Ruston is a city of 951 in Pierce County, about 25 miles south of downtown Seattle · Updated November 2026
Is Ruston, WA safe?
Ruston has more crime than most of the country: an overall CrimeGrade™ of C-, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 87% of Americans live. Violent crime grades B- and property crime F.
C-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 360 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
13% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Ruston as a whole, and 87% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Ruston scores 360.
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 Ruston, WA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Ruston, 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 Ruston
CrimeGrade™ estimates Ruston has about 67 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 79% more than the US as a whole and 47% 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 Ruston, about 33% of everything reported, but assault costs more, because each one does far 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 Ruston
Ruston has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 59% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (71%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (59%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (36%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Ruston compares with nearby cities
Of the 10 cities closest to Ruston, 8 have less crime. Fox Island and Vashon have the least.
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Ruston about $2,078 a year per household, 72% 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 $2.0 million a year, or $2,099 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$26,000
$27
Rape
$37,000
$39
Robbery
$12,000
$13
Assault
$240,000
$257
Burglary
$43,000
$45
Theft
$110,000
$113
Vehicle theft
$130,000
$133
Arson
$3,700
$4
Vandalism
$110,000
$118
Total
$710,000
$749
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 Ruston 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 Ruston, WA average a SchoolGrade of A-: 55% of students test proficient, against 50% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Ruston on SchoolGrade
