Safe Neighborhood in South King County (Seattle, Federal Way: apartments, crime rate, house)

[bjcoulter]

Hello, I am new to this website, but wanted to find out info regarding moving my 21-year-old son to the Seattle area. He is looking into a small aviation college in Auburn (Northwest Aviation College) and therefore we would like to find him a small apartment nearby - Auburn, Kent, or Federal Way maybe. Is the crime really as bad as I am hearing? We currently live in the Reno-Lake Tahoe area in a very nice neighborhood (we don't have a lot of $) but bought an older house that was very run down, so we were able to afford a nicer neighborhood. At any rate, I am worried because my son is a very intelligent young man, but doesn't excel in social skills or street sense. He's lead a somewhat sheltered life, so I would really feel better if I knew he was in a safer neighborhood. Any thoughts!? Thanks so much.

[ccarrel]

Federal Way is the better bet. In terms of violent crime, FW has the lowest per capita violent crime rate of the large So. County cities (3.7 per 1000; Auburn's is 5.6 per; kent is 5.6 per, as well). I've lived in FW all my life and it's a very nice place to be.

Of course, there are neighborhoods and apartments that are better than others.

I suggest contacting the Federal Way Police Department to find out which
apartments are better than others. In the past, they've been really helpful with people who've had similar questions. Google city of Federal Way to get to their website and you can locate the police department contact info there. Good luck!

[bjcoulter]

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your response

[bjcoulter]

Whoops, sent off my response before I was done! Good ideas about checking with the police department. I will do that. I've heard good things about Federal Way ... Renton was another option. I suppose I can also check with the police department there. Appreciate your reply!

[FoxyKnox]

Federal Way and Auburn are connected by highway 18 which literally is a nightmare to drive at certain times of the day, so beware of that. Federal Way is nicer than Auburn and Kent, overall but Federal Way is much pricier. There are some pretty nice areas of Auburn though. Another place to think about would be the algona-pacific cities, located just south of Auburn off of highway 167. Heading north to auburn in the morning can be a bear, but it's really close and there are back roads. Algona-Pacific are new little communities and are filled with young couples and families who are buying their first homes because they can't afford Seattle prices. Definately check it out, probably a lot safer than the auburn/kent area in your price range.

[Xenobion]

Auburn isn't all that bad if he finds a place in the hills like Lakeland Hills. To the South right next to Auburn is one of the safest as far as the crimes you are afraid of and perhaps most boring small cities; Sumner. Its a quick commute, cheap, and well sort of boring. A commute from Puyallup wouldn't be unreasonable either. West part of Federal Way known as the Twin Lakes area is very nice too but the rest of Federal Way is a high density housing and commercial nightmare. I'd seriously consider commuting from North Pierce County before resorting to South King County.

But again when it comes to crime in these areas its a lot of drug use if not rape incidents. I'd say that generally crime in W. Washington is based off of something relating to the drug trade as the area is a major trail for distribution from Canada and well the area has one of the highest meth labs per capita in the Country.