The Fan is a neighborhood of 12,500 residents in Richmond, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
Is The Fan in Richmond safe?
The Fan is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of D+, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 89% of Americans live. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, B against F. Richmond as a whole grades C. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within The Fan run from C+ to F, so check the map below.
D+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 277 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
11% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than The Fan as a whole, and 89% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Fan scores 277.
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 The Fan, Richmond, VA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in The Fan in Richmond, 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 The Fan
Aggravated assaults are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in The Fan runs 79% above the US rate, but aggravated assaults run 36% below it: 1.7 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Car thefts run high. The Fan has car thefts at about triple the US rate: 7.7 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
How The Fan compares within Richmond
High crime is widespread across The Fan: 79% of residents live in areas graded D or F, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across The Fan run from C+ to F; every part of The Fan has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
21%79%
C 21%D or F 79%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
The Fan has less crime than 10 of the 20 neighborhoods in Richmond. It covers much of the Fan, Museum District, and VCU areas.
Crime rates and types in The Fan
CrimeGrade™ estimates The Fan has about 66 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 79% more than the US as a whole and close to Richmond 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 is the most common crime in The Fan, about 45% 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 Richmond
The Richmond Police Department polices The Fan; these figures cover Richmond as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Richmond as a whole, 67% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 44% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (67%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (48%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (44%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (33%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (33%)
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 The Fan compares with nearby neighborhoods
The Fan has more crime than 6 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods. Bellevue and VCU have the least crime nearby.
Two things set The Fan apart: it has 2.2 bars and nightlife spots for every 1,000 residents, against 0.6 nationally, and a Walk Grade of A (90 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report more assault and robbery, and robbery runs high here.
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.2.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 93% 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. 99% of residents here live in walkable areas.A (90 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 91% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft and car theft.21.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 90% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
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 84% 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 The Fan
Crime costs The Fan about $1,199 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, about the same as 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 $26 million a year, or $2,082 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 The Fan 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 The Fan, Richmond, VA average a SchoolGrade of D-: 65% of students test proficient, against 40% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in The Fan on SchoolGrade
