Crime & Safety in Alexandria
Alexandria's crime picture carries a real, disclosed internal tension: one source describes overall crime running 4% below the national average, while a separate source assigns a more middling C+ safety grade, and specific crime-type detail is genuinely mixed -- larceny/theft and property crime overall run above average, while burglary runs below average.
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Learn moreTwo Sources, Two Different Headlines -- Both Disclosed
As detailed in the base Alexandria record, one 2026 source described Alexandria's overall crime rate as 4% below the national average, citing 20.62 incidents per 1,000 residents against a cited national average of 33.37 -- a modestly-better-than-average standing. A separate source, though, assigned Alexandria a more middling overall safety grade of C+. Both are disclosed here rather than picking the more flattering framing, similar in spirit to the real comparison-group tension disclosed for Arlington (better than 54% of major cities, but worse than 91% of Virginia localities of all sizes) -- though Alexandria's own tension runs across different sources reaching different overall verdicts on the same city, not across two different comparison groups the way Arlington's does.
Individual Risk: A Real, Specific Set of Odds, Modestly Higher Than Arlington's
Per NeighborhoodScout-derived figures cited in the base record, an Alexandria resident faces roughly a 1-in-274 annual chance of violent crime and a 1-in-43 chance of property crime -- a real, modestly higher property-crime likelihood than Arlington's own disclosed 1-in-58 figure, though a broadly similar violent-crime likelihood to Arlington's disclosed 1-in-333 figure (Alexandria's odds run somewhat higher, i.e., a somewhat greater chance, on both measures).
Crime-Type Detail: A Genuinely Mixed Picture
Specific crime-type data disclosed in the base record shows a real, mixed pattern rather than uniformly better or worse than average: larceny/theft ran about 25% above average and property crime overall about 27% above average, while burglary specifically ran about 22% below average. This kind of category-specific mix -- some crime types above average, others below -- is a real, honest picture rather than a single clean verdict in either direction.
A Below-Average Cited Crime Index Feeds Directly Into Lower Insurance Costs
As detailed on the homeowners-insurance topic page, a separately cited crime index of 22 out of 100 (where lower is safer) was named as a real, contributing factor to Alexandria's below-average homeowners insurance premiums -- a real, practical downstream effect of Alexandria's overall crime profile, disclosed alongside the more mixed picture above rather than treated as the only relevant crime data point.
Confirm Block-Level Data for a Specific Address
As with any city this size, citywide figures blend genuinely different neighborhoods and corridors -- Old Town, Del Ray, Eisenhower East, and North Potomac Yard (covered on the best-areas topic page) likely carry real, if not independently confirmed this pass, block-level variance. Anyone narrowing in on a specific Alexandria address or neighborhood should check current block-level or neighborhood-specific crime data directly rather than relying on a single citywide figure.
Key takeaways
- Alexandria's crime picture is genuinely mixed by source: one source cites overall crime 4% below the national average (20.62 per 1,000 vs. a cited 33.37 national average), while a separate source assigns a more middling C+ safety grade -- both disclosed rather than picking the more flattering one.
- Individual risk: roughly a 1-in-274 annual chance of violent crime and a 1-in-43 chance of property crime -- a modestly higher property-crime likelihood than Arlington's own disclosed 1-in-58 figure.
- Crime-type detail is genuinely mixed: larceny/theft (+25% vs. average) and property crime overall (+27%) run above average, while burglary specifically runs 22% below average -- not a uniform verdict in either direction.
- A separately cited below-average crime index (22/100) is named as a real contributing factor to Alexandria's below-average homeowners insurance premiums, per the homeowners-insurance topic page.
- Confirm current block-level crime data for a specific address or neighborhood -- Old Town, Del Ray, Eisenhower East, and North Potomac Yard likely carry real corridor-to-corridor variance not independently confirmed this pass.
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