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2018-10-17 15 28 41 View east along Maryland State Route 332 (Central Avenue) at Southern Avenue in Capitol Heights, Prince George's County, MarylandPhoto: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0
C−
Safety in Capitol Heights · FBI data, 2023–2025

More violent crime is recorded per resident in Capitol Heights than in 86% of U.S. towns

The local count comes to 4.5 violent crimes and 15.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 8.4 and 29.3 in the rest of Maryland. Still, the overall Safety Grade is C− (#28 of 52 graded towns in Maryland), which means more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns, judged on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Per resident, the graded crimes were down 40% from 2023 to 2025.

Violent crime
4.5
per 1,000 a year · Well below rest of MD (8.4)
U.S. (FBI national estimate) 3.6
Property crime
15.4
per 1,000 a year · Well below rest of MD (29.3)
U.S. (FBI national estimate) 17.6
Crimes reported
237
54 violent · 183 property
2023–2025
Trend
▼ Falling
2023 to 2025
beyond ordinary swings

Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of MD” is every other Maryland city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.

What stands out · In brief

What stands out about safety in Capitol Heights

Among Maryland towns, closer to the middle

Maryland’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Capitol Heights’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 46% of the 52 Maryland towns we grade, against 23% nationally. Safety Grade ↓

Reported crime is falling

Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓

Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.

Safety Grade

What’s behind Capitol Heights’ grade

Where Capitol Heights sits
D Violent 4.5C Property 15.4
All U.S. towns we grade (7,426)Less crime than 23%
More reported crimeLess reported crime
Maryland towns we grade (52)Less crime than 46% · #28 of 52
Places of 1,000–5,000 people (2,448)Less crime than 16%
A fairly firm grade. Built on 237 reported crimes over three years. Ordinary swings could put Capitol Heights anywhere from C− to C.

How TownRatings grades safety →

Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its property rate (15.4) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.

Trend

Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025

Show as a table
YearCapitol Heights propertyRest of Maryland propertyCapitol Heights violentRest of Maryland violent
202321.030.77.29.0
202410.430.34.68.9
202514.927.02.07.3

Crimes per 1,000 residents

Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2023–2025, against the rest of Maryland.

1,000 neighbors · one year

Crime in Capitol Heights per 1,000 residents

Property crime (14.9)Violent crime (2)Everyone else

Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025

Capitol Heights2.0
Rest of MD7.3
U.S. (FBI)3.3

Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025

Capitol Heights14.9
Rest of MD27.0
U.S. (FBI)15.5

Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.

And about 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.

Violent crime

Violent crime, by year and by type

Capitol Heights’ police reported 54 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.4 in the rest of Maryland and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.

What gets reported

68 crimes reported in 2025

2025 offenses reported

Larceny / theft26
Burglary5
Vehicle theft29
Aggravated assault6
Robbery1
Rape0
Homicide1
Arson0
8
violent crimes
60
property crimes

Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.

8 violent and 60 property, as reported to the FBI by Capitol Heights’ police.

On the roads

One person died in crashes on Capitol Heights’s roads in 2019–2023

Capitol Heights had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.

That is about what is typical for Maryland towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (5.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Capitol Heights’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Capitol Heights’s own rate (5.0) is context, not a ranking.

1
people died in crashes, 2019–2023
0
pedestrians among them
0
cyclists among them
5.0
per 100,000 a year · Maryland towns of 2,500–5,000: 5.2

Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.

Next door

Capitol Heights and its neighbors

Walker Mill: not gradedCoral Hills: not gradedMaryland Park: not gradedWalker MillCoral HillsMaryland ParkCapitol Heights
A rangeB rangeC rangeD rangeNot graded
TownGradeViolentProperty
Capitol HeightsC−4.515.4
Walker Mill———
Coral Hills———

Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Walker Mill and Coral Hills are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.

Maryland towns of a similar size

TownGradeViolentProperty
Capitol HeightsC−4.515.4
BoonsboroA0.34.5
BrentwoodC+2.714.3
North EastC−4.019.1
Pocomoke CityD4.930.7
Princess AnneD−14.240.1

The five graded Maryland towns closest to Capitol Heights’ population (4,044), by grade.

How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
  • One number for all of Capitol Heights. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
  • Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Capitol Heights’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
  • Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,038 in 2025); our figure for Capitol Heights is 4,044 (2025 Census estimate).
  • Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.

How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →

Questions about safety in Capitol Heights

Is Capitol Heights, MD safe?

On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Capitol Heights reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #28 of 52 in Maryland. Its police reported 4.5 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.4 in the rest of Maryland and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.

What is the crime rate in Capitol Heights?

4.5 violent and 15.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Maryland reports 8.4 and 29.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.

Who polices Capitol Heights?

Capitol Heights’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Capitol Heights”. Its figures are the ones on this page.

Heads-up board

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Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.