assault
$300,000
$77
Burglary
$38,000
$10
Theft
$100,000
$27
Vehicle theft
$270,000
$69
Arson
$14,000
$4
Vandalism
$290,000
$74
Total
$2.0 million
$518
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 Brentwood 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. Brentwood is the other kind of example: few people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks lower than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
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 Brentwood, MD average a SchoolGrade of F: 17% of students test proficient, against 18% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Brentwood on SchoolGrade
