What is the safest area within the city limits of D.C.?

Question

Cost of living aside, what neighborhood/area is the absolute safest to live in in within the city limits of DC?

Answer 1

I lived in DC for 9 years, and just moved 2 years ago....Without a doubt for relative safety, and if wanting a nice area with actual things to do, check out Cleveland Park or Glover Park.
Cleveland Park has a Red Line Metro stop, lots of services like restaurants and stores, and a younger vibe.
It has a feel of a small town within the city.
Glover Park is a bit less convenient if you don't have a car, if you do have a car you'll definitely want to live here since parking is much easier. There is not a Metro station here. However there are a couple of very frequent bus routes through here, one in particular (the D2) gets you to the Dupont Circle Metro pretty quickly. You may say, yuck... a bus, but you'll find in this area the people who ride will be much like yourself.
Glover Park is different from most of the city in that it is pretty quiet. It's heavily wooded in much of the neighborhood...lots of trees, grass and parks. There are quite a number of younger working professionals, just like in Cleveland Park, but also many grad students from Georgetown University. Georgetown is a few minutes south, which is a fun asset.
Bottom line if you want hustle bustle in the city, go for Cleveland Park. If you want some peace and quiet after work, with the option to go out nearby to find it at night or on the weekend...choose Glover Park.

Answer 2

Capitol Hill has double police protection: Metro Police and US Capitol Police. The Northwest of the city, west of Rock Creek Park, is also generally considered to be safer. But as the map linked below shows, no part of the city is entirely free from serious crime.

As you can see, Pennsylvania Ave., NW is not the safest neighborhood in the center of DC! On the other hand, I lived and worked in several parts of DC for nearly four years, and the most serious crime I experienced personally was some kids stealing some chocolate from my classroom.

Answer 3

I've lived in DC for over 10 years and I would say that the absolute safest area is certainly the upper northwest section of the city. The area is called tenleytown (near american university), and reaches up to the friendship heights neighborhood. It's a very affluent area, mostly boring white families and it has a real suburban feel to it (too boring for my taste). The next best spot is cleveland park (it's about a mile further in town - more accessible by bus and metro and it's a bit more exciting (though very safe).

I think that generally as long as you can stay in the mid to upper northwest quadrant you'll find it very safe (though rent and cost of living there is much higher than what you'd find in other parts of the city).

The capitol hill area (in southeast) is also a great place especially near the eastern market metro station.

Answer 4

Here's a map of the neighborhoods of the city. cityhttp://www.washingtonsbestaddress.com/neighborhood_map.htm
Anything West of the Park (the green running North and South) is safe.
Here's a Metro Map so you can see which neighborhoods are closest to Metro stops.
http://www.wmata.com/metrorail/systemmap.cfm
Here's a neighborhood map with some of the streets for more detail http://www.wmata.com/maps/metrorail_street_map.cfm
At this site if you click on BUS MAPS you can see which busses run to and from these neighborhoods.
http://www.wmata.com/tripplanner/maps.cfm
Hope this helps.

Answer 5

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Answer 6

Capitol Hill

Answer 7

Capital Hill is nice. The closer to DC the worse. Stay like NW of town.

Answer 8

1600 pennsylvania avenue.

Answer 9

Pentagon! Dead center?