CrimeMetric

Crime in Burien, Washington

Major crime in Burien is 48% above the U.S. rate per resident: about the same for persons crimes and 1.6 times for property crimes. Expected major crimes are down 13.5% from a year earlier.

Modeled estimates per resident, not counts of incidents. How we calculated this

Major crime
148
48% above the U.S. rate
22% above the Washington rate
down 13.5% in a year
Persons crimes
102
about the U.S. rate
18% above the Washington rate
down 7.4% in a year
Property crimes
158
1.6 times the U.S. rate
22% above the Washington rate
down 14.3% in a year
Social disorder
109
9% above the U.S. rate
37% above the Washington rate
down 9.9% in a year

Index: crimes per resident compared with the U.S., where 100 is the U.S. rate and 200 is twice it.

Check an address in Burien

Crime by type

Motor vehicle theft stands out most, at 3.3 times the U.S. rate

Expected crimes per year in Burien for each type, and the index against the U.S. rate per resident.

Citywide indexWhere the middle half of residents live

IndexPer year

How crime varies across Burien

The middle half of Burien residents live in neighborhoods with a major-crime index between 58 and 136; the typical (median) resident's is 89. The citywide figure (148) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.

Map of Burien, with its census block groups shaded by major-crime index band
Block groups shaded by major-crime index, in the bar's bands below; pale gray where fewer than 100 people live. Tap one to compare it. Highways and boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau.
  • 0–5014.1%
  • 50–10045.6%
  • 100–20021.6%
  • 200–40013.0%
  • 400+5.7%

Share of residents by the index of their census block group, a neighborhood of roughly 600 to 3,000 people.

When it happens

Highest in the daytime

Major-crime index by time of week, against the U.S. rate for the same hours.

Monday to Friday, 6am to 6pm154
Sunday to Thursday nights, 6pm to 6am145
Saturday and Sunday, 6am to 6pm150
Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm to 6am136
Trend and outlook

Major crime fell 13.5% in a year; across Washington it fell 10.1%

Past yearBy 2031
Major crime-13.5%WA -10.1%-13.7%WA -12.2%
Persons crimes-7.4%WA -5.9%-7.9%WA -1.8%
Property crimes-14.3%WA -10.6%-14.5%WA -13.7%
Social disorder-9.9%WA -9.4%-9.7%WA -6.5%

Change in expected crimes, with Washington as a whole in gray. The past year uses the reporting agencies' year-to-date FBI data; 2031 is the model's projection.

Similar-size places

Burien against U.S. places with 50,000 to 100,000 residents

98 of the 540 other places of this size have a higher major-crime index than Burien; the middle of the group is 92. The 9 nearest in population:

Burien, WA53,627148
Arcadia, CA53,539141
Elkhart, IN53,355134
Draper, UT53,189114
Logan, UT54,02079

Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; residents in gray.

Nearby places

Burien has a higher major-crime index than 7 of its 8 nearest neighbors

The 8 nearest cities and towns we cover, by major-crime index. The closest, White Center (2 mi), is about Burien's rate.

Tukwila3 mi593
Burien148
Renton7 mi140
SeaTac3 mi105
Vashon7 mi44

Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; distances between where residents live, in miles.

Questions about crime in Burien

What are the most common crimes in Burien?

By expected count, the most common persons and property crimes are other larceny (about 288 a year), motor vehicle theft (about 284 a year) and theft from vehicle (about 236 a year). Compared with the U.S., motor vehicle theft stands out most: 3.3 times the U.S. rate per resident.

How we calculated this

Each police agency's crimes, as reported to the FBI, are spread across the census block groups it serves using population, jobs, points of interest and, where available, local incident records. Burien's figures add up its 38 block groups. The index compares crimes per resident with the U.S. rate.

  • Burien's published incident records inform the estimate for every neighborhood.
  • 78.0% of residents live in block groups whose estimate has high confidence (80% interval within about 5x).
  • Rates are per resident, so places where many people work or visit but few live, such as downtowns, airports and stadiums, can read high.
  • Disorderly conduct and trespassing are modeled, because the FBI records them only through arrests.
  • Residents: 53,627. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2

Full method and validation·Data sources

Cite this page

CrimeMetric. "Crime in Burien, Washington." Vorp Labs, model updated Oct 20, 2026. https://crimemetric.com/wa/burien

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Major-crime index, U.S. = 100