Washington Heights is a neighborhood of 157,500 residents in Manhattan, about 10 miles north of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Washington Heights in Manhattan safe?
Washington Heights is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of D+, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 90% of Americans live. Violent crime grades C+ and property crime F. Manhattan as a whole grades C+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Washington Heights run from A+ to F, so check the map below.
D+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 234 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
10% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Washington Heights as a whole, and 90% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Washington Heights scores 234.
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 Washington Heights, Manhattan, NY at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Washington Heights in Manhattan, 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 Washington Heights
Burglary is a strength. Washington Heights grades F for property crime, but burglary grades A.
Thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Manhattan as a whole, 79% of reported thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks, against 18% nationally.
Robberies run high. Washington Heights has robberies at about triple the US rate: 2.1 a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 nationally.
How Washington Heights compares within Manhattan
High crime is widespread across Washington Heights: 68% of residents live in areas graded D or F, and 12% in areas graded A or B. Grades across Washington Heights run from A+ to F; 5% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
12%20%68%
A or B 12%C 20%D or F 68%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Washington Heights has less crime than 5 of the 30 neighborhoods in Manhattan. It covers much of the Washington Heights, Harlem, and Hamilton Heights areas.
Is crime going up in Manhattan?
Reported crime in Manhattan as a whole has risen since 2019: violent crime is up 15% and property crime up 58%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 5.7 to 6.6 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 15 to 23 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
ManhattanUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Manhattan. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Manhattan
Violent, US
Property, Manhattan
Property, US
2016
+1%
+4%
+1%
+15%
2017
-4%
+4%
+1%
+12%
2018
-4%
+0%
+4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-4%
+4%
+1%
-8%
2021
+10%
+6%
+8%
-10%
2022
+28%
+5%
+44%
-6%
2023
+15%
+2%
+61%
-7%
2024
+15%
-4%
+58%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Washington Heights
CrimeGrade™ estimates Washington Heights has about 58 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 56% more than the US as a whole and 20% less than Manhattan 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 Washington Heights, about 43% of everything reported, and it also accounts for 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 Manhattan
The New York City Police Department polices Washington Heights; these figures cover New York as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In New York as a whole, 50% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (50%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (79%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (79%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (45%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (50%)
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 Washington Heights compares with nearby neighborhoods
Washington Heights has less crime than 7 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Washington Heights. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, Washington Heights has more crime than 61% of them.
Density, transit and walkability in Washington Heights
Two things set Washington Heights apart: it has 100% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally, and 113 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. Places like that tend to report more robbery and car theft, and they run high here.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.100% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 98% 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 Washington Heights: B (59 of 100).113 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 97% 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. 96% of residents here live in walkable areas.A+ (93 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 95% 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.0.1 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 87% 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 Washington Heights
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Washington Heights about $1,674 a year per household, 39% more than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $98 million a year.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost rises to about $277 million a year, or $1,760 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 Washington Heights 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
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 Washington Heights, Manhattan, NY average a SchoolGrade of D: 46% of students test proficient, against 33% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Washington Heights on SchoolGrade
