District safety · Seattle · data through November 2026
How safe is Downtown Seattle?
Downtown Seattle covers 8 neighborhoods in SafeRoute's Seattle index. Its median safety index is 10/100 — below the citywide median of 53, so more is reported around a typical neighborhood here than across Seattle. Pioneer Square scores highest at 13/100; Denny Triangle lowest at 8/100.
These figures describe reported crime around each neighborhood's center — they are informational, not a judgment of any community. 0 of 8 neighborhoods here rate low risk, 0 moderate, 0 elevated and 8 high risk.
Every neighborhood in Downtown, safest first
| Neighborhood | Index | Band | Incidents |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Pioneer Square | 13/100 | High risk | 3,023 |
| 2 Belltown | 11/100 | High risk | 3,950 |
| 3 International District | 11/100 | High risk | 3,891 |
| 4 Pike-Market | 10/100 | High risk | 4,243 |
| 5 First Hill | 9/100 | High risk | 4,874 |
| 6 Yesler Terrace | 9/100 | High risk | 4,564 |
| 7 Central Business District | 8/100 | High risk | 5,398 |
| 8 Denny Triangle | 8/100 | High risk | 5,595 |
Walking in Downtown Seattle at night?
SafeRoute scores every walking route against the same official crime data on this page — and shows how much of each route runs on lit streets. Compare the routes and share your walk. Free, no account.
Get SafeRoute on the App StoreHow Downtown compares across Seattle
| Districts (safest first) | Median index | Neighborhoods |
|---|---|---|
| Magnolia | 78/100 | 3 |
| Greater Duwamish | 72/100 | 5 |
| Beacon Hill | 72/100 | 4 |
| West Seattle | 70/100 | 8 |
| Northeast | 70/100 | 8 |
| Lake City | 63/100 | 5 |
| Northgate | 62/100 | 4 |
| Delridge | 61/100 | 6 |
| Northwest | 59/100 | 5 |
| North Central | 58/100 | 4 |
| Capitol Hill | 53/100 | 5 |
| Ballard | 50/100 | 5 |
| Central Area | 49/100 | 6 |
| Queen Anne | 47/100 | 4 |
| Rainier Valley | 44/100 | 6 |
| Cascade | 42/100 | 3 |
| University District | 22/100 | 3 |
| Downtown (this page) | 10/100 | 8 |
Is Seattle safe at night? See which neighborhoods see the most reported crime after dark →
Common questions
What is the safest neighborhood in Downtown Seattle?
Pioneer Square has the highest SafeRoute safety index in Downtown Seattle, at 13/100 (high risk), from 3,023 reported incidents within 1 km of its center. Belltown (11/100) and International District (11/100) follow.
Which neighborhood in Downtown Seattle has the most reported crime?
Denny Triangle has the lowest index in Downtown Seattle, at 8/100, with 5,595 reported incidents within 1 km of its center. A low score means more is reported around that center, which busy commercial and transport areas produce simply by having more people in them — it is not a measure of how dangerous a resident's street is.
Is Downtown Seattle safe?
Across its 8 neighborhoods the median SafeRoute safety index is 10/100, against 53 across Seattle. 0 rate low risk, 0 moderate, 0 elevated and 8 high risk. These describe reported crime only and vary widely within the district — check the individual neighborhood rather than reading one number for the whole of it.
How is the SafeRoute safety index calculated?
SafeRoute weights each incident reported to the Seattle Police Department by severity (violence weighs more than shoplifting), sums the last available period within 1 km of the neighborhood center, and normalizes against citywide crime rates onto a 0–100 scale — higher is safer. It describes reported crime only; it is not a guarantee of safety. The figure shown for Downtown Seattle is the median of its 8 neighborhoods — the district is not measured separately.
Methodology
Each incident reported to the Seattle Police Department (via Seattle Open Data) is weighted by severity — violence counts for more than shoplifting. For every neighborhood we sum weighted incidents within 1 km of its center, and normalize against citywide crime rates onto a 0–100 index, higher = safer. Boundaries are the Seattle City GIS Neighborhood Map Atlas — 94 neighborhoods grouped into 20 districts (so Capitol Hill and West Seattle, which are districts, appear as section headings). Because Seattle's dense downtown far outweighs its residential neighborhoods, the index is calibrated to the citywide median so a typical neighborhood reads mid-scale. Time-of-day charts use SPD incident timestamps, severity-weighted. Pages regenerate as new data is published.
The index compares neighborhoods within Seattle. It is not comparable between cities: each police force publishes a different set of offences over a different period — Seattle's figures cannot be read against another city's on the same 0–100 scale.