Most Dangerous Neighborhoods in Seattle (2024)
Seattle's open crime data has no reliable neighborhood population figure, so these SPD neighborhoods are ranked by severity-weighted reported incident volume, not a per-person rate. The SPD neighborhoods at the top of this list have the most reported incidents relative to other Seattle SPD neighborhoods.
Volume, not a safety rate. SPD neighborhood (MCPP) resident population is not reliably available for a per-100k rate, so no safety grade is published for any zone (see /crime-rate/methodology §6.6). The geographic unit is the SPD neighborhood (MCPP) (a policing/analysis boundary, not a resident-population neighborhood). relativeIndex ranks each zone by its VIOLENCE-WEIGHTED reported-incident volume (violent incidents weighted 3x property) against the other Seattle zones — it is NOT population-adjusted and must not be read as a safety rate. Offenses are grouped into three coarse buckets (violent / property / other) via a keyword classifier.
Ranked highest reported volume first
Not the same SPD neighborhoods as the safest neighborhoods in seattle list.
- 1Capitol Hill0/100
- 2Downtown Commercial26/100
- 3Northgate32/100
- 4Slu/Cascade34/100
- 5Queen Anne34/100
- 6University41/100
- 7First Hill44/100
- 8Roosevelt/Ravenna51/100
- 9Ballard South52/100
- 10Chinatown/International District58/100
- 11Lakecity59/100
- 12Central Area/Squire Park64/100
- 13Sandpoint66/100
- 14Bitterlake67/100
- 15North Beacon Hill68/100
- 16Belltown68/100
- 17Greenwood74/100
- 18Roxhill/Westwood/Arbor Heights75/100
- 19Mount Baker75/100
- 20Rainier Beach77/100
- 21Sodo78/100
- 22Pioneer Square78/100
- 23Ballard North78/100
- 24Alaska Junction78/100
- 25Fremont79/100
- 26Madrona/Leschi80/100
- 27Magnolia81/100
- 28Brighton/Dunlap81/100
- 29Wallingford82/100
- 30Judkins Park/North Beacon Hill84/100
- 31Georgetown85/100
- 32North Admiral86/100
- 33Highland Park87/100
- 34Mid Beacon Hill88/100
- 35High Point88/100
- 36New Holly89/100
- 37Claremont/Rainier Vista89/100
- 38Morgan90/100
- 39Rainier View91/100
- 40North Delridge91/100
Showing the top 40 of 59 SPD neighborhoods.
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Most dangerous neighborhoods in Seattle — FAQ
What is the most dangerous neighborhood in Seattle?
How are Seattle neighborhoods ranked?
Does this predict how safe a specific street is?
No area has zero risk
A high Crime Index score means lower reported crime relative to other US cities — it is not a guarantee of safety. Reported crime is not the same as actual crime. Research on the gap between crime that occurs and crime that gets reported to police — often called the "dark figure" of crime — estimates that roughly 40% of violent crime and about a third of property crime go unreported each year. Every index built on official statistics, including this one, necessarily undercounts real crime. That gap is exactly why homicide — the offense with the smallest dark figure — anchors the calculation instead of a more commonly reported but less reliable category like theft.
Scores on this page reflect FBI-reported data for 2024. See the full methodology →