The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Fairfax, VA
Fairfax is a city of 132,100 in Fairfax County, about 15 miles west of downtown Washington · Updated November 2026
Is Fairfax, VA safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A means crime in Fairfax is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Fairfax sits near the middle: 59% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 41% in neighborhoods with less. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A against A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Fairfax run from A+ to B+, so check the map or the safest and least safe neighborhoods below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 875 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
59% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Fairfax as a whole, and 41% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Fairfax scores 875.
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 Fairfax, VA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Fairfax, 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 Fairfax
Burglary is a strength. Fairfax grades A- for property crime, but burglary grades A+, better than in the neighborhoods where 79% of Americans live.
Thefts run above the US rate. Fairfax has less crime than the US as a whole, 16% below the US rate, but more thefts: 17.4 a year per 1,000 residents, against 13.1 nationally.
Car thefts run high in Merrifield. In this part of northeast Fairfax, they run at about double the rate in the rest of Fairfax.
The safest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Fairfax
Every part of Fairfax where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Fairfax run from A+ to B+; 81% 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.
1Maple Hill, southCar thefts run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Fairfax.A908
2Mantua, eastThefts run about 30% lower here than in the rest of Fairfax.A899
3Merrifield, northeastRobberies run about 40% higher here than in the rest of Fairfax.A850
4Country Club Hills & Fairfax Woods, centralCar thefts run about 30% higher here than in the rest of Fairfax.A-840
Neighborhood areas of Fairfax, 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 Fairfax
CrimeGrade™ estimates Fairfax has about 31 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 16% less than the US as a whole and close to 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 is the most common crime in Fairfax, about 56% of everything reported, and it also accounts for 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 Fairfax
Fairfax has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Fairfax, 35% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 68% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (57%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (61%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (68%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (30%)
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 Fairfax compares with nearby cities
Fairfax has more crime than 8 of its 10 nearest cities. Wolf Trap and Clifton have the least crime nearby.
Two things set Fairfax apart: it has 1.7% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 14 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. 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.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.1.7% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 97% 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 Fairfax: D+ (20 of 100).14 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 89% 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. 71% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (24 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 71% of US city residents
Show all 6
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.9 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 79% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.58 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 73% 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.31% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 69% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Fairfax 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 Fairfax
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Fairfax about $685 a year per household, 43% less than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $31 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 $58 million a year, or $442 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.2 million
$17
Rape
$900,000
$7
Robbery
$1.2 million
$9
Assault
$8.9 million
$67
Burglary
$540,000
$4
Theft
$12 million
$90
Vehicle theft
$2.1 million
$16
Arson
$22,000
under $1
Vandalism
$3.7 million
$28
Total
$31 million
$238
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 Fairfax 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 Fairfax, VA average a SchoolGrade of A: 81% of students test proficient, against 61% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Fairfax on SchoolGrade
