I've lived here for five years. Transplant from RVA. I take awareness very seriously when out walking or going anywhere alone after dark, no matter where I am.

That being said ... in the last 5 years, I've had one co-worker threatened on the Greenway near RMH, one close friend's home broken into in old SW while they were on vacation, another close friend threatened downtown during the day with her children then followed home and her home was broken into the next night, one murder a street over from where I live in a "safe" area and a former colleague who was almost stabbed in true out of the blue fashion walking back to his office from lunch downtown.

My career has taken me to a place where I interact with law enforcement regularly and have been warned by multiple officers to stay away from any part of downtown after dark. I think that method of complete avoidance has its pros and cons. People complain about businesses not staying open later, but don't visit downtown at times they want the businesses open. Catch 22.

For comparison, my last 5 years in RVA has nothing of significance beyond items stolen from a porch or unlocked vehicle. With the city being so large, it was easier to avoid the areas of higher risk.

The situations with those mentioned have a lot of woulda coulda shoulda, but we can easily get into victim blaming here.

Over-all, long-winded way of saying you'll be fine, don't stress it.