Photo: Bruce Emmerling · CC BY-SA 4.0Richmond reports more crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Richmond’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #70 of 84 graded towns in Virginia, and #218 of 325 U.S. cities over 100,000.
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 Richmond
Homicides: above U.S. cities overall
Richmond’s police reported 54 homicides to the FBI in 2025. Over 2023–2025 that is 24.6 per 100,000 residents a year, 3.1 times the rest of Virginia (8.0) and 4.3 times all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (5.7). Violent crime ↓
Robberies: 2.0 times the rest of Virginia
100 robberies per 100,000 residents a year over 2023–2025 (259 reported in 2025), 2.0 times the rest of Virginia (50.3) and above all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (79.4). Violent crime ↓
Against other big cities
Among the 325 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, Richmond reports less crime per resident than 33% (#218). Places like it ↓
A college town
Richmond is home to Virginia Commonwealth University, with 25,603 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 10% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
A job center
Richmond has 162,766 jobs based in town for 237,257 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 Richmond’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.
Homicides and robberies
Richmond’s police reported 54 homicides, 259 robberies and 1,041 violent crimes in all to the FBI in 2025. By year, against the rest of Virginia and all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables.
Show as a table
| Year | Richmond | Rest of Virginia | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 26.0 | 11.8 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 26.9 | 10.2 | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 24.2 | 7.9 | 5.7 |
| 2025 | 22.9 | 6.1 | 4.6 |
Homicides per 100,000 residents
Show as a table
| Year | Richmond | Rest of Virginia | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 97.2 | 62.4 | 95.5 |
| 2023 | 97.1 | 56.7 | 90.6 |
| 2024 | 94.5 | 49.9 | 81.9 |
| 2025 | 110 | 44.6 | 66.0 |
Robberies per 100,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 33 property crimes reported
And about 4 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.
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 | Richmond property | Rest of Virginia property | Richmond violent | Rest of Virginia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 34.3 | 24.5 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
| 2023 | 37.2 | 23.4 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
| 2024 | 31.8 | 22.5 | 3.4 | 3.3 |
| 2025 | 33.2 | 19.1 | 4.4 | 3.1 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
8,883 crimes reported in 2025
1,041 violent and 7,842 property, as reported to the FBI by Richmond’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
125 people died in crashes on Richmond’s roads in 2019–2023
Richmond had 121 fatal crashes in five years, in which 125 people died; 37 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists. 24 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 10.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Virginia towns of 100,000+ people (7.8, 8 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.
Richmond and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond | D | 3.8 | 34.1 |
| Tuckahoe | — | — | — |
| Meadowbrook | — | — | — |
| Montrose | — | — | — |
| Manchester | — | — | — |
| East Highland Park | — | — | — |
| Bensley | — | — | — |
| Bon Air | — | — | — |
| Lakeside | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Tuckahoe, Meadowbrook, Montrose, Manchester, East Highland Park, Bensley, Bon Air and Lakeside are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Virginia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond | D | 3.8 | 34.1 |
| Alexandria | C | 1.9 | 22.3 |
| Chesapeake | C | 3.6 | 16.8 |
| Hampton | C− | 2.7 | 29.1 |
| Norfolk | D | 4.7 | 35.8 |
| Newport News | D | 8.0 | 24.0 |
The five graded Virginia towns closest to Richmond’s population (237,257), 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 Richmond. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Richmond’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (235,995 in 2025); our figure for Richmond is 237,257 (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 Richmond
Is Richmond, VA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Richmond reports more crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #70 of 84 in Virginia. Its police reported 3.8 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.3 in the rest of Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Richmond?
3.8 violent and 34.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Virginia reports 3.3 and 21.7; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Richmond?
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 Richmond in 2025?
Richmond’s police reported 54 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 22.9 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Richmond?
Richmond’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Richmond”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Richmond.
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.