Trump says Washington is unsafe, but the data tells a more nuanced story
In Washington, crime is relatively high, but far from the highest in the country, and it has been on a downward trend.
President Donald Trump is sending the National Guard to Washington to combat what he called “bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.” But crime data paints a much more nuanced picture of what’s going on in the nation's capital.
Among major cities in the United States, Washington does have high rates of violent crime and murder. But it has a much lower rate of violent crime than some cities Trump hasn't spotlighted, such as Memphis, Tennessee.
In the District of Columbia, different types of crime tend to be concentrated in different parts of the city, and crime overall has been on a downward trend in recent years. The murder rate is far below its historic peak.
Thaddeus Johnson, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice and a former police officer, said the capital is “on par” with other big cities. He explained that – like many of its counterparts – the district saw crime increase during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the years that followed, but it's now experiencing a decrease.
“It’s not perfect,” Johnson said. “It’s a lot of work to do.”
Here’s what to know.
Washington recently saw murders spike, then drop
The Metropolitan Police Department reported a 35% drop in violent crime and a 15% decrease in overall crime from 2023 to 2024. Matthew M. Graves, former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia who also served as the city’s local prosecutor, cited these stats in January as a testament to his prosecutorial strategy.
Between 2023 and 2024, crime categories fell between 2% (theft not related to cars) and 64% (arson). But 2023 also saw 274 homicides reported, higher than any year since 2005, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
“We have to be mindful that we had almost historic peaks in these crimes, and so we’re going to have to get back to par first,” Johnson said, pointing to lower pre-pandemic crime levels in 2018 and 2019. “And we’re still working that way, and we’re coming closer.”
Violent crime has been down in 2025
Violent crime in Washington through Aug. 8, 2025, dropped 26% compared with the same period in 2024, according to data from the Metropolitan Police Department. That includes a 50% decrease in sexual abuse. Overall crime is down 7% so far. Motor vehicle theft is level, and burglary is down 20%.
Johnson said 200 or so people tend to be responsible for much of the crime in a city like Washington. The crimes tend to be concentrated in Black and brown communities and happen between people who know one another, he said.
Violent crime and property crime are concentrated
Violent crime in Washington is highest in Ward 8, the southeastern corner of the city, which includes the low-income Anacostia area, according to an interactive map on the city government’s website. It's followed by Wards 7 and 5 in the eastern part of the city. Violent crime is lowest in Ward 3 in the affluent northwest part of the city, bordering Maryland and across the Potomac River from Virginia.
Property crime is highest in Ward 2, a tourist-heavy area that includes the National Mall, the White House and other landmarks, and Ward 5, an area in the northeast part of the city that borders Maryland.
Washington has a comparatively high murder rate
Washington's rate of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter was 25.5 per 100,000 people in 2024, according to a Paste BN analysis of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program data. That places Washington at No. 5 among more than 30 cities with more than 500,000 people.
The FBI categorizes crimes differently from the Metropolitan Police Department, so the rate will differ slightly from the police department’s data. But the categorization is consistent across the country, and the FBI is the best source for comparing local crime data nationally.
Here is the ranking:
- Memphis, Tennessee: 40.6
- Baltimore: 34.8
- Detroit: 31.2
- Kansas City, Missouri: 27.6
- Washington: 25.5
Washington has 10th-highest violent crime rate among major U.S. cities
When other violent crime is factored in, Washington ranks lower among large cities. The city’s violent crime rate is 926 per 100,000 residents, according to Paste BN’s analysis of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program data. Violent crime includes murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
Here is the ranking:
- Memphis, Tennessee: 2,501
- Detroit: 1,781
- Baltimore: 1,606
- Kansas City, Missouri: 1,547
- Milwaukee: 1,431
- Albuquerque, New Mexico: 1,182
- Houston: 1,148
- Nashville: 1,124
- Denver: 993
- Washington: 926
Crime in DC used to be much higher
A generation ago, crime in Washington was so high that the city earned the moniker the "murder capital." The number of homicides increased steadily from 148 in 1985 to a peak 482 in 1991, according to a report by the Criminal Justice Research Center. Violent crime, especially murder, dropped dramatically between then and the COVID-19 pandemic.