Seminary Hill is a neighborhood of 21,700 residents in Alexandria, about 4 miles west of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Seminary Hill in Alexandria safe?
Yes, crime in Seminary Hill is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-. Because most US neighborhoods are safe as well, Seminary Hill sits near the middle: safer than the neighborhoods where 40% of Americans live. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A against B. Alexandria as a whole grades B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Seminary Hill run from A to B-, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 783 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
40% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Seminary Hill as a whole, and 60% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Seminary Hill scores 783.
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 Seminary Hill, Alexandria, VA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Seminary Hill in Alexandria, 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 Seminary Hill
Burglary is a strength. Seminary Hill grades B for property crime, but burglary grades A, better than in the neighborhoods where 65% of Americans live.
Car thefts happen in parking lots and garages far more often than nationally. In Alexandria as a whole, 59% of reported car thefts happen in parking lots and garages, against 23% nationally.
How Seminary Hill compares within Alexandria
Every part of Seminary Hill where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Seminary Hill run from A to B-; 4% 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.
Seminary Hill has less crime than 10 of the 15 neighborhoods in Alexandria. It covers much of the Alexandria Wrest and Seminary Hill areas and the Landmark-Van Dom area.
Is crime going up in Alexandria?
Reported crime in Alexandria as a whole has risen since 2019: violent crime is up 15% and property crime up 65%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.9 to 2.1 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 16 to 26 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 12%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
AlexandriaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Alexandria. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Alexandria
Violent, US
Property, Alexandria
Property, US
2016
-1%
+4%
+16%
+15%
2017
-9%
+4%
+1%
+12%
2018
-10%
+0%
+1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+1%
+4%
+13%
-8%
2021
+18%
+6%
+11%
-10%
2022
-1%
+5%
+22%
-6%
2023
+31%
+2%
+54%
-7%
2024
+15%
-4%
+64%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Seminary Hill
CrimeGrade™ estimates Seminary Hill has about 44 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 19% more than the US as a whole and close to Alexandria as a whole.
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 47% of crime reported in Seminary Hill. 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 Alexandria
The Alexandria Police Department polices Seminary Hill; these figures cover Alexandria as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Alexandria as a whole, 50% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 62% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (50%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (59%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (62%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (35%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (28%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (37%)
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 Seminary Hill compares with nearby neighborhoods
Seminary Hill has less crime than 7 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Tree cover, transit and walkability in Seminary Hill
Two things set Seminary Hill apart: it has 30 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby, and 5.1 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery, and they run high here.
Tree coverThe share of land under tree canopy where people live. Leafy neighborhoods tend to report less robbery.25% where people liveUS: 21%Higher than for 86% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Seminary Hill: C- (27 of 100).30 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 78% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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. 66% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C- (29 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 58% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft and car theft.5.1 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 78% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Seminary Hill
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Seminary Hill about $806 a year per household, 33% 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 $15 million a year, or $703 per resident.
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 Seminary Hill 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. Seminary Hill is a good example: many people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks worse 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 Seminary Hill, Alexandria, VA average a SchoolGrade of D: 63% of students test proficient, against 44% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Seminary Hill on SchoolGrade
