Federal Way, WA has a F safety grade (16/100) with a violent crime rate of 545 per 100,000, 55% above the national average.
FBI UCR 2024 Per-capita rates FBI UCR + NIBRS
Federal Way, WA Crime Rate & Safety
Compiled by PlainCrime, Independent crime-data publisher
At 96,631 residents, Federal Way is a large city: FBI UCR Table 8 rates (per 100,000) here are read against WA and U.S. averages before the offense-family breakdown.
Federal Way, WA carries a PlainCrime F safety grade with violent crime 55% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Federal Way, WA shows violent crime at 545.4 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 4,372.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 55% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade F from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
F safety grade
545.4/100K violent
4372.3/100K property
+55% vs U.S.
The verdict
Federal Way earns an F safety grade: violent crime runs 55% above the U.S. average, placing it among the highest-crime cities in the country.
F
PlainCrime safety grade
+55%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
12th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
4,372.3
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Federal Way, WA
Position in the state cohort
Federal Way reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Washington cities
At 545.4 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Federal Way ranks 11 of 164 — above 153 of the 163 other Washington cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +196.6% against the cohort median of 183.9. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Comparable rate records
Federal Way's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Washington cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Federal Way's 545.4 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Yakima (544.3), Auburn (543.2), Olympia (564.8), Port Angeles (566.2). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 394.6 per 100,000 in 2020 to 545.4 in 2024 (+38.2%). The highest observed value was 655.0 in 2023 and the lowest 394.6 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 60.7% of reported property offenses in Federal Way, against a cohort median of 73.6%. The remainder is burglary (554) and motor vehicle theft (1,105). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Federal Way's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
On a large city row, these are citywide reported offense totals - not neighbourhood advice. Conditions vary by place and time; reporting rates differ across jurisdictions.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-19.9%
5461.9 → 4372.3/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-16.7%
655 → 545.4/100K
Property offenses lead Federal Way's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
4,225
4372.3
1711
Larceny-Theft
2,566
2655.5
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
1,105
1143.5
-
Burglary
554
573.3
-
Arson
24
24.8
-
Violent Crime
527
545.4
352
Aggravated Assault
327
338.4
-
Robbery
145
150.1
-
Rape
50
51.7
-
Murder
5
5.2
-
Federal Way Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Federal Way property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
4,372.3/100K↓19.9%vs 2023
Federal Way violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · rose · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
545.4/100K↓16.7%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
97,071
394.6
4712
4,957
2021
Comparable
97,017
548.4
4935.2
5,320
2022
Comparable
97,094
555.1
5294.9
5,680
2023
Comparable
96,340
655
5461.9
5,893
2024
Comparable
96,631
545.4
4372.3
4,752
How Federal Way sits among WA peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Federal Way Police Department NIBRS-participating
Federal Way's crime figures on this page originate from Federal Way Police Department's submission to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in Washington
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Washington cities closest to Federal Way in population. Their populations run from 82,746 to 109,852, against 96,631 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These Washington cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Federal Way's 545.4/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Federal Way has a violent crime rate of 545.4 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 4372.3 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Federal Way, WA safe? ▼
Federal Way receives a safety grade of F (High Risk), with a safety score of 16/100. The violent crime rate is 55% above the national average and 66% above the Washington average.
What is the population of Federal Way, WA? ▼
The reporting population for Federal Way is 96,631 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Federal Way? ▼
In 2024, Federal Way reported 527 violent crimes and 4,225 property crimes, for a total of 4,752 reported offenses.
How do Federal Way's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Federal Way recorded about one reported offense per 20 residents and one reported violent offense per 183 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Federal Way? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Federal Way's violent crime rate decreased by 16.7%, and the property crime rate decreased by 19.9%.
What is the most common crime in Federal Way? ▼
The most common crime type in Federal Way is larceny-theft, accounting for 54.0% of all reported crimes (2,566 incidents in 2024).
Large-city read: Federal Way's rates come from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, CIUS Table 8, vintage 2024.
Incomplete reporters stay out of rate rankings. Cross-check population with Census ACS; state UCR programs for statewide context. Primary verify links: FBI.gov UCR, Census QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (large city): informational crime rates only - not legal, insurance, or personal-safety advice. Source: FBI UCR. Ask a qualified professional before acting.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Federal Way, WA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.