Upper Northwood is a neighborhood of 17,700 residents in Baltimore, about 5 miles north of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Upper Northwood in Baltimore safe?
Crime in Upper Northwood is high, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of F. Most US neighborhoods have far less: 94% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Upper Northwood. Violent and property crime both grade F here. Baltimore as a whole grades F. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Upper Northwood run from C- to F, so check the map below.
F
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 0 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
6% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Upper Northwood as a whole, and 94% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Upper Northwood scores 0.
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 Upper Northwood, Baltimore, MD at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Upper Northwood in Baltimore, 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 Upper Northwood
Burglary is a strength. Upper Northwood grades F for property crime, but burglary grades A.
Thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Baltimore as a whole, 72% of reported thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks, against 18% nationally.
How Upper Northwood compares within Baltimore
High crime is widespread across Upper Northwood: 94% of residents live in areas graded D or F, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Upper Northwood run from C- to F; every part of Upper Northwood has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
94%
C 6%D or F 94%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Upper Northwood has less crime than 29 of the 55 neighborhoods in Baltimore. It covers much of the Upper Northwood, Hamilton Area, and Frankford areas.
Is crime going up in Baltimore?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Baltimore as a whole is down 14%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 19 to 16 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 43 to 42 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 19%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
BaltimoreUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Baltimore. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Baltimore
Violent, US
Property, Baltimore
Property, US
2016
-4%
+4%
+11%
+15%
2017
+9%
+4%
+14%
+12%
2018
-1%
+0%
+4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-14%
+4%
-27%
-8%
2021
-8%
+6%
-34%
-10%
2022
-8%
+5%
-22%
-6%
2023
-10%
+2%
+18%
-7%
2024
-14%
-4%
-4%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Upper Northwood
CrimeGrade™ estimates Upper Northwood has about 55 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 48% more than the US as a whole and 39% less than Baltimore 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.
Assault is the most common crime in Upper Northwood, about 29% 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 Baltimore
The Baltimore Police Department polices Upper Northwood; these figures cover Baltimore as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Baltimore as a whole, 70% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (70%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (72%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (72%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (44%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (58%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (49%)
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 Upper Northwood compares with nearby neighborhoods
Of the 10 neighborhoods closest to Upper Northwood, 8 have less crime. Rodgers Forge and Homeland have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Upper Northwood. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, Upper Northwood has more crime than 80% of them.
Shops, tree cover and walkability in Upper Northwood
Two things set Upper Northwood apart: it has 2.0 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 90% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places with few stores and restaurants tend to report less theft and car theft, yet theft and car theft run higher here than that would suggest.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft and car theft.2.0 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 95% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Tree coverThe share of land under tree canopy where people live. Leafy neighborhoods tend to report less robbery.19% where people liveUS: 21%Higher 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. 82% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (20 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 72% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.90% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 74% 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 Upper Northwood
Crime costs Upper Northwood about $2,195 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 82% more 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 $66 million a year, or $3,710 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 Upper Northwood 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. Upper Northwood is the other kind of example: few people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks lower 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
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 Upper Northwood, Baltimore, MD average a SchoolGrade of F: 20% of students test proficient, against 18% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Upper Northwood on SchoolGrade
