Photo: Payton Chung from DCA, USA · CC BY 2.0Greenbelt reports more crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Greenbelt’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D− for safety: #47 of 52 graded towns in Maryland.
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 about safety in Greenbelt
3 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 Maryland towns on Greenbelt’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Berwyn Heights (C+), New Carrollton (C−), Riverdale Park (D). College Park has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Seabrook and East Riverdale are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Neighbors ↓
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.
What’s behind Greenbelt’s grade
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; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Reported crime is falling
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Greenbelt property | Rest of Maryland property | Greenbelt violent | Rest of Maryland violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 55.7 | 30.3 | 6.9 | 9.0 |
| 2024 | 43.8 | 30.0 | 6.5 | 8.9 |
| 2025 | 35.6 | 26.9 | 5.9 | 7.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 36 property crimes reported
And about 6 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Greenbelt’s police reported 471 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 6.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.4 in the rest of Maryland and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Greenbelt | Rest of Maryland | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 6.9 | 9.0 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 6.5 | 8.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 5.9 | 7.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
1,031 crimes reported in 2025
147 violent and 884 property, as reported to the FBI by Greenbelt’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
17 people died in crashes on Greenbelt’s roads in 2019–2023
Greenbelt had 17 fatal crashes in five years, in which 17 people died; 5 were pedestrians. 3 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 13.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Maryland towns of 5,000–25,000 people (5.7, 148 towns).
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.
Greenbelt and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenbelt | D− | 6.4 | 44.9 |
| Berwyn Heights | C+ | 2.3 | 13.7 |
| College Park | — | — | — |
| Seabrook | — | — | — |
| Riverdale Park | D | 6.6 | 26.2 |
| East Riverdale | — | — | — |
| New Carrollton | C− | 3.1 | 20.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. College Park has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Seabrook and East Riverdale are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Maryland towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenbelt | D− | 6.4 | 44.9 |
| Westminster | C | 2.4 | 18.2 |
| Cumberland | D | 4.6 | 40.2 |
| Laurel | D | 4.7 | 43.9 |
| Salisbury | D | 9.3 | 26.6 |
| Hyattsville | D− | 7.2 | 38.5 |
The five graded Maryland towns closest to Greenbelt’s population (24,948), by grade.
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 Greenbelt. 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 Greenbelt’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (24,838 in 2025); our figure for Greenbelt is 24,948 (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 Greenbelt
Is Greenbelt, MD safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Greenbelt reports more crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #47 of 52 in Maryland. Its police reported 6.4 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 Greenbelt?
6.4 violent and 44.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Maryland reports 8.4 and 29.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Greenbelt?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Greenbelt safer than Berwyn Heights?
Berwyn Heights reports less crime per resident than Greenbelt: Berwyn Heights grades C+ for safety and Greenbelt D−. Berwyn Heights’s police reported 2.3 violent and 13.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Greenbelt?
Greenbelt’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Greenbelt”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Greenbelt.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.