Balboa is a neighborhood of 6,400 residents in Spokane, about 5 miles northwest of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Balboa in Spokane safe?
Crime in Balboa is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 64% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Balboa. Violent crime grades A- and property crime B. Spokane as a whole grades B-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Balboa run from A to B-, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 749 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
36% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Balboa as a whole, and 64% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Balboa scores 749.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Balboa, Spokane, WA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Balboa in Spokane, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
Crime rates and types in Balboa
CrimeGrade™ estimates Balboa has about 46 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 24% more than the US as a whole and 44% less than Spokane as a whole.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Theft makes up about 44% of crime reported in Balboa. Assault is less common but costs more, because each one does more harm.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Spokane
The Spokane Police Department polices Balboa; these figures cover Spokane as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Spokane as a whole, 64% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 37% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (64%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (36%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (37%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (41%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (39%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Balboa compares with nearby neighborhoods
Balboa has less crime than 7 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Two things set Balboa apart: it has 0% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally, and 2.6% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places like that tend to report less robbery and car theft, yet car theft runs higher here than that would suggest.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.under 1% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 98% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.98% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 93% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault. 94% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (13 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 87% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.2.6% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 91% of residents of US city neighborhoods
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Balboa
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Balboa about $1,006 a year per household, 17% less than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $6.4 million a year, or $999 per resident.
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Balboa means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them. Balboa is a good example: many people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks worse than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Balboa, Spokane, WA average a SchoolGrade of B: 50% of students test proficient, against 47% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Balboa on SchoolGrade
