The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Burien, WA
Burien is a city of 35,900 in King County, about 9 miles south of downtown Seattle · Updated November 2026
Is Burien, WA safe?
Crime in Burien is high by national standards, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of C+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 83% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Burien. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, B against D-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Burien run from A- to F, so check the map below.
C+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 482 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
17% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Burien as a whole, and 83% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Burien scores 482.
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 Burien, WA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Burien, 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
What stands out in Burien
Aggravated assaults are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Burien runs 56% above the US rate, but aggravated assaults run 31% below it: 1.8 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
Burglaries run high for a C-graded city. Burien has 5.7 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a C-graded US city, the figure is 2.5.
The safest and least safe parts of Burien
Crime varies widely across Burien: 42% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 40% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Burien run from A- to F; every part of Burien has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
42%18%40%
A or B 42%C 18%D or F 40%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Burien, the southwest side has the least crime and the east side the most.
Is crime going up in Burien?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Burien is up 16%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.6 to 4.1 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 34 to 33 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 13%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
BurienUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Burien. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Burien
Violent, US
Property, Burien
Property, US
2016
+36%
+4%
+48%
+15%
2017
+15%
+4%
+18%
+12%
2018
+17%
+0%
+9%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+29%
+4%
+24%
-8%
2021
+45%
+6%
+42%
-10%
2022
+39%
+5%
+19%
-6%
2023
+28%
+2%
+11%
-7%
2024
+16%
-4%
-3%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Burien
CrimeGrade™ estimates Burien has about 58 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 56% more than the US as a whole and 28% more than Washington.
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 is the most common crime in Burien, about 32% of everything reported, but vehicle theft 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 Burien
Burien has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Burien, 40% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 46% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (49%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Homes (61%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (53%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (55%)
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 Burien compares with nearby cities
Burien has less crime than 5 of its 10 nearest cities.
Two things set Burien apart: it has 27 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby, and 0.7 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery, and they run high here.
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Burien: C- (28 of 100).27 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 93% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.7 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 87% of US city residents
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. 53% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C (35 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 85% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.13.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 78% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.7.2% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 64% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.22% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 60% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Burien on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 Burien
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Burien about $1,707 a year per household, 42% more 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 $58 million a year, or $1,605 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.7 million
$75
Rape
$1.4 million
$39
Robbery
$1.9 million
$52
Assault
$4.2 million
$118
Burglary
$1.8 million
$51
Theft
$3.4 million
$94
Vehicle theft
$6.0 million
$168
Arson
$280,000
$8
Vandalism
$2.3 million
$65
Total
$24 million
$672
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 Burien 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.
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 Burien, WA average a SchoolGrade of D-: 36% of students test proficient, against 34% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Burien on SchoolGrade
