Every city has safe neighborhoods and dangerous neighborhoods. We believe you should know which neighborhoods in Washington are the safest before you move.
Every year, more than 30 million Americans move. Sometimes, it’s for a job, other times it’s to escape the big city. But no matter where you move, you want a neighborhood that’s family friendly, clean, and most importantly, safe.
We’ve analyzed the FBI crime report’s data on violent and property crimes for every single neighborhood in Washington. Then, we calculated your chances of being the victim of a crime in each one.
What Washington neighborhoods can you leave your doors unlocked at night? Here’s the list.
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Washington Dc’s statewide median.
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the safest Washington hoods in 2026
You can ask people which neighborhoods are the safest, or you can look at the unbiased raw data. We choose data.
Instead of relying on speculation and opinion, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the numbers from the FBI’s most recent crime report for every neighborhood in Washington.
To be more specific, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. We then ran an analysis to calculate each neighborhood’s property and violent crimes per capita. We used the following criteria:
- Total Crimes Per Capita
- Violent Crimes Per Capita
- Property Crimes Per Capita
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 34 in each category, where 1 was the safest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a safe neighborhood index.
Finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest safest neighborhood index the “Safest City Neighborhood In Washington.” We’re lookin’ at you, Au-Tenleytown.
We updated this article for 2026. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from safest to most dangerous.
The full plate
Detailed list of the safest neighborhoods to live in Washington for 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by neighborhood name.
| Rank | Neighborhood | Crime Per 100K |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Au-Tenleytown | |
| 2 | Glover Park | |
| 3 | Barnaby Woods | |
| 4 | The Palisades | |
| 4 | Cleveland Park | |
| 6 | Chevy Chase | |
| 7 | Woodley Park | |
| 7 | Berkley | |
| 9 | Mount Pleasant | |
| 10 | Foxhall Village | |
| 11 | Adams Morgan | |
| 12 | Takoma Park | |
| 13 | Brightwood | |
| 14 | Catholic University-Brookland | |
| 14 | Kalorama | |
| 16 | Fort Totten-Upper Northeast | |
| 17 | Logan Circle | |
| 18 | Foggy Bottom | |
| 19 | Petworth | |
| 20 | Georgetown | |
| 21 | Columbia Heights | |
| 22 | Downtown | |
| 22 | Anacostia | |
| 24 | Friendship Heights | |
| 25 | Stadium-Armory | |
| 25 | South West | |
| 25 | Capitol Hill | |
| 28 | Ledroit Park | |
| 29 | Dupont Circle | |
| 30 | Mount Vernon Square | |
| 31 | Shaw | |
| 32 | Deanwood | |
| 33 | Brentwood | |
| 34 | U Street Corridor |
Source: FBI UCR. All 34 Washington neighborhoods.
Summary
Summary: The safest places in Washington
Looking at the data, you can tell that Au-Tenleytown is as safe as they come, according to science and data.
The safest neighborhoods in Washington are Au-Tenleytown, Glover Park, Barnaby Woods, The Palisades, Cleveland Park, Chevy Chase, Woodley Park, Berkley, Mount Pleasant, and Foxhall Village.
But as most Washington Dc residents would agree, almost every place here has its safe and not safe parts. So make sure you’re informed ahead of time.
We ranked the neighborhoods from safest to most dangerous in the chart below. Not sold on Washington Dc? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Safest Neighborhoods In Washington FAQs
What is the safest neighborhood in Washington?
Au-Tenleytown is the safest neighborhood in Washington for 2026, based on FBI crime data. Glover Park and Barnaby Woods are next.
What are the safest neighborhoods in Washington?
The safest neighborhoods in Washington are Au-Tenleytown, Glover Park, Barnaby Woods, The Palisades, Cleveland Park, Chevy Chase, Woodley Park, Berkley, Mount Pleasant, and Foxhall Village. We ranked all 34 neighborhoods in the city.
How do you measure neighborhood safety?
Neighborhoods are ranked on violent and property crimes per capita, using FBI crime data mapped to each neighborhood. The lowest combined crime rate wins.
Which neighborhood ranked last for safety?
U Street Corridor posts the highest crime rate of the 34 Washington neighborhoods we scored. Our separate worst neighborhoods in Washington ranking digs into that end of the list.
Does a low crime rate guarantee safety?
No. Crime rates are averages across a whole neighborhood, and conditions change block by block and hour by hour. The numbers tell you where the odds are best, not that anywhere is risk-free.
