The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Renton, WA
Renton is the ninth-largest city in Washington, with 96,100 residents in King County, about 11 miles southeast of downtown Seattle · Updated November 2026
Is Renton, WA safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B-, Renton has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 78% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, B+ against D+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Renton run from A to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe neighborhoods below.
B-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 581 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
22% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Renton as a whole, and 78% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Renton scores 581.
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 Renton, WA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Renton, 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 Renton
Vehicle theft stands out among B-graded cities. For the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 2.9 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; Renton has 11.5.
Aggravated assaults are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Renton runs 58% above the US rate, but aggravated assaults run 24% below it: 2.0 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
The safest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Renton
In Renton, 61% of residents live in areas graded A or B, 22% in areas graded C and 17% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Renton run from A to F; 11% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
61%22%17%
A or B 61%C 22%D or F 17%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
1Maple Heights-Lake Desire, southeastCar thefts run at less than half the rate in the rest of Renton.A-798
2Highlands Park & Kennydale, northThefts run at more than double the rate in the rest of Renton.B-545
3North Renton, westBurglaries run at more than double the rate in the rest of Renton.D+234
Neighborhood areas of Renton, ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Is crime going up in Renton?
Since 2019, reported property crime in Renton is down 22%, while violent crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults stayed at about 3.3 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 42 to 33 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 19% and property crime fell 27%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
RentonUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Renton. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Renton
Violent, US
Property, Renton
Property, US
2016
+1%
+4%
+36%
+15%
2017
-2%
+4%
+20%
+12%
2018
+2%
+0%
+16%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-1%
+4%
-2%
-8%
2021
-4%
+6%
+2%
-10%
2022
+14%
+5%
+12%
-6%
2023
+25%
+2%
+7%
-7%
2024
+1%
-4%
-22%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Renton
CrimeGrade™ estimates Renton has about 59 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 58% more than the US as a whole and 30% 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 Renton, about 31% 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 Renton
Renton has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Renton, 34% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 56% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (57%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (50%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (56%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Other places (28%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (43%)
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 Renton compares with nearby cities
Of the 10 cities closest to Renton, 6 have less crime. Mercer Island and East Renton Highlands have the least.
Two things set Renton apart: it has 28 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby, and 70 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places with both tend to report more theft and robbery than places with only one of them, 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 Renton: C- (26 of 100).28 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 94% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.70 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 86% 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. 75% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (22 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 67% of US city residents
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.30% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 69% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.8.9 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 64% 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.4.7% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 63% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Renton 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 Renton
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Renton about $1,643 a year per household, 36% 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 $150 million a year, or $1,562 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$7.7 million
$80
Rape
$2.7 million
$28
Robbery
$2.8 million
$29
Assault
$9.6 million
$100
Burglary
$3.8 million
$39
Theft
$8.9 million
$93
Vehicle theft
$17 million
$177
Arson
$230,000
$2
Vandalism
$10 million
$109
Total
$63 million
$657
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 Renton 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 Renton, WA average a SchoolGrade of B+: 54% of students test proficient, against 43% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Renton on SchoolGrade
