Crime & Safety in Fairfax
Fairfax's crime picture, per NeighborhoodScout, shows an overall rate of 33 per 1,000 residents driven mostly by property crime (32 per 1,000) rather than violent crime (1 per 1,000, about average nationally) -- and, as with Arlington in this project's sibling record, reads worse when compared against tiny rural Virginia localities than against comparably sized cities.
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Learn moreNeighborhoodScout: property crime is the real driver
NeighborhoodScout cites Fairfax's overall crime rate at 33 per 1,000 residents (a 1-in-30 chance of victimization for violent or property crime combined), with violent crime running at just 1 per 1,000 -- about average for all US communities -- while property crime runs considerably higher at 32 per 1,000 (1-in-31 odds). The overall figure is driven almost entirely by property crime, not violent crime.
A real, disclosed apples-to-oranges comparison
Compared against all Virginia localities of every size, more than 96% have a lower crime rate than Fairfax by NeighborhoodScout's measure -- the same dynamic already disclosed for Arlington in this project's sibling record: a comparison group dominated by tiny rural towns with near-zero crime will structurally make any denser, more urban-adjacent jurisdiction like Fairfax look worse than a comparison against similarly sized cities would.
GMU campus safety as a distinct consideration
With George Mason University's campus inside city limits, campus-specific safety resources (campus police, emergency notification systems) operate alongside standard city policing -- a real, distinct safety layer for anyone evaluating housing near campus.
No specific neighborhood named as unsafe, per site policy
Consistent with this dataset's policy, no specific Fairfax neighborhood is named as higher- or lower-risk here. Check a specific address directly with more than one source (NeighborhoodScout, CrimeGrade, local police crime maps) before drawing conclusions.
Key takeaways
- Fairfax's overall crime rate (33/1,000, NeighborhoodScout) is driven mostly by property crime (32/1,000); violent crime (1/1,000) runs about average nationally.
- Fairfax's crime rate exceeds 96% of Virginia localities of all sizes -- a real but apples-to-oranges comparison against many tiny rural towns, the same dynamic already disclosed for Arlington in this project.
- GMU's campus safety resources operate as a distinct layer alongside standard city policing for anyone near campus.
- No specific neighborhood is named as unsafe here, per site policy -- check a specific address with more than one source.
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