The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Charlottesville, VA
Charlottesville is a city of 114,900 in Albemarle County and the main city of the Charlottesville metro area, home to 224,300 · Updated November 2026
Is Charlottesville, VA safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Charlottesville is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Charlottesville sits near the middle: 50% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 50% in neighborhoods with less. Violent crime grades A and property crime A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Charlottesville run from A+ to C+, so check the map or the safest and least safe neighborhoods below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 839 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
50% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Charlottesville as a whole, and 50% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Charlottesville scores 839.
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 Charlottesville, VA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Charlottesville, 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 Charlottesville
One part of Charlottesville stands out for vehicle theft. Car thefts in Venable, 10th and Page & North Downtown, in central Charlottesville, run at more than triple the rate in the rest of the city.
Theft stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 8.3 thefts a year per 1,000 residents; Charlottesville has 19.3.
The safest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Charlottesville
Low crime is the norm across Charlottesville: 98% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Charlottesville run from A+ to C+; 46% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
98%
A or B 98%C 2%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
1Jefferson Park, Brsc & Lewis Mountain, westAggravated assaults run at about half the rate in the rest of Charlottesville.A882
2Greenbrier, northeastBurglaries run at about half the rate in the rest of Charlottesville.A877
3Woolen Mills, southeastThefts run about 30% lower here than in the rest of Charlottesville.A872
4Fry Springs, southwestCar thefts run about 30% lower here than in the rest of Charlottesville.A869
5North East, Locust Grove & Martha Jefferson, eastThefts run about 30% higher here than in the rest of Charlottesville.A-825
6Belmont-Charlottesville, Ridge St & Fifeville, southAggravated assaults run about 80% higher here than in the rest of Charlottesville.B+766
7The Meadows & Westfield, northSimple assaults run at about double the rate in the rest of Charlottesville.B+743
8Venable, 10th and Page & North Downtown, centralBurglaries run at about triple the rate in the rest of Charlottesville.B+722
Neighborhood areas of Charlottesville, 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.
Crime rates and types in Charlottesville
CrimeGrade™ estimates Charlottesville has about 44 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 18% more than the US as a whole and 28% 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 makes up about 44% of crime reported in Charlottesville. 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 Charlottesville
Charlottesville has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Charlottesville, 65% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 39% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (65%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (34%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (39%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (34%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (38%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (38%)
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 Charlottesville compares with nearby cities
Charlottesville has the most crime of its 4 nearest cities.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Charlottesville. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Charlottesville is safer than 67% of them.
Two things set Charlottesville apart: it has 74 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 15.3 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 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, and theft runs high here.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.74 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 89% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.15.3 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 88% 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. 72% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (24 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 71% 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 Charlottesville: F (3 of 100).7 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 77% 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.75% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 75% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.1.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 67% 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 Charlottesville
Crime costs Charlottesville about $977 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 19% less than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $45 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 $107 million a year, or $933 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$4.5 million
$39
Rape
$2.4 million
$21
Robbery
$1.2 million
$10
Assault
$15 million
$126
Burglary
$1.4 million
$12
Theft
$11 million
$99
Vehicle theft
$3.3 million
$28
Arson
$170,000
$1
Vandalism
$6.1 million
$53
Total
$45 million
$391
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 Charlottesville 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 Charlottesville, VA average a SchoolGrade of B-: 74% of students test proficient, against 49% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Charlottesville on SchoolGrade
