Pioneer Square is a neighborhood of 3,860 residents in Seattle, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Pioneer Square in Seattle safe?
Pioneer Square is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of D, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 90% of Americans live. Violent crime grades D+ and property crime F. Seattle as a whole grades C-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Pioneer Square run from C to F, so check the map below.
D
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 193 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
10% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Pioneer Square as a whole, and 90% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Pioneer Square scores 193.
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 Pioneer Square, Seattle, WA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Pioneer Square in Seattle, 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 Pioneer Square
Robberies and aggravated assaults both run high. In Pioneer Square, each runs at more than triple the US rate: 12.5 robberies and 39.2 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 and 2.6 nationally.
Crime rates and types in Pioneer Square
CrimeGrade™ estimates Pioneer Square has about 263 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than triple the rate for the US as a whole and about triple the rate for Seattle 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.
Assault is the most common crime in Pioneer Square, about 39% of everything reported, and it also accounts for the largest share of what crime costs here.
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 Seattle
The Seattle Police Department polices Pioneer Square; these figures cover Seattle as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Seattle as a whole, 47% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 33% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (47%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (49%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (33%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (31%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (35%)
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 Pioneer Square compares with nearby neighborhoods
Pioneer Square has less crime than 6 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Transit, nightlife and walkability in Pioneer Square
Two things set Pioneer Square apart: it has 721 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby, and 15.5 bars and nightlife spots for every 1,000 residents, against 0.6 nationally. It also combines many jobs with busy transit: places with both tend to report more theft and robbery than places with only one of them, and robbery runs 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 Pioneer Square: A+ (93 of 100).721 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 99% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.15.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 99% 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. 84% of residents here live in walkable areas.A (88 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 90% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.887 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 99% 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 Pioneer Square
Crime costs Pioneer Square about $8,412 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, more than triple 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 $48 million a year, or $12,443 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 Pioneer Square 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. Pioneer Square 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
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 Pioneer Square, Seattle, WA average a SchoolGrade of C: 44% of students test proficient, against 40% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Pioneer Square on SchoolGrade
