The Seattle metro area, the 15th-largest in the US, is home to 4.06 million residents; Seattle itself is the largest city in Washington · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in the Seattle area?
The Seattle area earns an A- for violent crime, with more violent crime than the neighborhoods where 66% of Americans live. Assaults make up 87% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. The city of Seattle itself grades B- for violent crime.
A-
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 777 of 1,000More violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
34% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than the Seattle area as a whole, and 66% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. The Seattle area scores 777.
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 violent crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its violent crime with the people who spend time there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy downtown or nightlife strip can show red while the homes around it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a solid connection. Compare high speed internet in Seattle, WA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Seattle area, 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 about violent crime in the Seattle area
Robberies run high in Beacon Hill, Rainier Beach & Columbia City. In this part of southeast Seattle, they run at about triple the rate in the rest of Seattle.
Where violent crime is lowest and highest in the Seattle area
Most of the Seattle area grades well for violent crime: 84% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 8% in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across the Seattle area run from A+ to F.
84%
A or B 84%C 8%D or F 8%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhoods of Seattle
1Sunset Hill, Ballard & Greenwood, northwestAggravated assaults run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Seattle.B+738
2Magnolia, Queen Anne & Interbay, westAggravated assaults run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Seattle.B+732
Neighborhood areas of the city of Seattle, ranked by violent crime 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.
Cities and towns in the Seattle metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by violent crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Is violent crime going up in the Seattle area?
Reported violent crime in the Seattle area peaked in 2022 and has fallen 17% since, back near its 2019 level. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.6 to 3.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 11%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Seattle areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the Seattle area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Seattle area
Violent, US
2016
-1%
+4%
2017
-1%
+4%
2018
+2%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-2%
+4%
2021
+15%
+6%
2022
+30%
+5%
2023
+21%
+2%
2024
+8%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in the Seattle area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Seattle area has about 11 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 19% less than the US as a whole and close to Washington.
All violent crime
Assaults
Robbery
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Violent crime here includes simple assaults, which the FBI's violent crime rate leaves out.
Assault is the most common violent crime in the Seattle area, about 87% of the total.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a violent crime with the people who spend time in an area, not only the people who live there. 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 violent crime happens in the Seattle area
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across the Seattle area, 2022 to 2024.
In the Seattle area, 40% of aggravated assaults happen at a home, against 53% nationally. Robberies happen most often at stores and businesses: 49% of them.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Robbery
Stores and businesses (49%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (40%)
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.
Violent crime in the Seattle area and nearby metro areas
Of the 10 metro areas closest to the Seattle area, 6 have less violent crime. The Provo area and the Boise area have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Seattle area. Beside each violent crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Seattle area is safer than 69% of them.
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, one sets the Seattle area apart: it has 29 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. Places like that tend to report more robbery, and it runs high here.
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for the Seattle area: D+ (25 of 100).29 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 93% of Americans in metro areas
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.30% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 63% of Americans in metro areas
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 violent crime costs the Seattle area
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs the Seattle area about $4.67 billion a year, or $1,150 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $1.01 billion, or $249 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering are about 78% of that full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$299 million
$74
Rape
$89 million
$22
Robbery
$122 million
$30
Assault
$501 million
$123
Total
$1.01 billion
$249
How CrimeGrade™ works
The violent crime CrimeGrade™ covers murder, rape, robbery and assault, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each violent crime against the people who spend time in an area, so a busy downtown is graded on its workers and visitors as well as its residents.
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. These figures cover the whole Seattle metro area. 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.
