Safest & Most Dangerous Neighborhoods in Boston

Neighborhoods ranked: 19
Reports, 30 days: 2,361
Violent, 30 days: 596
Violent / sq mi: 12; city-wide, median 14

Safest neighborhoods in Boston#

The 9 Boston neighborhoods with the fewest violent crime reports per square mile over the last 30 days. Low numbers mean few reports where people live and work, not that nothing ever happens there.

Safest neighborhoods in Boston
#	Neighborhood	Violent / sq mi	Violent	All reports
1	West Roxbury	2.4	13	58
2	Roslindale	3.3	12	49
3	Hyde Park	3.9	17	99
4	Charlestown	5.1	7	24
5	East Boston	6.8	32	93
6	Allston/Brighton	7.0	31	154
7	Jamaica Plain	11	30	85
8	South Boston	12	36	166
9	Fenway/Kenmore	13	15	68

Most dangerous neighborhoods in Boston#

The 9 neighborhoods with the most violent crime reports per square mile. Downtowns, nightlife districts and transit hubs rank high partly because so many people pass through them; a report is where an incident was recorded, not a judgment on the people who live there.

Neighborhoods with the most violent crime reports in Boston
#	Neighborhood	Violent / sq mi	Violent	All reports
1	Financial District/Downtown	99	33	141
2	West End	55	16	40
3	Back Bay	35	20	153
4	South End	34	35	165
5	Mission Hill	30	18	42
6	Roxbury	27	107	381
7	North End	22	6	18
8	Beacon Hill	15	5	40
9	Dorchester	14	87	360

All 22 Boston neighborhoods#

Every neighborhood, safest first (1 = the fewest violent crime reports per square mile). Neighborhoods under 0.2 square miles are listed without a rank: a single report would swing their figure.

Boston neighborhoods ranked by violent crime reports per square mile
#	Neighborhood	Violent / sq mi	Violent	All reports
1	West Roxbury	2.4	13	58
2	Roslindale	3.3	12	49
3	Hyde Park	3.9	17	99
4	Charlestown	5.1	7	24
5	East Boston	6.8	32	93
6	Allston/Brighton	7.0	31	154
7	Jamaica Plain	11	30	85
8	South Boston	12	36	166
9	Fenway/Kenmore	13	15	68
10	Mattapan	14	38	134
11	Dorchester	14	87	360
12	Beacon Hill	15	5	40
13	North End	22	6	18
14	Roxbury	27	107	381
15	Mission Hill	30	18	42
16	South End	34	35	165
17	Back Bay	35	20	153
18	West End	55	16	40
19	Financial District/Downtown	99	33	141
—	Bay Village	—	20	44
—	Chinatown	—	8	20
—	Government Center/Faneuil Hall	—	10	27

How this ranking works#

Data: every crime report Boston PD published for the last 30 days, placed in a neighborhood from its block-level location.
Measure: violent crime reports (assault, robbery, homicide, sex offenses and similar) per square mile of the neighborhood, so large and small areas compare fairly.
Limits:reports are preliminary and are not convictions; departments do not publish every incident; busy areas count visitors' incidents too. Treat the ranking as a starting point and check the blocks you care about on the map.
Boundaries: City of Boston neighborhood boundaries. 2 reports fell outside these outlines (parks, airports, the edge of the city) and are not counted.

Questions#

What is the safest neighborhood in Boston?

By violent crime reports per square mile over the last 30 days, West Roxbury ranks first, with 13 violent reports on 5.4 square miles. Roslindale and Hyde Park follow.

What is the most dangerous neighborhood in Boston?

Financial District/Downtown has the most violent crime reports per square mile right now (99, against a city median of 14). Rankings shift month to month, and a few blocks often account for most of a neighborhood's reports.

How often is this ranking updated?

Warden recomputes it every few hours from Boston PD's open-data feed. Last computed Nov 4, 8:14 AM ET.

About this data#

Boston Police Department via bostonopendata-boston.opendata.arcgis.com. Locations are approximate, usually the block. All agencies: data sources.

Neighborhood rankings in other cities#

Boston crime map · All crime maps

Safest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Boston