Photo: Nonvirtual · CC BY-SA 3.0Mount Rainier reports more crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Mount Rainier’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #39 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 Mount Rainier
1 of the 2 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 4 Maryland towns on Mount Rainier’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Brentwood (C+), Hyattsville (D−). Chillum is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Cottage City reported to the FBI for 2025 but not 2023 or 2024. Neighbors ↓
Among Maryland towns, closer to the middle
Maryland’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Mount Rainier’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 25% of the 52 Maryland towns we grade, against 9% 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.
What’s behind Mount Rainier’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; property 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, 2022–2025, against the rest of Maryland.
Show as a table
| Year | Mount Rainier property | Rest of Maryland property | Mount Rainier violent | Rest of Maryland violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 27.9 | 27.4 | 5.7 | 10.8 |
| 2023 | 36.0 | 30.7 | 6.8 | 9.0 |
| 2024 | 26.3 | 30.3 | 7.8 | 8.9 |
| 2025 | 22.2 | 27.0 | 2.9 | 7.3 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 22 property crimes reported
And about 3 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
Mount Rainier’s police reported 142 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 5.8 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 | Mount Rainier | Rest of Maryland | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.7 | 10.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 6.8 | 9.0 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 7.8 | 8.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.9 | 7.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
207 crimes reported in 2025
24 violent and 183 property, as reported to the FBI by Mount Rainier’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
No one died in a crash on Mount Rainier’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for Maryland towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (5.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Mount Rainier’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Mount Rainier’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
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.
Mount Rainier and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Rainier | D | 5.8 | 28.1 |
| Chillum | — | — | — |
| Brentwood | C+ | 2.7 | 14.3 |
| Hyattsville | D− | 7.2 | 38.5 |
| Cottage City | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Chillum is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Cottage City reported to the FBI for 2025 but not 2023 or 2024.
Maryland towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Rainier | D | 5.8 | 28.1 |
| Taneytown | A− | 1.2 | 4.7 |
| Brunswick | B+ | 1.7 | 5.3 |
| Mount Airy | C+ | 3.3 | 10.3 |
| Riverdale Park | D | 6.6 | 26.2 |
| Bladensburg | D | 7.2 | 36.1 |
The five graded Maryland towns closest to Mount Rainier’s population (8,307), 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 Mount Rainier. 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 Mount Rainier’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (8,259 in 2025); our figure for Mount Rainier is 8,307 (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 Mount Rainier
Is Mount Rainier, MD safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Mount Rainier reports more crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #39 of 52 in Maryland. Its police reported 5.8 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 Mount Rainier?
5.8 violent and 28.1 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.
Is crime going up or down in Mount Rainier?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Mount Rainier safer than Brentwood?
Brentwood reports less crime per resident than Mount Rainier: Brentwood grades C+ for safety and Mount Rainier D. Brentwood’s police reported 2.7 violent and 14.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Mount Rainier?
Mount Rainier’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Mount Rainier”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Mount Rainier.
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.