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 · large city
Federal Way, WA Crime Rate & Safety
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 is among the highest-crime cities in the country, and earns an F PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 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.
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.
Federal Way's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 22.3 Census sq mi, Federal Way logged 189.3 property and 23.6 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Federal Way leans on larceny-theft at 54% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 3,650.
Violent offenses are only 11% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (22.3 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
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
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averagesRead the chart as a list
Federal Way: 545 violent, 4372 property per 100,000 (grade F)
Yakima: 544 violent, 2045 property per 100,000 (grade D)
Bellingham: 350 violent, 3757 property per 100,000 (grade D)
Kirkland: 61 violent, 2012 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Renton: 339 violent, 3313 property per 100,000 (grade D)
Kennewick: 367 violent, 3461 property per 100,000 (grade D)
Spokane Valley: 242 violent, 3516 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Auburn: 543 violent, 3968 property per 100,000 (grade F)
Redmond: 131 violent, 2740 property per 100,000 (grade B)
Federal Way Police Department
Reporting agency for Federal Way NIBRS-participating
Federal Way Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Federal Way's 4,752 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
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.
Federal Way at 545.4/100K violent and 4,372.3/100K property - matched below outside Washington (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Federal Way reported 527 violent crimes and 4,225 property crimes, for a total of 4,752 reported offenses.
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.