How Safe Is Your Neighborhood – 5 Tools That Will Help You Check the Safety of Your Future Community in Seattle
If you're planning on moving within Settle, the following websites provide all the tools you need to spot the safest places to live in the city. After all, figuring out how safe is your neighborhood is a lot easier when you know where to look. While most of Emerald City is already relatively safe, it's best to be completely aware of any potential problems you might encounter once you move.
The following tools will show you which areas in Seattle are the safest
Always Check the Neighborhood Safety Before Deciding to Move
While everyone has their own reasons for moving, it's important to ask yourself, "how safe is this area?" before deciding to relocate anywhere. Now, you might be wondering, "why is a safe neighborhood important?" For starters, safety is one of the most important factors when choosing where to live, as you wouldn't want your family to move to a place ridden with crime. That's why doing some investigative work on your potential new home should undoubtedly come before buying moving boxes in Seattle. If you're relocating in a hurry, it's better to focus on the research and let one of the local moving companies in Seattle, WA, handle your preparations.What's the Crime Situation in Seattle Like?
While Seattle has garnered some bad publicity for the rise of property felonies, it's still one of the safest large cities in the country. Its safest neighborhoods experience very little to no criminal activity, making them a perfect choice for just about anyone. The city itself is very walkable, with many using the city's public transit system and bikes as the main commuting options. As with any other major city, a person living in Downtown Seattle will likely witness more criminal activities than someone in the best suburbs, but this alone shouldn't discourage you from moving there. After all, living in the city center still provides all sorts of amenities, from not needing a car to countless excellent rooftop bars and breweries. Just avoid going out alone late at night, and you'll be fine. Of course, if you want to be thorough, the following tools will tell you whether the community you're relocating to is secure.
Make sure the community is secure before booking a move with a professional moving company in Seattle
#1 AreaVibes Provides a Lot of Useful Data About Crime and Livability in General
If you want to find the best neighborhoods to live in Seattle, check out AreaVibes. The website provides countless location-based livability scores that will tell you exactly how good a particular place is. Besides rating a location with a score from one to 100, it also grades the seven most important aspects. These include amenities, cost of living, crime, employment, housing, schools, and the user ratings, each of which receives a grade from A+ to F, just like the standard school-grading system. Clicking on the website's crime tab will provide you with the latest information about all the location's reported felonies. This includes both violent activities such as murder, rape, robbery, assault, and property crimes like burglary, theft, and vehicle theft. It also presents this data as crime rates, which show the number of felonies that occur per 100,000 residents. With all the data it collects year after year, the website also shows the neighborhood's safety trends, which is another way to see whether the community you're interested in is secure. Considering it grades all crucial aspects, including schools, AreaVibes is a perfect tool for finding the best neighborhoods in Seattle for families.AreaVibes Also Works as a Tool to Compare Several Neighborhoods at Once
Considering sheer numbers alone are not always enough to tell you exactly how secure a specific community is, AreaVibes also allows you to compare livability scores of multiple places at once. This means you can quickly check if the new neighborhood safety rating is any better than in the place you're currently living in. If it's similar or better, start looking for professional Seattle moving companies right away. Otherwise, you might want to reconsider relocating there.
How do I know if a neighborhood is safe? Compare it to other secure places you know
#2 NeighborhoodScout's Tools Will Help You Find the Most Secure Communities in the City
Although it's primarily used to find real estate in a particular area, NeighborhoodScout is another source of information that allows you to check crime statistics by address. The website uses over 600 characteristics when building each neighborhood's profile, including the location's security, the type of criminal activity, trends, and forecasts. What differentiates NeighborhoodScout from the competition is its unique features, allowing you to find communities with all the amenities you prefer almost instantly. It also analyzes each neighborhood's crime and safety index, showing you how much safer it is compared to the rest of the places in the country.How Much Does Using a Unique Feature Cost?
Although NeighborhoodScout's analysis of each location is very reliable, most of the information it provides is stuck behind a paywall. If you want to see the full report for a specific community, you will either have to pay a hefty $29.99 fee or subscribe to their service. The basic monthly plan covering ten searches costs $49.99 a month, while the $99.99 a month package will get you 100 searches and access to the website's top features. Unless you're planning to hire some very cheap movers in Seattle, your relocation expenses will probably not be able to accommodate this premium service. If you're already planning on moving to a more affordable suburb, you'll be better off with some other less expensive option.
Is NeighborhoodScout com reliable? Yes, but it's also very expensive to use
#3 How Safe Is Your Neighborhood? Use CityProtect to Find Out
If you want to learn if any crimes occurred in your immediate area, CityProtect is the best website for the job. You only have to type in your address or ZIP code, and the map-based website will immediately show you all the criminal activity that occurred recently. It covers a wide array of incidents, from assaults to property felonies, while the well-designed user interface allows you to figure out what's happening at any given time. Once an incident pops up on the map, clicking on it will provide you with a brief list of details and the name of the local law enforcement agency that handles the case. The website also allows you to:- Receive notifications about crimes that occur in a specific location,
- Share the map with incidents on social media or via email,
- Register a home security camera to assist the law enforcement,
- Submit tips about possible criminal activities in your community.
Check if the Areas You Go Out at Night Experience a Lot of Criminal Activity
While doing this for the new home is a must, you should also check if anything happened around your favorite brewery, particularly if you visit it often. Although Seattle's nightlife is pretty down-to-earth, most of the criminal activity in the city still occurs at night. To minimize the chances of any potential incidents occurring, avoid neighborhoods you've never been before and make sure the routes you take are secure. It's also important to be on the lookout when exploring unknown parts of the city. If you need some tips on how to safely go out for a walk or run, check out the video below.#4 The Neighbors App Is the Best Home Security System for the Entire Community
The Neighbors App is one of the newest tools on this list. Made by the famous Ring Alarm home security system manufacturer, it allows its users to connect to all Ring video doorbells. This creates an online community watch program which anyone with the app can use. It's not even necessary to own a Ring doorbell yourself. The platform's members can upload recordings taken from the doorbell cameras and report all sorts of suspicious activities, allowing you to see the location of the incident on the map. If you're moving with a pet and it accidentally gets lost, you can use the app to submit a missing pet post or look if anyone in your community posted information that can help you find them. Privacy concerns are the app's only major downside, so read the disclosures carefully before deciding to use this service.
Installing the app on your phone allows you to keep tabs on your packages when you're not at home
#5 Nextdoor Helps Keep a Community Secure and Connected
Forming a private social network with other residents is precisely what the Nextdoor app is known for. It provides a direct connection with other members of your community, allowing you to protect each other from all sorts of criminal activities. If suspicious vehicles are noticed in the area or packages with fragile items disappear from the doorstep, the members will immediately notify the network to be on the lookout. The platform is also used to discuss everything from where to find the nearest dog park to which local movers in Seattle to hire, making it an overall great option. However, you can only be registered with one address, so getting in the network that interests you might take some time.
How do you keep safe in a neighborhood? By connecting with your neighbors online
These Websites Will Allow You to Look for Registered Sex Offenders in Your Area
Before deciding to move to one of the "cool neighborhoods," make sure you check if there are any registered sex offenders in the area. Although rape rarely occurs in Seattle, it's always better to know who your next-door neighbor might be, particularly when moving with children. You also want to do a quick checkup when planning a weekend getaway in a completely unknown location. If convicted, these offenders must notify the authorities and update their registrations every time they change an address. The information about their whereabouts is public knowledge, meaning you could easily find out if there are any in your area on the National Sex Offender Public Website. Besides searching for a specific person, the website's search engine allows you to enter your address or ZIP code, generating a list of all registered offenders located nearby. However, if you want to look for their addresses specifically, you will have to contact the corresponding state law enforcement agency. The Family Watchdog website goes a step further, as it:- Provides the actual street address of all registered offenders,
- Indicates whether the felony was committed against a child or an adult,
- Shows whether the offense took place at the offender's home or a different location,
- Sends notifications when a convicted offender moves either in or out of your community.
Discovering that there's a sex offender in your desired community is a cause for concern