I lived in Seattle for 2 yrs right downtown at Harbor Steps Apartments by Pike Place Market and close to Pioneer Sq. I worked in Belltown so I pretty well covered the whole downtown. For an American City it is fairly safe. I never felt threatened and I walked home from work through Belltown at 11 at night sometimes. There always seems to be safe stretches of roads to walk through no matter where you are. And I saw several women at night who also walked alone home. They stick to the main drags like 4th Ave and Pike etc but keep the pace up and cell phone handy.
I am in San Francisco now and I only wish I felt as safe as Seattle or Vancouver, B.C. And here comes my bias. I am from Vancouver, Canada and lived in Toronto and Montreal. In North America you just can't beat a Canadian city for safety. When my fiance and I move places in the US we measure every city by how safe it is comparison to Canadian cities or Seattle. I had a lot of convincing to do to get her to San Fran but she loves Seattle and would have stayed in Seattle easily. I also lived in Honolulu and it is one of the few cities that is safer than most Canadian cities. I have also lived in East Coast cities but that isn't the topic here. Same idea though.
And since I am an engineer I am a number guy and have looked up the statistics to back that up. Seattle is twice as safe as San Fran in terms of violent crimes. Almost closer to 3 times as safe.
On the other hand a lady at my office had a homeless person pull a knife on her when she was going to work in the morning in Belltown but he quickly took off without anything. So, it is possible! And years before I got there there apparently were some Belltown murders. I even used to walk home past the methadone clinic on 4th which is a focal point of the homeless people. That apparently shifted the shady element from Pioneer Square to Belltown even though Belltown is looking more upscale and yuppieish all the time. Still I saw no problems and don't worry too much.
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on Mar 18, 2007
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