What are safe areas within West Seattle?

[pandaundercover]

My husband and I may be moving up there next spring from AZ. are the neighborhoods around UoW safe? Some friends of ours recently got relocated up to Tacoma and were shocked by the high crime up there, and they also said Seattle doesn't look much safer. Is it really that unsafe and bad up there?

[ttaleg]

Originally Posted by AT-AT28

My sister and bro in law lived slighty north of the Shorewood area for a few years near west Seattle Resevior and they stated it got pretty sketchy and unsafe in that area with a lot of murders, shootings and homicides along with gang activity, so i'm gonna be avoiding that are when I hopefully relocate to Seattle this year

um ya, i'm moving to Seattle from Milwaukee and have been doing research. Sorry but "a lot of murders" just isn't true. Compared to Milwaukee, Seattle is nothing when it comes to crime. Put it this way, Seattle is roughly the same size (600k) proper and Seattle will have about 25 murders a year vs. 150-200 murders in a year in Milwaukee. Also, the jumpings, roberies, etc are wayyy more. one cant walk around my neighborhood (especially at night) without having to watch and worry about it

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by wlw2009

Just don't live anywhere near the following areas in Seattle:

White Center, Skyway, Rainier Valley, Lake City, Bitter Lake, International District, some of Capitol Hill. I've taken the liberty for you:



Can I get a thumbs up for the wonderful piece of art I just created?

There's nothing wrong with Lake City, and Capitol Hill is fine, too. People on another thread are recommending Capitol Hill, the International District, First Hill and even the Central District for single women as perfectly safe.

[fnh]

It's true! I've lived in both Lake City and currently the Central District with young children and have never felt threatened. Just last night DH, the kids and I walked from the Westlake Center tree lighting to the Sorrento Hotel on First Hill for drinks by the fireplace, from there we caught the bus to Madrona for dinner followed by Molly Moon's ice cream (darn, kids are persuasive), then we all walked home pretty late to and through the Central District.

I know there are areas of Seattle that are not super clean and fancy, but I don't know of any places in Seattle that I would avoid outright, places such as ttaleg describes.

Edit: Oops, I just realized after posting that this is a resurrected thread.

[BellevueNative]

Since the thread has been resurrected by a few folks now, I'll add my .02...

People in Seattle have a tendency to call places "sketchy" or dangerous just because they're dirty, industrial or blue collar in appearance. We have no true ghettos here, and no neighborhoods I would absolutely not drive through (something many other cities have). White Center, South Park, Skyway and Rainier Beach are supposedly bad areas, but it's so easy to avoid them (I guess I haven't had reason to venture there too many times in the 30+ years I've lived here) that I can't even really confirm it.

The homicides in Seattle proper number just 17 this year to date, IIRC. That includes anyone who may have been shot by a police officer, as well as self-defense. That is pretty tiny for a city our size. I don't know all the cases, but I'm willing to bet that in 90% of those cases the victims knew their attackers. And there are many cities surrounding Seattle proper that haven't had a homicide in years.