Seattle residents feel "pressure to move" due to crime crisis

The percentage of people in the city who said they feel the need to leave due to rising crime is the highest in the nation.

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Verónica Silveri Pazos Juan Peña

14 de agosto, 2023

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The percentage of people in Seattle, Washington, who say they feel "pressured" to move because of rising crime is the highest in the nation, according to data from the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey.

Seven percent (227,000 people) of people living in the city said they have felt "pressure to move" so far this year due to crime. The figure is the highest recorded among the 15 largest metropolitan areas in the country.

The city is followed by the Riverside-San Bernardino, California area with 5.6% of citizens saying they felt pressure to move. Chicago is in third place (4.9%). Nationally, 3% of Americans said they felt pressure to move because they don't feel safe in their neighborhoods.

"Soft policies against crime"

In 2022, homicides jumped 24% over the previous year in Seattle. Vehicle thefts also increased by 30% while overall crime increased by 4%.

Zack Smith, director of the Supreme Court Advocacy and Appellate Program at the Heritage Foundation's Meese Center, told Fox News that Seattle exemplifies the failure resulting from implementing "soft policies against crime" and woke movements:

Unfortunately, Seattle has adopted many of the soft-on-crime policies so popular with many on the left today. The obvious consequences of those policies is an increase in crime and a less safe community where it’s more difficult for people to live and do business.

Police are fleeing the city at alarming levels. The number of active or on-duty officers dropped to its lowest level in 30 years due in part to the movement to defund the police that was set in motion in the city. According to Smith:

Seattle was at the forefront of the ‘Defund the Police’ movement and local leaders committed to cutting the city’s police budget by half – though they had to back away from that audacious goal when confronted with the reality of rising crime rates (...) So, it’s unfortunate, but no surprise, that many in Seattle don’t feel safe in their own community.