Washington, DC crime statistics vary substantially by offense and reporting system. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) recorded 2,475 violent crimes and 21,702 property crimes in 2025. Earlier MPD rate data put the 2023 violent-crime rate at 786 per 100,000 residents, while the 2024 MPD NIBRS table provides detailed counts for individual offenses.
Contents
- 2025 major offense totals
- Homicides and recovered firearms
- 2023 rates per 100,000 residents
- 2024 violent and property offenses
- 2024 theft and assault details
- 2024 fraud, drug, and other offenses
2025 major offense totals
MPD’s District Crime Data at a Glance reports 2025 totals for broad offense categories. These are counts recorded in Washington, DC during 2025, rather than rates adjusted for population.
| Major category | MPD-recorded offenses, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Violent crimes | 2,475 |
| Property crimes | 21,702 |
| Homicides | 127 |
| Robberies | 1,323 |
| Assaults with a dangerous weapon | 923 |
| Sex-abuse offenses | 102 |
| Burglaries | 718 |
| Motor-vehicle thefts | 3,945 |
| Thefts from autos | 5,372 |
| Other thefts | 11,663 |
The broad totals show the scale difference between violent and property offenses in the 2025 MPD summary. Within the violent-crime total, MPD recorded 1,323 robberies, 923 assaults with a dangerous weapon, 127 homicides, and 102 sex-abuse offenses. These listed categories should not be treated as a complete breakdown of every offense included in the violent-crime total.
Property offenses were led by 11,663 other thefts and 5,372 thefts from autos. MPD also recorded 3,945 motor-vehicle thefts and 718 burglaries. The category labels are the labels used in the MPD summary, so “other thefts” is broader than any one specific theft subtype.
The 2025 figures are useful for describing the most recent annual totals supplied here, but they should not be compared directly with a rate unless the population denominator and the same counting definitions are used. A count answers how many incidents were recorded; a rate describes incidence relative to the resident population.
Homicides and recovered firearms
The MPD source reports a changing homicide count across the 2016–2025 period. The annual figures were 135 in 2016, 116 in 2017, 160 in 2018, 166 in 2019, 198 in 2020, 226 in 2021, 203 in 2022, 274 in 2023, 187 in 2024, and 127 in 2025. Each number refers to Washington, DC for the named year.
| Year | Homicides recorded by MPD |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 135 |
| 2017 | 116 |
| 2018 | 160 |
| 2019 | 166 |
| 2020 | 198 |
| 2021 | 226 |
| 2022 | 203 |
| 2023 | 274 |
| 2024 | 187 |
| 2025 | 127 |
The same MPD District Crime Data at a Glance source reports 2,938 recovered firearms in 2024 and 2,804 recovered firearms in 2025. Those are recovered-firearm counts, not counts of homicides and not a measure of firearm ownership. They also describe the number reported by MPD during each year, so they should be read separately from the homicide series.
The homicide figures and firearm-recovery figures measure different things. Homicides are a violent-crime outcome; recovered firearms are items reported recovered by police. The figures therefore provide two related public-safety indicators, but the supplied data does not establish a causal relationship between them.
2023 rates per 100,000 residents
The MPD Annual Report 2023 reports selected Washington, DC crime rates for 2023 per 100,000 residents. Rates make it easier to place different offense categories on a common population-adjusted scale, although they remain tied to the report’s definitions and measurement period.
| Offense or category | 2023 rate per 100,000 residents |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 40 |
| Sex abuse | 27 |
| Assault with a dangerous weapon | 207 |
| Robbery | 511 |
| Violent crime | 786 |
| Burglary | 161 |
| Motor-vehicle theft | 1,006 |
| Theft from auto | 1,148 |
The 2023 violent-crime rate was 786 per 100,000 residents. The report lists robbery at 511 per 100,000 and assault with a dangerous weapon at 207 per 100,000. Homicide was 40 per 100,000, while sex abuse was 27 per 100,000.
The property-related rates supplied for 2023 were 161 per 100,000 for burglary, 1,006 for motor-vehicle theft, and 1,148 for theft from auto. These values show why a single overall crime label can conceal very different patterns: the supplied motor-vehicle and theft-from-auto rates were substantially higher than the burglary rate in the same report.
A 2023 rate should not be presented as a 2024 or 2025 rate. Likewise, a 2025 count should not be converted into a rate without an appropriate population denominator. The annual report’s rates and MPD’s later annual counts are best kept clearly separated by year and measurement type.
2024 violent and property offenses
The MPD Annual Report 2024 includes a 2024 Washington, DC NIBRS table with detailed offense counts. NIBRS categories are more granular than the broad major-offense labels in the 2025 MPD summary, so the numbers are not automatically interchangeable.
For violent and related offenses, the 2024 NIBRS table recorded 179 murders and non-negligent manslaughters, 187 rapes, 27 sodomy offenses, 25 sexual assaults with an object, and 341 fondling offenses. It also recorded 3,087 robberies and 3,089 aggravated assaults.
The same table recorded 1,698 burglary or breaking-and-entering offenses, 5,316 motor-vehicle thefts, 5,340 shoplifting offenses, 6,014 thefts from motor vehicles, and 14,513 destruction or damage/vandalism offenses. Each figure is a 2024 NIBRS count for Washington, DC.
The 2024 NIBRS table’s labels matter. For example, “murder and non-negligent manslaughter” is a defined NIBRS category, while the 2025 MPD summary uses “homicides.” Similarly, “burglary or breaking-and-entering” is not worded identically to the 2025 “burglaries” label. The supplied sources do not provide a crosswalk that would justify treating those pairs as identical measures.
The difference between a detailed NIBRS table and a summary dashboard is also important when reading apparent changes. A larger or smaller number may reflect the category definition, reporting framework, or period as well as any change in underlying incidents. Comparisons are strongest when the same source and same category are used across the years being compared.
2024 theft and assault details
The 2024 NIBRS table breaks theft and interpersonal offenses into several subcategories. It recorded 37 pocket-picking offenses and 24 purse-snatching offenses. It also recorded 2,488 thefts from buildings, 5 thefts from coin-operated machines or devices, 1,080 thefts of motor-vehicle parts or accessories, and 3,427 all-other-larceny offenses.
For assault-related categories, the table recorded 11,490 simple assaults and 4,786 intimidation offenses. It recorded 47 kidnapping or abduction offenses and 147 extortion or blackmail offenses. These figures describe recorded offenses in 2024, not the number of unique victims or the risk faced by each resident.
| 2024 NIBRS category | Recorded offenses |
|---|---|
| Simple assault | 11,490 |
| Intimidation | 4,786 |
| Theft from buildings | 2,488 |
| All other larceny | 3,427 |
| Motor-vehicle parts or accessories theft | 1,080 |
| Extortion or blackmail | 147 |
| Kidnapping or abduction | 47 |
| Pocket-picking | 37 |
| Purse-snatching | 24 |
| Theft from coin-operated machines or devices | 5 |
These detailed counts help distinguish common broad patterns from small specialized categories. Simple assault, intimidation, theft from buildings, and all-other larceny each represent thousands of recorded offenses in the 2024 table. Pocket-picking, purse-snatching, kidnapping or abduction, and theft from coin-operated machines or devices appear as much smaller categories in that same table.
The NIBRS figures are not a resident survey. They describe offenses recorded in the police reporting system. Unreported incidents, later reclassification, and differences in reporting practices can affect what appears in administrative crime statistics; the supplied report does not quantify those effects.
2024 fraud, drug, and other offenses
The 2024 NIBRS table also reports fraud-related and drug-related categories. It recorded 743 counterfeiting or forgery offenses, 392 false-pretenses, swindle, or confidence-game offenses, 970 credit-card or ATM fraud offenses, 438 wire-fraud offenses, and 669 identity-theft offenses.
The table recorded 2,456 drug or narcotic violations. This is a count of recorded violations in Washington, DC during 2024. It should not be read as an estimate of the number of people who used drugs, the quantity of drugs involved, or the prevalence of substance use.
The fraud categories illustrate why “crime” is not one uniform measurement. Counterfeiting or forgery, credit-card or ATM fraud, wire fraud, and identity theft involve different conduct and may affect different victims, even though each is included in a broad fraud-related discussion. Their separate counts are more informative than combining them without a supplied definition.
For readers using these statistics to understand Washington, DC, the most important context is the measurement frame: MPD’s 2025 summary provides broad annual totals; MPD’s 2023 annual report provides selected population-adjusted rates; and the 2024 annual report provides detailed NIBRS counts. Keeping those sources, years, geographies, and category definitions visible prevents a rate from being mistaken for a count or a detailed NIBRS category from being mistaken for a broader MPD summary category.