Here Are Washington, D.C.'s Safest and Most Dangerous Neighborhoods

Is Washington, D.C. safe? That's a question that is often on tourists' minds as they visit the nation's capital. This year's inexplicable growth of crime throughout the city has caused the police department to scratch their heads, uncertain as to what's causing the uptick in violence. Meanwhile, tourists are sifting through articles on the web, trying to figure out which areas of the city are best to avoid. For those interested in finding out how Washington, D.C.'s homicide and non-homicide crime rates have progressed over the years and which areas have improved the most or the least during that time, see what Curbed DC discovered below.

[Graph via chart-it]
The monthly homicide rate this year has more than doubled from the 2011 to 2014 average, according to the blog, chart-it. From January 2015 to August 19 2015 homicides have risen in every Ward, except for 1 and 7. Ward 8 had the highest increase. Nearly 80 percent of this year's increase in Washington, D.C.'s murder rate occurred in three neighborhoods: Woodland/Fort Stanton, Garfield Heights, Knox Hill; Douglass, Shipley Terrace; and Shaw, Logan Circle.

[Graph via Urban Institute]
Analyzing Washington, D.C.'s homicide rates over the last two decades as opposed to the last two or so years, violent crime (e.g., homicides, assaults, and robberies) is down, reported Urban Institute. In 1996, the number of homicides reached a whopping 397, while in 2012, they were down to 88. The Southeast-Navy Yard neighborhood improved the most from 2000 to 2014, while in that period of time, violent crimes increased in Eastland Gardens-Kenilworth, Deanwood-Lincoln Heights, Mayfair-Hillbrook, and River Terrace-Benning.

[Graph via Urban Institute]
The largest declines in assaults were seen in Navy Yard, Barry Farm, Ivy City-Trinidad, downtown-Chinatown, and Cardozo-Shaw. Urban Institute further reported that robberies also declined with the biggest improvements in these neighborhoods: Downtown-Chinatown, Near Southeast-Navy Yard, and Dupont Circle-K Street.

[Graph via Urban Institute]
To further see how each Ward and neighborhood improved within the past few years, check out the graphs below from chart-it:

· Violent Crime Across D.C. Neighborhoods [chart-it]
· Violent crime continues falling beyond the 1990s crime drop [Urban Institute]
· 'Straight up execution': Crime surges across the District [The Washington Post]
· Is D.C. Water Safe to Drink?': What People Google About D.C. [Curbed DC]