2015 Safest Places in Washington Study

If you're trying to decide where to live, one of the most important factors to include in your decision is whether or not the city is safe for you and your family. Everyone enjoys spending time in their neighborhoods if they're secure and free from significant criminal activity or threats. So, in an attempt to quantify which areas of Washington are most safe, the team at ValuePenguin decided to break down the data so we could help our readers understand the issue. Not only do we look at which cities and towns in WA are safest overall, we'll also analyze which places are safest inside of three different population buckets: large, midsize, and small cities. Keeping reading our report below to see where your town ended up:

The Top 5 Safest Places in Washington State

Three of our top five safest places in Washington were located in the eastern Seattle-metro area while the other two were in the southern half of the state. Crime scores for the elite group ranged from 176 to 265. To give some perspective, the "least safe" city in the state, Tukwila, came in at a score of 5,200.

1. Sammamish, WA

Located in King County, about a 30 minute drive from downtown Seattle, the City of Sammamish is no stranger to winning awards. Amongst past accolades they’ve received are Friendliest Town and Best Town to Live in the US, from Forbes and CNN respectively. Well, now they can add the “Safest City in Washington” trophy to their collection as the city has the 4th lowest violent crime and the 2nd lowest property crime per capita in the state.

Factor	Value
Population	49,805
Crime Score	176

2. Duvall, WA

Incorporated just over 100 years ago, Duvall was originally settled by the Duvall brothers, Francis and James, who both worked in the logging industry. Since then, Duvall has evolved into a quaint town of just over 7,000 residents, growing a whopping 62% since 2000. And thanks to Police Chief, Carey Hert, and the other LE officers in Duvall, the community ranks as the 2nd safest in WA for our 2015 study.

Factor	Value
Population	7,342
Crime Score	199.7

3. Snoqualmie, WA

Best known for its 268 feet cascading waterfall, the City of Snoqualmie has plenty of activities to keep everyone busy. From hiking trails, to the Northwest Railway Museum, to its close proximity to Seattle, Snoqualmie is a versatile city. The 12,000 citizens living in town will also be happy to know that Snoqualmie is the 3rd safest town in the Evergreen State. 

Factor	Value
Population	11,890
Crime Score	200.3

4. Ridgefield, WA

The smallest city inside of our Top 5, Ridgefield sits in southwestern Washington state right alongside the state border with Oregon. Originally home to the Chinook tribe, Ridgefield was settled by James Carty in 1840 and later incorporated in 1909. With the city’s “rolling hills, tranquil setting and Main Street America Charm,” it should come as little surprise that the city is one of the safest in all of Washington!

Factor	Value
Population	5,426
Crime Score	257

5. Selah, WA

A city famous for the delicious apples that it grows, Selah is home to over 7,000 residents. Those who are fortunate enough to live in Selah can easily enjoy the great outdoors where there are a multitude of hiking trails and climbing opportunities to enjoy year round. More into nature sightseeing? You'll run into all sorts of interesting animals in Selah from bighorn sheep to bald eagles! Beyond being a quiet agricultural city, Selah is also the 5th safest place to live in Washington.

Factor	Value
Population	7,376
Crime Score	265

Washington's Safest Places by Population

To make a more direct "apples to apples" comparison amongst WA city crime rates, we wanted to breakout the towns by population. Our small towns bucket consists of cities with fewer than 15,000 residents, midsize cities range from 15,000 to 30,000, and large cities with more than 30,000 citizens. Here is what this breakdown looks like:

Map of Safest Places in Washington

Our interactive map visually displays each of the cities and towns in Washington that were included in our study. If you want more details, just roll your mouse over each dot for the location name and crime score rank.

Full List of Washington Cities

Below is a complete rundown of the cities and towns we've included in our 2015 study of safest places in Washington. They're listed in order from safest to least safe with their corresponding "Crime Score" to the right of the city name. Assuming you can't find your city or town there are two possible reasons. First, this study only includes places with a population of 5,000 or greater. And second, the FBI doesn't receive crime data from every municipality. In that event, we won't have quantifiable data to analyze. 

Methodology

We sourced our data from 2013 FBI crime statistics by city, which provides the most recent data available. The raw data report included violent crimes (murder/manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) and property crimes (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) from all law enforcement agencies that participate in the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting program. We standardized the data to reflect violent and property crimes per 100k, to account for population. We then aggregated a "crime score". In order to calculate this, we weighted violent crime at 90% and property crime at 10%; though property crime is far more prevalent, we figured that the violent crime data points are more relevant when calculating the relative safety of these cities. We then ranked the cities relative to each other based on their crime scores. Additionally, we only looked at cities/towns in Washington that had populations larger than 5,000.

If you're looking for an alphabetical list of the cities in Washington and where they stack up in terms of safety here is a table you can look at that makes finding your town easier:

Rank	City	Population	Violent Crime per 100k	Property Crime per 100k	Crime Score
88	Aberdeen	16,408	353	5,753	1,882
58	Airway Heights	6,441	93	5,170	1,144
48	Anacortes	15,980	131	3,498	983
82	Arlington	18,425	201	6,100	1,687
96	Auburn	74,565	393	5,289	2,150
14	Bainbridge Island	23,326	51	1,449	417
20	Battle Ground	18,146	72	1,934	550
50	Bellevue	127,678	98	3,093	1,015
45	Bonney Lake	18,156	154	3,002	934
24	Bothell	35,007	51	2,417	653
100	Bremerton	39,754	571	4,895	2,308
9	Brier	6,303	48	1,364	341
91	Burien	49,822	355	5,243	1,982
98	Burlington	8,492	188	9,574	2,213
19	Camas	20,848	67	1,861	532
84	Centralia	16,549	369	4,822	1,718
62	Chehalis	7,312	150	4,664	1,162
38	Cheney	11,117	171	2,582	834
94	Clarkston	7,295	370	7,498	2,091
30	College Place	8,913	90	2,951	743
10	Connell	5,913	152	524	357
54	Covington	18,526	184	3,303	1,058
76	Des Moines	30,684	319	3,829	1,503
7	Dupont	8,999	100	656	308
2	Duvall	7,342	27	790	199.7
51	East Wenatchee	13,509	185	3,250	1,015
29	Edgewood	9,542	94	2,798	725
44	Edmonds	40,615	172	2,440	919
59	Ellensburg	18,367	180	3,762	1,147
31	Enumclaw	11,431	79	3,044	762
68	Ephrata	7,986	213	5,184	1,386
108	Everett	105,129	421	6,530	2,591
93	Federal Way	92,741	314	5,578	2,087
49	Ferndale	12,173	214	3,015	1,009
109	Fife	9,380	949	6,354	2,958
41	Fircrest	6,609	242	2,345	864
81	Gig Harbor	7,699	286	6,066	1,679
32	Grandview	11,048	172	2,272	772
25	Issaquah	33,365	63	2,428	677
99	Kelso	11,802	610	5,770	2,293
16	Kenmore	21,531	65	1,486	449
75	Kennewick	76,508	314	3,239	1,481
85	Kent	124,359	257	4,503	1,736
56	Kirkland	51,288	138	3,523	1,122
61	Lacey	44,298	178	3,366	1,154
17	Lake Forest Park	13,088	38	1,887	459
40	Lake Stevens	29,388	150	2,504	861
107	Lakewood	59,057	694	4,489	2,561
6	Liberty Lake	7,979	38	1,203	301
104	Longview	36,374	467	6,656	2,476
8	Lynden	12,808	70	984	331
95	Lynnwood	36,396	288	6,767	2,134
13	Maple Valley	24,644	61	1,335	414
67	Marysville	63,153	219	3,781	1,381
11	Mercer Island	23,969	33	1,514	397
28	Mill Creek	18,806	138	2,031	699
63	Milton	7,076	240	4,042	1,194
74	Monroe	17,562	382	3,513	1,475
106	Moses Lake	21,410	481	7,356	2,530
83	Mount Vernon	32,450	274	5,122	1,712
42	Mountlake Terrace	20,286	158	2,696	887
27	Mukilteo	20,707	68	2,617	697
23	Newcastle	10,928	110	2,160	636
18	Normandy Park	6,556	15	2,486	500
53	North Bend	6,094	181	3,905	1,047
33	Oak Harbor	22,288	139	2,360	785
35	Ocean Shores	5,632	124	3,161	802
73	Olympia	48,046	273	3,724	1,447
36	Orting	6,913	159	2,777	808
90	Othello	7,577	620	4,527	1,961
26	Pacific	6,911	145	2,228	678
55	Pasco	67,099	235	2,434	1,098
89	Port Angeles	19,053	493	4,561	1,926
103	Port Orchard	11,818	626	6,507	2,472
70	Port Townsend	9,112	450	2,985	1,393
46	Poulsbo	9,429	202	2,948	947
22	Prosser	5,817	155	1,857	612
12	Pullman	31,895	85	1,066	412
101	Puyallup	38,532	270	7,856	2,358
72	Quincy	7,085	254	5,208	1,443
39	Redmond	57,263	68	2,908	837
87	Renton	96,657	263	5,109	1,863
43	Richland	52,465	181	2,224	909
4	Ridgefield	5,426	18	1,216	257
1	Sammamish	49,805	22	552	176
105	SeaTac	27,896	617	5,628	2,485
110	Seattle	642,814	585	5,582	3,150
78	Sedro Woolley	10,652	169	6,299	1,575
5	Selah	7,376	-	1,369	265
71	Sequim	6,626	196	5,780	1,441
97	Shelton	9,780	368	7,669	2,191
52	Shoreline	54,762	146	3,099	1,046
66	Snohomish	9,323	247	4,280	1,291
3	Snoqualmie	11,890	25	757	200.3
112	Spokane	209,524	687	9,322	4,125
92	Spokane Valley	90,835	254	5,849	2,017
34	Stanwood	6,476	139	2,903	792
21	Steilacoom	6,099	213	1,049	561
79	Sumner	9,575	303	5,399	1,618
65	Sunnyside	16,099	261	3,721	1,277
111	Tacoma	203,226	869	6,549	3,814
80	Toppenish	9,029	421	4,652	1,669
113	Tukwila	19,765	830	16,742	5,201
57	Tumwater	18,343	224	3,336	1,141
77	Union Gap	6,059	182	6,618	1,561
60	University Place	31,708	290	2,504	1,151
86	Vancouver	166,535	356	3,563	1,767
64	Wapato	5,067	434	2,664	1,217
37	Washougal	14,733	197	2,111	809
15	West Richland	12,905	116	1,069	434
47	Woodinville	11,325	177	3,232	978
69	Woodland	5,535	343	4,336	1,389
102	Yakima	93,589	503	5,005	2,369