Washington Heights, Manhattan, NY Violent Crime Rates and Maps
Washington Heights is a neighborhood of 157,500 residents in Manhattan, about 10 miles north of downtown · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in Washington Heights?
Violent crime is high in Washington Heights: a C+, with more violent crime than the neighborhoods where 86% of Americans live. Assaults make up 91% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. Manhattan as a whole grades B+ for violent crime.
C+
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 477 of 1,000More violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
14% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than Washington Heights as a whole, and 86% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. Washington Heights scores 477.
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 violent crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its violent crime with the people who spend time there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy downtown or nightlife strip can show red while the homes around it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a solid 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 about violent crime in Washington Heights
Robbery at about triple the US rate. Washington Heights has 2.1 robberies a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 nationally.
How Washington Heights compares within Manhattan
In Washington Heights, 46% of residents live in areas graded A or B for violent crime, 36% in areas graded C and 18% in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across Washington Heights run from A+ to F.
46%36%18%
A or B 46%C 36%D or F 18%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Washington Heights has less violent crime than 5 of the 30 neighborhoods in Manhattan. It covers much of the Washington Heights, Harlem, and Hamilton Heights areas.
Is violent crime going up in Manhattan?
Reported violent crime in Manhattan as a whole has risen 15% since 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 5.7 to 6.6 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). Violent crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Violent 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
2016
+1%
+4%
2017
-4%
+4%
2018
-4%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-4%
+4%
2021
+10%
+6%
2022
+28%
+5%
2023
+15%
+2%
2024
+15%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in Washington Heights
CrimeGrade™ estimates Washington Heights has about 27 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about double the rate for the US as a whole and close to Manhattan as a whole.
All violent crime
Assaults
Robbery
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Violent crime here includes simple assaults, which the FBI's violent crime rate leaves out.
Assault is the most common violent crime in Washington Heights, about 91% of the total.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a violent crime with the people who spend time in an area, not only the people who live there. 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 violent 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 aggravated assaults happen at a home, against 53% nationally. Robberies happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 45% of them.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
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.
Violent crime in Washington Heights and nearby neighborhoods
Washington Heights has less violent crime than 8 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods; only Linwood and Coytesville have less.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Washington Heights. Beside each violent crime 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 violent crime than 61% of them.
Density, transit and walkability in Washington Heights
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, two 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 it runs high here.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.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 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 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
Tree coverThe share of land under tree canopy where people live. Leafy neighborhoods tend to report less robbery.3% where people liveUS: 21%Lower than for 79% 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 violent crime costs Washington Heights
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs Washington Heights about $247 million a year, or $1,565 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $68 million, or $429 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
How CrimeGrade™ works
The violent crime CrimeGrade™ covers murder, rape, robbery and assault, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each violent crime against the people who spend time in an area, so a busy downtown is graded on its workers and visitors as well as its residents.
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.
