Photo: ajay_suresh · CC BY 2.0Fairfax reports more crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Fairfax’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C− for safety: #57 of 84 graded towns in Virginia.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of VA” is every other Virginia 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 Fairfax
A job center
Fairfax has 22,275 jobs based in town for 26,772 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Fairfax’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Fairfax’s grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Fairfax’s police reported 83 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.4 in the rest of Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Fairfax | Rest of Virginia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.1 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.3 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.3 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.7 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 29 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, 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.
Reported crime is steady
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Virginia.
Show as a table
| Year | Fairfax property | Rest of Virginia property | Fairfax violent | Rest of Virginia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 23.1 | 25.2 | 1.1 | 3.5 |
| 2023 | 27.3 | 24.4 | 1.3 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 33.0 | 23.2 | 1.3 | 3.3 |
| 2025 | 29.2 | 20.1 | 0.7 | 3.2 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
805 crimes reported in 2025
18 violent and 787 property, as reported to the FBI by Fairfax’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Six people died in crashes on Fairfax’s roads in 2019–2023
Fairfax had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which six people died; 3 were pedestrians.
That is about what is typical for Virginia towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (3.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Fairfax’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Fairfax’s own rate (4.8) 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.
Fairfax and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfax | C− | 1.1 | 29.8 |
| George Mason | — | — | — |
| Oakton | — | — | — |
| Mantua | — | — | — |
| Long Branch | — | — | — |
| Fair Oaks | — | — | — |
| Merrifield | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. George Mason, Oakton, Mantua, Long Branch, Fair Oaks and Merrifield are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Virginia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfax | C− | 1.1 | 29.8 |
| Staunton | B− | 1.6 | 14.3 |
| Herndon | C+ | 2.4 | 15.1 |
| Waynesboro | C | 2.4 | 16.6 |
| Winchester | C− | 2.6 | 23.3 |
| Fredericksburg | D | 5.0 | 29.9 |
The five graded Virginia towns closest to Fairfax’s population (26,772), 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 Fairfax. 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 Fairfax’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (26,982 in 2025); our figure for Fairfax is 26,772 (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 Fairfax
Is Fairfax, VA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Fairfax reports more crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #57 of 84 in Virginia. Its police reported 1.1 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.4 in the rest of Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Fairfax?
1.1 violent and 29.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Virginia reports 3.4 and 22.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Fairfax?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Fairfax in 2025?
Fairfax’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Fairfax?
Fairfax’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Fairfax City”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Fairfax.
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.