How Bad is Crime in Washington D.C.?

Looking at crime in Washington D.C. as compared to similar, smaller, and larger cities. Washington D.C. is no worse than other cities and is better than most. Looking at all crime and homicides. If you go to the site Council on Criminal Justice, you can take a deeper dive. I chose five cities to review which includes Washington D.C..

Two sets of graphs here. The first and upper half of the initial graph looks at “all crimes” committed in the five selected cities which includes Washinton D.C. I have included Chicago, Detroit, New York, Richmond, and Washington D.C. The lower half of the first graph looks at the crime rate per thousand.

Washington D.C. is the lighter blue. Total crime is less in Washington and is similar to Detroit.

Of course, the population for New York and Chicago are much greater. Detroit is similar in size to Washington D.C. Richmond is a third of the size of Washington D.C. If you wish to see similar trends with different cities, the site is here: “Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Mid-Year 2025 Update,” Council on Criminal Justice.

The second set of graphs (below) looks at Homicide rates in the same five cities. Again, Washington D.C. is similar to Richmond in Homicides. If Tr__p was so worried about Homicides, Chicago and New York would be the cities to target. There is not enough active-duty military to patrol those two cities. Furthermore as the study details; “In the sample cities for the first half of 2025 are below levels recorded during the first half of 2019, the year before the onset of the pandemic. Homicide, the most serious of the crimes, has fallen to 14% below the rates of the first six months of 2019.“

Typical Tr__p makes something up.

“Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Mid-Year 2025 Update,” Council on Criminal Justice

“Overall, the findings show that most offenses in the sample cities for the first half of 2025 are below levels recorded during the first half of 2019, the year before the onset of the pandemic. Homicide, the most serious of the crimes, has fallen to 14% below the rates of the first six months of 2019. Looking at the most recent trends, 11 of the 13 offenses included in the study were at lower levels in the first half of 2025 than in the first six months of 2024.

Domestic violence was the lone exception, and drug offenses remained even. Examining 12-month periods, this report’s findings generally reinforce past Council analyses showing that the large homicide declines are still concentrated in higher homicide cities (such as Baltimore and St. Louis). These findings also show that the homicide rates in all of the sample cities are below the recent peaks of 2020 and 2021, but that more than 60% of the cities continue to experience homicide levels above pre-2020 rates.”

As detailed by the Council on Criminal Justice. “Crime trends in U.S. cities: Mid-year 2025 update.”