The neighborhoods with the most violent crime in Washington, D.C. sit primarily east of the Anacostia River - Wards 7 and 8 - and include Anacostia, Congress Heights, Deanwood, and Brentwood. That said, crime across the city has fallen sharply since 2023, hitting a 30-year low in 2024.
In brief
The neighborhoods with the most violent crime in Washington, D.C. sit primarily east of the Anacostia River - in Wards 7 and 8 - and include Anacostia, Congress Heights, Deanwood, and Brentwood. Crime across the city has dropped sharply since its post-pandemic peak, with the U.S. Attorney's Office reporting a 30-year low in 2024, but these specific pockets still see rates well above the citywide average.
Where crime is highest in DC
The city's eight wards are not equal. Wards 7 and 8 have the highest violent crime rates, while Wards 2 and 5 see the most overall crime - largely due to property offenses concentrated near busy commercial zones. Ward 8 is the roughest patch. The Washington Examiner calculated that Ward 8 was on track for a homicide rate of roughly 71.9 per 100,000 residents in 2025. Ward 8 includes Anacostia, widely regarded by locals as the most dangerous part of the district, as well as a section of Navy Yard.
Crime in DC is heavily concentrated. Half of all violent crimes occur in just 19% of the city's census tracts. That matters if you're trying to navigate the city sensibly: most of DC is fine. The problem blocks are specific.
The neighborhoods to know
Anacostia
Anacostia is considered one of the worst neighborhoods in DC for violent and property crime. It's a historic neighborhood in southeastern DC with a population of 117,488. Drug and gang activity is common in Anacostia, especially in the Ward 8 section and the River's East Bank area. The neighborhood's downtown sits at the intersection of Marion Barry Avenue SE and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE. Frederick Douglass's house is here too - a reminder the area has real history, not just crime headlines.
Congress Heights
Also in Ward 8, Congress Heights runs along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE toward the Maryland border. Community members in Congress Heights point to a denial of resources and lack of investment - including more liquor stores than grocery stores with fresh produce - as drivers of the area's troubles. Gang activity after dark is the primary concern raised by local residents and MPD reports.
Deanwood
Deanwood is another high-crime area in Washington, DC, located in Northeast DC with a population of 29,798. Its violent crime rate runs 600% higher than the national average. Deanwood is situated on the north end of Ward 7 and is one of the oldest communities in the northeast quadrant, with many wood-frame and brick houses. The gap between its quiet residential appearance and its crime stats surprises many newcomers.
Brentwood
Brentwood remains one of D.C.'s highest-crime areas, particularly for robberies and assaults. Today, Brentwood is known for garbage centers, bus depots, construction plants, and a high rate of violent crime. It sits in Northeast DC, not to be confused with the wealthier Prince George's County suburb of the same name.
Shaw and Columbia Heights
These two Northwest neighborhoods are in transition and don't belong in the same category as the Ward 7 and 8 clusters, but they're worth flagging for visitors. Shaw has about 13,782 residents and a crime rate of 1,380 per 100,000 people - 49% more crime than the District overall and 266% more than the nation as a whole. Columbia Heights has a population of 34,875 and is known for a heavy gang presence. Both areas have seen rapid gentrification around 14th Street NW and 16th Street NW, so risk can vary block by block.
The bigger picture: DC crime is falling fast
Total violent crime for 2024 in the District of Columbia was down 35% from 2023 and hit its lowest point in over 30 years, according to data from the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office. Homicides fell 32%, robberies dropped 39%, and armed carjackings declined 53% compared to 2023.
The drop continued in 2025. MPD data through mid-December 2025 showed violent crime down 28% year over year, from 3,259 incidents in 2024 to 2,336 in 2025. Homicides fell 30%, continuing a multiyear trend of reaching historic lows, and robberies fell 36%.
Ward 8 itself felt those gains. MPD statistics showed a 32% drop in crime overall in Ward 8 and a 25% drop in Ward 7, compared with the same period the prior year - greater than the 13% drop citywide. Homicides across the two wards were down 60% in that same period.
The trend into 2026 is broadly positive, though uneven. During the first half of 2026, six of eight tracked offenses declined compared to the same period in 2025, with carjacking down 63%, motor vehicle theft down 54%, and homicide down 41%. Aggravated assault, however, rose 45%.
How to use this information
DC's MPD publishes real-time crime data at crimecards.dc.gov, where you can filter by neighborhood, offense type, and date range. That's the most current and granular tool available - more reliable than any static ranking.
Per-capita crime rates can be skewed by tourist traffic. An area's crime rate is calculated using its residential population, but many of the people moving through DC streets each day aren't residents - meaning high-traffic tourist zones can look worse than they are for actual residents, and vice versa.
The neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River - particularly along MLK Avenue SE, Alabama Avenue SE, and Good Hope Road SE - remain the areas where street violence is most concentrated, even as the raw numbers fall year after year.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
