Safety index · Capitol Hill, Seattle · data through August 2026
Is Portage Bay safe?
Portage Bay shows a typical level of reported crime for Seattle. Its SafeRoute safety index is 54 out of 100 — right at the citywide median of 54, ranking 47th of 94 Seattle neighborhoods — based on 351 incidents reported to the SPD within 1 km of the neighborhood center over the 8 months to August 2026.
DATA THROUGH AUGUST 2026 · 8 MONTHS OF DATA
The 0–100 scale is calibrated to Seattle — a typical Seattle neighborhood sits near 54. It ranks Portage Bay against other neighborhoods here, and cannot be read against a score in another city.
Most of what's reported here is property-related — burglary alone is 23% of reports — rather than violence against strangers, though the full mix below is worth a look.
Timing matters here: about 31% of severity-weighted incidents are reported overnight (midnight–6 a.m.), so route choice late at night matters more than the headline number suggests.
Where incidents cluster
What's reported here
| Burglary | 79 · 23% | |
| Vehicle crime | 137 · 39% | |
| Other theft | 65 · 19% | |
| Violent crime | 20 · 6% | |
| Criminal damage & arson | 27 · 8% | |
| Other | 16 · 5% |
When it happens
Severity-weighted share of reported incidents by time of day, from police incident timestamps.
Walking in Portage Bay at night?
SafeRoute scores every walking route against the same live crime data on this page — and shows how much of each route runs on lit streets. Pick the safer way, share your walk, and check in when you arrive. Free, no account.
Get SafeRoute on the App StoreNearby areas
- Eastlake50/100 · Moderate
- Montlake74/100 · Moderate
- University of Washington42/100 · Elevated
- University District21/100 · High risk
- Wallingford41/100 · Elevated
Common questions
Is Portage Bay safe at night?
Moderate overall (safety index 54/100). About 60% of severity-weighted incidents in Portage Bay are reported between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. At night, prefer lit, busier streets — a block or two of detour often avoids the clusters on the map above.
What is the most common crime in Portage Bay?
Burglary — 79 of 351 incidents (23%) reported within 1 km of the neighborhood center over the 8 months to August 2026.
How is the Portage Bay 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 scale is calibrated within Seattle, so scores compare neighborhoods to each other and cannot be read against another city's.