Puget Sound · Washington
Is Burien Safe? Crime Rates, Safest Neighborhoods & Local Reality (2026)
Burien doesn't have a simple safety story, and any guide that pretends otherwise is doing you a disservice. The city sits at a genuine crossroads — between the suburban calm of its western waterfront neighborhoods and the higher-activity corridors that run through its commercial center and northern edges. Crime rates here are measurably higher than national averages, but the experience of living in Burien varies so dramatically by neighborhood that two residents a mile apart will describe entirely different realities.
What the numbers reflect most accurately is geography and density. The areas closest to commercial corridors — downtown retail zones, high-traffic arterials — see the kinds of opportunistic property crime that follows foot traffic and parking. The quieter western neighborhoods that back up to the Puget Sound bluff, or the residential pockets in the south, experience something closer to low-key suburban life. Understanding this divide is more useful than any single crime statistic.
This guide breaks down what the data actually shows, where those numbers cluster geographically, how Burien compares to its neighbors, and what locals have learned to do — and not do — to navigate daily life here comfortably.
FBI estimates for 2024 place Burien's overall crime rate at roughly 3,820 per 100,000 residents — noticeably higher than the national figure of around 2,752. That gap is real and worth taking seriously. At the same time, the trend line matters: local police data suggests total crime fell by approximately 13% between 2023 and 2024, with violent crime declining around 7.5% in the same period. The five-year trajectory shows consistent improvement, which is something aggregate safety rankings rarely capture.
The structural explanation for the elevated numbers isn't hard to find. Burien sits adjacent to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, has a dense commercial core along SW 148th Street, and shares its northern boundary with neighborhoods that have historically had higher crime activity. Areas with heavy retail concentration — where vehicles park, people congregate, and transactions happen — tend to generate disproportionately high incident counts per resident, even when the actual risk to any given individual is lower than the raw rate implies.
Compared to national and state averages, Burien's property crime rate runs roughly twice the national average, while its violent crime rate sits closer to about 16% above the national average on a five-year basis. That asymmetry is important: Burien's elevated overall numbers are driven far more by what happens to your car than by any risk of personal confrontation. The city's violent crime index of around 4.8 per 1,000 residents is meaningfully different from its property crime rate of approximately 33 per 1,000 — a distinction that shapes the practical reality of daily life here in ways that aggregate rankings miss entirely.
Commonly reported around 4.8 per 1,000 residents annually, Burien's violent crime rate places it in the lower half of concerning — not trivial, but not the story most people imagine when they hear the aggregate ranking. The 2024 data recorded two homicides, down from five the year prior. Aggravated assault runs at roughly 0.6 times the national rate, which is actually below average by one measure. For most residents, violent crime is not a feature of daily life — it's a background statistical reality that very rarely intersects with a normal commute, school pickup, or trip to the grocery store.
Property crime is where Burien's numbers genuinely stand out, and the dominant category is motor vehicle theft — running at an estimated 3 times the national average, or roughly 1 in 97 odds annually for a Burien resident. Larceny-theft and burglary round out the most commonly reported property crimes. The clustering pattern is consistent: the northern and central commercial areas see the highest incident concentrations, with the south and southwest parts of the city showing the lowest. Locals who've lived here more than a year tend to have one story about a neighbor's catalytic converter or a smashed car window — and a routine of parking habits designed to avoid becoming the next one.
Three Tree Point consistently ranks among the safest pockets in Burien, and the numbers reflect what the street feel confirms: low traffic, private beach access, a tight-knit year-round community, and almost no commercial activity to attract opportunistic property crime. The neighborhood's geographic isolation — a narrow peninsula extending into Puget Sound with limited through-traffic — creates the kind of natural buffer that doesn't show up in city-wide statistics. Median single-family home prices here run approximately $1,484,500, which is the highest in the city and reflects what buyers pay for that combination of security and setting.
Best for: Buyers who want maximum quiet and waterfront proximity, and have the budget to match.
Sitting just north of Three Tree Point along the Sound bluff, Maplewild shares much of the same geographic insulation. Two miles of beach and forested hillside separate it from the commercial density of central Burien, and resident-reported crime in the southwest quadrant — where Maplewild sits — tends to be the lowest in the city, with roughly 91 crimes annually in the broader south Burien area. The median home price here runs around $1,177,500, which tracks closely with its safety profile and Sound views.
Best for: Families and remote workers who want waterfront character without Three Tree Point's level of seclusion.
Seahurst benefits from proximity to Ed Munro Seahurst Park while sitting far enough from the commercial corridor to avoid most of the property crime clustering. The neighborhood sees moderate traffic but retains a residential character that keeps incident rates noticeably below the city average. Homes have been selling at a median around $810,000–$825,000, and the 14% year-over-year price appreciation suggests buyers are recognizing what the safety and amenity profile offers at that price point.
Best for: Buyers who want park access and beach proximity with a more accessible entry price than Three Tree Point or Maplewild.
Gregory Heights is frequently cited by residents and real estate sources as one of the safer residential neighborhoods in Burien, with a crime profile closer to the quieter south-side pockets than to the northern commercial areas. The neighborhood features a popular community swim club — an amenity that tends to reinforce the kind of social cohesion associated with lower opportunistic crime. Median home prices run around $815,000, closely tracking Seahurst, and the neighborhood's Olympic Mountain views add long-term value without the waterfront premium.
Best for: Families with school-age children who want a neighborhood with strong community infrastructure.
Salmon Creek sits among the neighborhoods commonly cited for lower crime scores in Burien, with the southwest and south-central residential character translating into incident rates that diverge sharply from the city-wide average. The neighborhood is less prominent than Three Tree Point or Maplewild in most buyer searches, which has kept prices somewhat more accessible while delivering a comparable sense of residential calm. It's the kind of area where residents more often report low-level nuisance concerns — a stolen package, the occasional car rummaging — rather than anything that changes how people move through daily life.
Best for: Buyers seeking south Burien's calmer environment at a more accessible price point than the waterfront corridors.
Downtown Burien and the commercial stretch along SW 148th Street represent the highest-activity zone in the city, and the crime data reflects that concentration. The northwest parts of the city see the highest incident counts — approximately 361 crimes annually in that quadrant — compared to around 91 in the south. This is not unusual for any city's commercial core: retail density generates more vehicle break-ins, more theft incidents, and more interpersonal conflicts than residential neighborhoods of equivalent size. Living near downtown means accepting a different baseline, though the area is actively improving and the daytime environment around Town Square Park is generally considered safe.
Best for: Buyers who prioritize walkable access to restaurants and retail and accept a higher property crime baseline in exchange.
| City | Violent Crime/1K | Property Crime/1K | Overall Safety Profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burien | ~4.8 | ~33 | Above-average crime; improving trend |
| SeaTac | ~7.2 | ~45 | Higher crime; airport corridor challenges |
| Tukwila | ~8.1 | ~52 | Among highest in King County |
| Des Moines | ~3.1 | ~22 | Safer overall; quieter suburban character |
| Normandy Park | ~1.2 | ~12 | Among the safest in the region |
| Renton | ~5.4 | ~38 | Similar violent crime; higher property crime |
| Seattle | ~6.8 | ~47 | Higher on both measures; neighborhood-dependent |
Neighborhood choice within Burien has a real impact on long-term value, and buyers shopping with safety in mind tend to gravitate toward areas like Seahurst, Three Tree Point, and Lake Burien — all of which carry strong resale history and consistent buyer demand. Homes in these pockets, particularly well-maintained single-family properties under $750,000, rarely sit on the market long. When something appealing hits in Seahurst or along the Three Tree Point corridor, serious buyers often have days, not weeks, to act.
That's exactly why I encourage people to connect with a lender before they ever step inside a home. Pre-approval is one thing, but truly understanding your full monthly obligation — property taxes, homeowner's insurance, any HOA dues, and how your loan structure affects the payment — is what separates a comfortable purchase from a stressful one. Maximum approval and comfortable budget are rarely the same number. Knowing yours ahead of time means when the right home in the right Burien neighborhood appears, you're ready to move with confidence instead of scrambling.
The safety app on your phone will show you a heat map of Burien that looks alarming. What it won't show you is that the red zones cluster almost entirely around the SW 148th Street commercial corridor, the area around the transit center, and the blocks immediately north of downtown toward White Center. Residents who live west of Ambaum Boulevard or south of SW 160th Street often describe their neighborhoods in terms that would surprise anyone whose only source is a city-wide crime ranking. The divide is real, geographic, and consistent — and it doesn't get communicated well in aggregate data.
What locals actually do: they park in well-lit areas near the transit center and downtown, they don't leave anything visible in parked cars — ever — and they treat a catalytic converter shield as a standard purchase rather than a paranoid one. Motor vehicle theft is the single most elevated crime category in Burien by a significant margin, and experienced residents treat vehicle security the way Seattle residents treat rain gear: not a big deal, just a routine part of life here. Most also know that the overnight hours near the downtown commercial core and the SW 148th retail stretch require more situational awareness than the residential neighborhoods further west or south.
The trend direction matters for anyone making a long-term decision. Five consecutive years of declining crime — especially in violent incidents — reflects something real about where the city is heading. Burien is not becoming Normandy Park, but it's also not trending in the wrong direction. Buyers who bought into Seahurst or Gregory Heights five years ago are living in neighborhoods that feel meaningfully calmer today than when they signed their closing documents.
Local Expert Takeaway: If safety is a primary concern, anchor your search west of Ambaum Boulevard or south of SW 160th Street — Three Tree Point, Maplewild, Seahurst, and Gregory Heights consistently produce the lowest incident rates in the city. Avoid judging the entire city by the SW 148th commercial corridor data, which inflates Burien's aggregate numbers well beyond what residential neighborhoods actually experience. One practical move: always check the specific census tract or neighborhood-level crime map, not just the city-wide grade, before ruling out or committing to a specific address.
✅ South and west Burien neighborhoods — Three Tree Point, Maplewild, Seahurst, Gregory Heights — have crime profiles significantly below the city average and comparable to safer neighboring cities.
⚠️ Motor vehicle theft is the standout concern citywide — running roughly 3 times the national average. Catalytic converter theft and car break-ins are the most common experience for residents, not violent crime.
📍 The city-wide crime ranking understates the neighborhood variation — your actual risk depends heavily on which part of Burien you're in, with a roughly 1-in-16 to 1-in-27 range depending on quadrant.
Is Burien safe to live in?
It depends significantly on where in Burien you live. The southwestern residential neighborhoods — Three Tree Point, Maplewild, Seahurst — have crime rates that compare favorably with quieter South King County suburbs. The commercial corridors near downtown and the northern edge closer to White Center carry higher risk, particularly for property crime.
What is the biggest crime concern in Burien?
Motor vehicle theft is the most elevated crime category in Burien by a clear margin, running at roughly three times the national average based on FBI 2024 estimates. Car break-ins and catalytic converter theft are the most commonly reported experiences among residents. Violent crime, while above the national average, is a less dominant feature of daily life than the aggregate crime grade suggests.
How does Burien compare to nearby cities for safety?
Burien sits in a middle band for its immediate subregion. It has lower violent and property crime rates than Tukwila and SeaTac to the north, and runs roughly comparable to Renton. Des Moines and Normandy Park — its southern neighbors — are measurably safer on most metrics. The gap between Burien's safest neighborhoods and Normandy Park is smaller than city-wide comparisons suggest.
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