Crime and Safety

Indicators featured in the Crime and Safety section of Vital Signs describe incidents and reports of crime in Baltimore’s neighborhoods. This chapter provides indicators for the following areas: 

• Overall Crime Rates 

• Emergency Calls for Specific Crimes or Accidents 

• Environmental Design 

Most of this data is sourced from Baltimore City’s Open Baltimore data portal. This source provides routinely updated datasets from the Baltimore Police Department, including 911 calls for service and crime incidents which are submitted in the national Uniform Crime Report (UCR) cooperative statistical reporting.  ¹   The street light outages indicator is sourced from 311 reports.  

A new Public Safety Accountability Dashboard, released by the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) in 2023, provides the public with details on crime incidents, arrests, and convictions to understand this data in summary and by neighborhood.  ²   This data is also synthesized into Vital Signs, enabling communities to relate crime statistics by Community Statistical Area (CSA) to other indicators analyzed by BNIA-JFI. 

Overall crime rates are measured through the following indicators: Part I offenses, violent offenses, gun-related homicides, and property crime rate. Incidents of crime reported in Part I of the UCR are considered the more serious criminal offenses. These offenses are categorized as either violent crimes (homicide, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery) or property crimes (burglary, larceny, and auto theft). The violent and property crime rates are derived from these two categories. The indicator for homicides committed with a gun/firearm is also derived from the Part I dataset. 

Between 2021 and 2022, the Part I crime rate in Baltimore City increased from 48.1 offenses per 1,000 residents to 53.8 offenses. Despite this increase, Baltimore City has seen slight and incremental reductions in Part I offenses since 2017, with a marked decline during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 rate is below pre-pandemic rates. The chart below demonstrates the trend over the decade.  

Downtown/Seton Hill had the highest Part I crime rate in 2022, 172.7 incidents per 1,000 residents. Downtown/Seton Hill consistently has the highest rates of crime in Baltimore City, which may be a function of two factors. The Downtown region has a high daytime population with employees, tourists, and individuals making transit connections where bus, light rail, and Metro lines intersect. The crime rate calculation uses total population, rather than daytime population, as its denominator. Until recently, the Downtown area did not have a significant residential population, which may have led to higher crime rates.  ³    

Other CSAs with high Part I crime rates in 2022 are Pigtown/Carroll Park (134.5 incidents per 1,000 residents), Southwest Baltimore (97.1 incidents per 1,000 residents), and Harbor East/Little Italy (90.3 incidents per 1,000 residents). 

The communities in 2022 with the lowest overall Part I crime rates were Cross-Country/Cheswolde (12.3 incidents per 1,000 residents), Mount Washington/Coldspring (14.2 incidents per 1,000 residents), and North Baltimore/Guildford/Homeland (18.4 incidents per 1,000 residents).  

The CSAs that experienced the largest increases in experienced an increases in Part I crime from 2021 to 2022 were Downtown/Seton Hill, (+30.2 incidents per 1,000 residents) and The Waverlies, (+17.3 incidents per 1,000 residents). Beechfield/Ten Hills/ West Hills experienced the largest decline of (–5.0 incidents per 1,000 residents) between 2021 and 2022.  

The rate of violent crimes per 1,000 residents is a subset of the overall Part I crimes that includes homicides, rapes, aggravated assaults, and robberies. Between 2021 and 2022, the violent crime rate for Baltimore City increased from 16.7 to 18.8 incidents per 1,000 residents. 

During this period, Midway/Coldstream (+11.6 incidents per 1,000 residents) and Downtown/Seton Hill (+9.4 incidents per 1000 residents) saw the greatest increases. Conversely, Sandtown-Winchester/Harlem Park (-5.8 incidents per 1,000 residents) and Clifton-Berea (-4.1 incidents per 1,000 residents) experienced the largest decreases.  

The communities in 2022 with the highest violent crime rates per 1,000 residents were Downtown/Seton Hill (63.2 incidents per 1,000 residents), Pigtown/Carroll Park (41.0 incidents per 1,000 residents), Upton/Druid Heights, (39.7 incidents per 1,000 residents), and Midway/Coldstream (39.2 incidents per 1,000 residents). 

Several CSAs in Baltimore had very low violent crime rates, including Mount Washington/Coldspring (2.4 incidents per 1,000 residents), Cross-Country/Cheswolde (3.3 incidents per 1,000 residents), and Greater Roland Park/Poplar Hill (3.6 incidents per 1,000 residents). 

In 2022, 334 homicides occurred in Baltimore. Out of that total, 292, or 87.4% of the deaths were from the use of a firearm. From 2021 to 2022, the rate of gun-related homicides in Baltimore City increased from 0.5 to 0.6 incidents per 1,000 residents. Since 2011 when Vital Signs began including this indicator, the Baltimore City gun homicide rate has steadily increased from 0.2 homicides per 1,000 population. Despite overall decreases in violent crime since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the homicide rate stayed about the same between 2021 and 2022.  

The CSAs with the highest rates of gun homicide in 2022 were Southwest Baltimore (2.4 deaths per 1,000 residents), Clifton-Berea (2.1 deaths per 1,000 residents), and Pimlico/Arlington/Hilltop (1.9 incidents per 1,000). In 2022 there were 7 CSAs without any gun-related homicides: Canton, Orchard Ridge/Armistead, Dickeyville/Franklintown, Greater Roland Park/Poplar Hill, Mount Washington/Coldspring, North Baltimore/Guilford/Homeland, South Baltimore. 

Part I property crimes include burglary, larceny, and auto theft. In most communities, property crimes are the predominant type of serious offenses that have occurred. In 2022, the Baltimore City property crime rate was 35.0 incidents per 1,000 residents, an increase from 31.4 in 2021. Since BNIA-JFI began tracking this indicator in 2011, the overall citywide rate has decreased from a high in 2011 of 48.6 incidents per 1,000. 

In 2022, the CSAs with the highest property crime rates were Downtown/Seton Hill (109.6 incidents per 1,000 residents), Pigtown/Carroll Park (93.5 incidents per 1,000 residents), Brooklyn/Curtis Bay/Hawkins Point (60.5 incidents per 1,000 residents), Southwest Baltimore (59.3 incidents per 1,000 residents), and Harbor East/Little Italy (57.1 incidents per 1,000 residents). The CSAs with the lowest property crime rates were Cross-County/Cheswolde (9 incidents per 1,000 residents), Mount Washinton/Coldspring (11.7 incidents per 1,000 residents), North Baltimore/Guilford/Homeland (14.2 incidents per 1,000 residents), and Greater Lauraville (14.9 incidents per 1,000 residents).  

Vital Signs 22 includes four indicators developed using the 911 emergency calls for services to the Baltimore City Police Department. 911 calls for service can originate from the public or be initiated by police officers while on duty. Indicators derived from these data include reported shootings, common assaults, reports of narcotics, and automotive accidents. Each of these indicators is presented per 1,000 residents allowing for comparison across CSAs. 

Between 2021 and 2022, the rate of calls for shootings citywide decreased from 4.1 to 3.5 calls per 1,000 residents. The CSAs with the highest rates of calls for shootings in 2022 were Downtown/Seton Hill (12.1 calls per 1,000 residents), Pimlico/Arlington/Hilltop (11.4 calls per 1,000 residents), Oldtown/Middle East (11.3 calls per 1,000 residents), Clifton-Berea (10.6 calls per 1,000 residents), and Madison/East End (10.0 calls per 1,000 residents).  

From 2021 to 2022, the rate of 911 calls for common assaults in Baltimore decreased from 63.6 to 51.2 calls per 1,000 residents. The CSAs with the highest rates of calls for common assault in 2022 include Downtown/Seton Hill (179.2 calls per 1,000 residents), Pigtown/Carroll Park (108.5 calls per 1,000 residents), Upton/Druid Heights (100 calls per 1,000 residents), and Southwest Baltimore (94.2 calls per 1,000 residents).  

All fifty-five CSAs had a decrease in common assault calls to 911 between 2021 and 2022.  

Between 2021 and 2022, the rate of 911 calls for narcotics decreased from 50.3 to 39.4 calls per 1,000 residents. Most CSAs experienced decreasing rates, most notably in Upton/Druid Heights (-178.2 calls per 1,000 residents), Southwest Baltimore (-123.4 calls per 1,000 residents), and Sandtown-Winchester/Harlem Park (-73.3 calls per 1,000 residents. Despite this trend, some communities experienced increases, such as Midway/Coldstream (+35.2 calls per 1,000 residents), Southeastern (+34.6 calls per 1,000 residents), and Morrell Park/Violetville (+33 calls per 1,000 residents).  

Overall, the CSAs with the highest rates of calls for narcotics in 2022 were Upton/Druid Heights (202.8 calls per 1,000 residents), Sandtown-Winchester/Harlem Park (161.3 calls per 1,000 residents), Southwest Baltimore (124.1 calls per 1,000 residents), and Oliver/Johnson Square (106.7 calls per 1,000 residents). The lowest rates of calls were in Cross-Country/Cheswolde (1.3 calls per 1,000 residents), South Baltimore (1.5 calls per 1,000 residents), Greater Roland Park/Poplar Hill (1.7 per 1,000 residents), and Canton (1.8 calls per 1,000 residents). 

In 2022, the Baltimore City rate of 911 calls to police for automobile accidents was 70.4 calls per 1,000, a decrease of 19.4 calls per 1,000 from 2021. In that year, the CSAs with the highest rates were Downtown/Seton Hill (266.4 calls per 1,000 residents), Greektown/Bayview (168.0 calls per 1,000 residents), Pigtown/Carroll Park (164 calls per 1,000 residents), Southeastern (158.5 calls per 1,000 residents), and Harbor East/Little Italy (145.6 calls per 1,000 residents). All five of these communities intersect or are adjacent to interstates and major highways: I-95, I-395, I-83, and I-895, as well as MD-295. These calls are indicative of crashes that happen on major roadways and arterial routes with a higher traffic density and higher speed limit compared to city streets and avenues.  

Excluding CSAs that contain interstates, the communities with other high rates of 911 calls for auto accidents include Oldtown/Middle East (143.3 calls per 1,000 residents) and Southwest Baltimore (109.3 calls per 1,000 residents).  

The rate of calls to the non-emergency 311 system to report street light outages is an indicator of Baltimore’s communities that may have high and persistent issues with public lighting. Areas with reports of high street light outages may have higher levels of potential victimization as darkness can provide a cover for a variety of property and violent offenses.  

In 2022, the Baltimore City rate of street light outages was 15.1 per 1,000 residents, a slight increase from 15 calls per 1,000 residents in 2021. The CSAs with the lowest rates of calls were Dickeyville/Franklintown (1.1 calls per 1,000 residents), Cherry Hill (4.5 calls per 1,000 residents), and Fells Point (6.7 calls per 1,000 residents). The CSAs with the highest rates of calls in 2022 were Pigtown/Carroll Park (29.5 calls per 1,000 residents), The Waverlies (27.7 calls per 1,000 residents), Greater Lauraville (24.5 calls per 1,000 residents), Madison/East End (22.5 calls per 1,000 residents), and Oliver/Johnson Square (22.1 calls per 1,000 residents).