The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Falls Church, VA
Falls Church is a city of 58,900 in Fairfax County, about 7 miles west of downtown Washington · Updated November 2026
Is Falls Church, VA safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Falls Church is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Falls Church sits near the middle: 46% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 54% in neighborhoods with less. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A against B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Falls Church run from A to C+, so check the map or the safest and least safe neighborhoods below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 818 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
46% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Falls Church as a whole, and 54% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Falls Church scores 818.
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 Falls Church, VA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Falls Church, 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 Falls Church
Robbery stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.13 robberies a year per 1,000 residents; Falls Church has 0.59.
Burglary is a strength. Falls Church grades B+ for property crime, but burglary grades A+, better than in the neighborhoods where 74% of Americans live.
The safest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Falls Church
Most of Falls Church grades well: 95% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Falls Church run from A to C+; 53% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
95%
A or B 95%C 5%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
1Madison Condominium, Hillwood-Buffalo Park & Larchmont Terrace, centralThefts run at about half the rate in the rest of Falls Church.A876
2Pimmit Hills, northwestActs of vandalism run about 30% lower here than in the rest of Falls Church.A868
3Merrifield, southwestThefts run about 30% lower here than in the rest of Falls Church.A867
Neighborhood areas of Falls Church, 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 Falls Church
CrimeGrade™ estimates Falls Church has about 36 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about the same as 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.
The largest share of crime reported in Falls Church is theft, about 49% 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 Falls Church
Falls Church has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 75% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (47%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (75%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (38%)
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 Falls Church compares with nearby cities
Falls Church has more crime than 6 of its 10 nearest cities. McLean and Woodburn have the least crime nearby.
Night lighting, transit and walkability in Falls Church
Two things set Falls Church apart: it has 21 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby, and 0.6 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery, and they run high here.
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
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 Falls Church: D (13 of 100).21 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 92% 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.C+ (42 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 88% 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.0.6 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 89% 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.50% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 83% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.14.1 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 82% 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 Falls Church
Crime costs Falls Church about $841 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 30% 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 $36 million a year, or $605 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.4 million
$23
Rape
$540,000
$9
Robbery
$1.1 million
$18
Assault
$5.3 million
$90
Burglary
$290,000
$5
Theft
$5.4 million
$91
Vehicle theft
$1.2 million
$20
Arson
$15,000
under $1
Vandalism
$2.4 million
$41
Total
$18 million
$298
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 Falls Church 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 Falls Church, VA average a SchoolGrade of B-: 74% of students test proficient, against 52% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Falls Church on SchoolGrade
