Where are the safest suburbs in Washington? These 6 cities made the list
When deciding where to live, there are many aspects you might keep in mind — from affordability and availability to safety.
Where are the safest suburbs to call home in Washington state?
Personal finance website SmartAsset recently ranked America’s safest suburbs in 2025, based on factors including fatal drug overdoses, traffic-related deaths and violent and property crime rates.
SmartAsset looked at cities and towns within 45 minutes of the country’s 100 biggest cities.
“Many households are willing to pay a premium to be in a neighborhood they feel physically safe in, as valuable qualitative benefits may be at stake in establishing a sense of safety – particularly for families with children,” Jaclyn DeJohn, SmartAsset director of economic analysis, wrote in a July 30 article. A total of six suburbs in Washington state made SmartAsset’s list of the 200 safest in the nation.
According to SmartAsset, these are the safest suburbs in Washington state:
What makes Mukilteo the safest suburb in Washington state?
Mukilteo was the highest ranked Washington spot on SmartAsset’s list of the safest suburbs in the United States in 2025, landing at No. 56.
The Snohomish County city is about 25 miles north of Seattle.
Mulkilteo had an estimated population of 21,538 people in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, with residents earning a median household income of $122,612 a year.
The waterfront city features views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains as well as historical tourist destinations including its iconic lighthouse.
According to the SmartAsset study, Mukilteo had just 0.0053 violent crimes per capita and 0.0351 violent crimes per capita.
The city had about seven traffic-related deaths per 100,000 people, SmartAsset said, and roughly 17.3% of adults in Mulkiteo reported “excessive drinking.”
Safest Washington suburbs? Camas, Edmonds and Cheney on list
The five other Washington cities on SmartAsset’s 2025 list of America’s safest suburbs were scattered across the Evergreen State.
According to SmartAsset, Camas in Clark County ranked at No. 72. Technically a suburb of Portland, Oregon, it’s about half an hour away from the City of Roses.
Here’s how Camas scored in the SmartAsset study.
- Violent crimes per capita: 0.0030
- Property crimes per capita: 0.0183
- Traffic deaths per 100,000 people: 8.55
- Adults reporting excessive drinking: 20.29%
Another Seattle suburb, Edmonds in Snohomish County, was No. 81 on the list. It had:
- Violent crimes per capita: 0.0060
- Property crimes per capita: 0.0428
- Traffic deaths per 100,000 people: 7.07
- Adults reporting excessive drinking: 17.31%
Woodinville in King County, another Seattle suburb, landed at No. 161.
According to SmartAsset, it had:
- Violent crimes per capita: 0.0053
- Property crimes per capita: 0.0426
- Traffic deaths per 100,000 people: 5.73
- Adults reporting excessive drinking: 20.35%
Spokane County’s Cheney, a college town and Spokane suburb, ranked at No. 179. It had:
- Violent crimes per capita: 0.0103
- Property crimes per capita: 0.0263
- Traffic deaths per 100,000 people: 9.16
- Adults reporting excessive drinking: 20.23%
The final city in Washington to make the top 200 was Redmond in King County, also considered a Seattle suburb, at No. 185.
- Violent crimes per capita: 0.0053
- Property crimes per capita: 0.0513
- Traffic deaths per 100,000 people: 9.16
- Adults reporting excessive drinking: 20.23%
Landing lower on SmartAsset’s list were Issaquah at No. 207, Liberty Lake at No. 213, Everett at No. 228, Bremerton at No. 268 and Auburn at No. 300. Airway Heights was the lowest ranking Washington suburb at No. 316.
Where are the top 10 safest suburbs in the US?
According to SmartAsset, the 10 safest suburbs in the nation are:
- 1. Lehi, Utah
- 2. Bethesda, Maryland
- 3. Great Falls, Virginia
- 4. Rockville, Maryland
- 5. Dacula, Georgia
- 6. Buford, Georgia
- 7. Layton, Utah
- 8. Edgewater, New Jersey
- 9. McKinney, Texas
- 10. Frisco, Texas
How did SmartAsset come up with its rankings?
To determine the safest suburbs in the United States, SmartAsset said it compared data for 360 cities and towns that are within 15 to 45 minutes of the 100 largest U.S. cities by car and have at least 5,000 residents:
The site looked at the number of:
- Number of violent crimes per 100,000 residents
- Number of property crimes per 100,000 residents
- Number of deaths due to traffic incidents per 100,000 residents
- Number of drug poisoning deaths per 100,000 residents
- Percentage of adults engaging in binge or heavy drinking
SmartAsset also considered median monthly housing costs and median household income. Data came the FBI’s 2023 Uniform Crime Reporting Database, 2025 County Health Rankings, NeighborhoodScout.com and the Census Bureau’s 5-year American Community Survey from 2023.