City Travel Stats

Washington, D.C.

United States · North America

36Safety indexHigher concern
1CA flagGlobal Affairs CanadaLevel 1 · Normal precautions
1GB flagUK FCDOLevel 1 · Normal precautions
1AU flagSmartraveller (AU)Level 1 · Normal precautions
5/5metric categories covered
Open comparison
38.91°, -77.04°
Regional locator · ring ≈ the figure's geographic unit

The safety picture

A plain-language read of the sourced figures below

Washington, D.C.

sits low in our index at 36 out of 100, safer than only about 8% of the cities we score. Its homicide rate is 25.8 per 100,000, roughly 16 times the median for the cities we track, and robbery is recorded at 442.7 per 100,000. Both figures are for the city itself rather than a wider area. Three governments appear in our data, and Canada, the UK, and Australia each hold the United States at their lowest advisory level. Their advisories still name pickpocketing and scams. A national survey found 60% of people feel safe walking alone at night, a result for the country as a whole rather than the city, and a softer read than the recorded crime here would suggest.

Safety dimensions

Larger area = more concern
Violent crimeRobbery & theftTravel advisory
Violent crime52
Robbery & theft80
Travel advisory0
The radar shows the three sourced, comparable risk measures (homicide, robbery, the strictest travel-advisory level). Tourist petty-crime signals are a different kind of measure — how often advisories mention them — so they are shown as rows under Tourist-specific incidents, not as radar axes.

Homicide / general violence

Intentional homicides (per 100,000)
25.8/100k

Primary source: FBI Crime Data Explorer — Washington Police Department

Where this sits on the scaleSevere
01·3·8·20·40 /100k
Among tracked citiessafer than 8% of tracked cities
25.8/100k
0/100k safest101.2/100k

Robbery (police-recorded)

Robbery (per 100,000)
442.7/100k

Primary source: FBI Crime Data Explorer — Washington Police Department

Where this sits on the scaleSevere
040·120·250·400·600 /100k
Among tracked citiessafer than 8% of tracked cities
442.7/100k
0.4/100k safest3097.8/100k

Travel advisories

U.S. State Department

No advisory on record.

Global Affairs Canada
1CA flagGlobal Affairs CanadaLevel 1 · Normal precautions

Primary source: Global Affairs Canada — United States Travel Advice and Advisories

UK FCDO
1GB flagUK FCDOLevel 1 · Normal precautions

Primary source: UK FCDO — United States travel advice

Smartraveller (Australia)
1AU flagSmartraveller (AU)Level 1 · Normal precautions

Primary source: Australian Government (DFAT Smartraveller) — United States travel advice

Perceived safety

How safe people say they feel, from official population surveys — a separate signal, not part of the Safety Index.
Feel safe walking alone at night
National survey
60%feel safe
60% of people surveyed · United States · 2023
Survey figure is for United States (country), wider than Washington, D.C. itself.

Primary source: UN SDG 16.1.4 — feel safe walking alone at night (UNODC)

Tourist-specific incidents

How often government travel advisories mention each — a source-consensus signal, not a risk rate.
Pickpocketing & petty theft in travel advisories
1 of 2 advisories mention this
project-atlas count: 1 of 2 reviewed government advisories mention this. A source-consensus signal, not a measured risk rate.
Based on only 2 reviewed advisories — a thin sample; treat as indicative.

Primary source: Global Affairs Canada — United States travel advice (Safety and security)

Scams & fraud in travel advisories
1 of 2 advisories mention this
project-atlas count: 1 of 2 reviewed government advisories mention this. A source-consensus signal, not a measured risk rate.
Based on only 2 reviewed advisories — a thin sample; treat as indicative.

Primary source: Global Affairs Canada — United States travel advice (Safety and security)