Virginia-Highland is a neighborhood of 14,900 residents in Atlanta, about 3 miles northeast of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Virginia-Highland in Atlanta safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, Virginia-Highland has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 62% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A against B-. Atlanta as a whole grades C. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Virginia-Highland run from A to B-, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 767 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
38% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Virginia-Highland as a whole, and 62% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Virginia-Highland scores 767.
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 Virginia-Highland, Atlanta, GA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Virginia-Highland in Atlanta, 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 Virginia-Highland
Burglary is a strength. Virginia-Highland grades B- for property crime, but burglary grades A, better than in the neighborhoods where 53% of Americans live.
Simple assault runs low. Virginia-Highland has 2.6 simple assaults a year per 1,000 residents, a small fraction of the US rate of 9.7.
How Virginia-Highland compares within Atlanta
Every part of Virginia-Highland where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Virginia-Highland run from A to B-; 24% 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.
Virginia-Highland has less crime than 31 of the 35 neighborhoods in Atlanta. It covers much of the Morningside-Lenox Park, Virginia-Highland, and Plymouth Colony areas.
Crime rates and types in Virginia-Highland
CrimeGrade™ estimates Virginia-Highland has about 19 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 48% less than the US as a whole and 69% less than Atlanta 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 41% of crime reported in Virginia-Highland. Vehicle theft 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 Atlanta
The Atlanta Police Department polices Virginia-Highland; these figures cover Atlanta as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Atlanta as a whole, 63% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 42% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (63%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (55%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (42%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (43%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Homes (34%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (58%)
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 Virginia-Highland compares with nearby neighborhoods
Virginia-Highland has the least crime of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Virginia-Highland. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, Virginia-Highland is safer than 68% of them.
Tree cover, nightlife and walkability in Virginia-Highland
Two things set Virginia-Highland apart: it has tree cover over 35% of the land where people live, against 21% nationally, and 1.5 bars and nightlife spots for every 1,000 residents, against 0.6 nationally. Places with a lot of tree cover tend to report less robbery.
Tree coverThe share of land under tree canopy where people live. Leafy neighborhoods tend to report less robbery.35% where people liveUS: 21%Higher than for 95% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.1.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 88% 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.B- (54 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 67% 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.0.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 77% 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 Virginia-Highland
Crime costs Virginia-Highland about $444 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 63% 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 $8.2 million a year, or $550 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 Virginia-Highland 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 Virginia-Highland, Atlanta, GA average a SchoolGrade of A: 54% of students test proficient, against 58% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Virginia-Highland on SchoolGrade
