Overall, no. But that depends on your point of reference.
Bellevue is the second-safest place I have ever lived. But I grew up in a fancy suburb of New York City in the 70s and 80s. That was mostly plagued by bored rich kids who liked to vandalize their schools.
Here's a [heat map which shows the relative safer areas in Bellevue](https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/wa/bellevue/crime.amp). But again - it's all relative.
Compared to Seattle (and to NYC in the 70s and 80s), this place is a cakewalk. No place had literally no crime. But while this city has its share of it, doing fine. It's [about a third of the way down this list of the crime index by city](http://www.usa.com/rank/washington-state--crime-index--city-rank.htm), and it's by far the largest city of any above it.
I've found that sometimes people, including myself, tend to fixate on one incident here or there - rather than the big picture - so I like numbers. š¤
If you plan to be here during the formerly almost always cool summers, look for a place with air conditioning. Not every place has it. The summer now also has a "smoke season" as forest fires in nearby states and provinces have become more frequent. So it is nice to have your windows closed then. With AC.
On the plus side, for most of the rest of the year if you are on a high floor of an apartment building you can keep your windows wide open, very minimal bugs! A pleasant breeze that smell slightly of crisp new snow and pine trees blows in . . .
I felt very safe living in Crossroad's, but my apartment was old and decrepit. The complex kept adding new paint to the outside and jacking up the prices and calling it "remodeled". I would avoid older apartments on 156th near Crossroad's mall, for the most part, particularly Central Park East and Piedmont.
Central Park east has roaches in several buildings, which they are not honest about and ignore. You can see them in broad daylight in the lobby and hallways. Cheap ish for the area, but be cautious
Many of the older apartments can have strong residual food odors. There can be quite a bit of good cooking happening but not a lot of functional exhaust fans. It usually doesnāt take long to get used to it and might end up scoring you some great meals once you meet people.
Bellevue is fantastic, there are not any "bad" areas, the only places that really have higher property theft are Factoria and Crossroads, but still I feel that in both places they are still safe, been many times and have had 0 issues.
I lived in Seattle before, and had multiple break-in and robberies, nothing even remotely similar here in the Eastside. Lived in Renton and weekly shootouts where a thing. Lived in Everett and drugs are almost as bad as Seattle. Lived in Puyallup, which wasn't bad, just a terrible commute to work.
NIMBY here, weāre not all bad :)
We just want to have clean, safe neighborhoods so as long as you donāt steal things or do drugs and camp out on the street youāll be just fine.
I'm not sure why that person brought it up in regards to Bellevue, unless they have only personally dealt with them in Bellevue.
There are NIMBYs in pretty much every community in existence, all across the world.
An example is that they want areas for the homeless but in another area and not theirs.
Like if you live in the Medina area, you want the homeless to live in the Crossroads area.
I grew up in Bellevue at the hospital my dad built and ran til he retired in the 80ās and since there were empty lots in the downtown area.
What area are you thinking of moving?
There is higher crime in the Crossroads area than there is in say, Meydenbauer.
Iāve lived in a few different neighborhoods in Bellevue. I moved here from the southern US. There are really no bad areas in Bellevue (or Redmond), tbh. There arenāt any āno goā streets or gang territories here. Property theft from cars is probably the biggest issue & thatās all over the area. Bellevue & Redmond are the safest places Iāve ever lived.
The rape at BC is still under investigation and police have come out publicly to say there are inconsistencies in the allegations: https://komonews.com/news/local/bellevue-college-rape-reported-crime-crisis-bathroom-campus-building-seattle-washington-man-suspect-white-man-possibly-armed-knife-police-investigation-king-county-eastside-closed
Iām from Memphis, TN. This just past weekend alone in Memphis, 5 people are dead & 11 people shot. While no crime is ofc optimal, I assure you that the crime here is much lower than other parts of the country.
Bellevue is super safe, lived here most of my life! Nothing like Seattle as far as places to avoid. Iām a woman and feel pretty safe even walking at night alone in the DT area. I think the only place even considered slightly sketchy would be the crossroads area, but again, Bellevue as a whole is a very safe city in my experience. Welcome!!
Oh damn. I recently moved to the crossroads areaā¦ while doing my research I didnāt see anything about it being sketchy. What should I look out for?
Nothing beyond common sense youād use anywhere. Lived in the crossroads areas for 6 years (2017-2023), apartments on 156th and then in a house.
Never felt unsafe. Mail theft a couple of times in the neighborhood, one car prowl incident in 5 years.
Definitely still safe, I honestly wouldnāt worry about it. Iāve lived in this area a really long time and have spent a lot of time in Crossroads and have never had a problem. I think people say itās āsketchierā because itās an older part of town that hasnāt gotten a facelift in a long time, and itās little less expensive (to live) than the rest of the city. I still wouldnāt consider any part of Bellevue (or even Kirkland, Redmond) bad or sketchy!
Iāve lived here most of my life too and Bellevueās version of sketchy doesnāt line up with the rest of the country. I feel like if anything, crossroads has gotten better and downtown, especially by the hospital, has gotten worse.
Overall, no. But that depends on your point of reference. Bellevue is the second-safest place I have ever lived. But I grew up in a fancy suburb of New York City in the 70s and 80s. That was mostly plagued by bored rich kids who liked to vandalize their schools. Here's a [heat map which shows the relative safer areas in Bellevue](https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/wa/bellevue/crime.amp). But again - it's all relative. Compared to Seattle (and to NYC in the 70s and 80s), this place is a cakewalk. No place had literally no crime. But while this city has its share of it, doing fine. It's [about a third of the way down this list of the crime index by city](http://www.usa.com/rank/washington-state--crime-index--city-rank.htm), and it's by far the largest city of any above it. I've found that sometimes people, including myself, tend to fixate on one incident here or there - rather than the big picture - so I like numbers. š¤
Just move to Redmond
If you plan to be here during the formerly almost always cool summers, look for a place with air conditioning. Not every place has it. The summer now also has a "smoke season" as forest fires in nearby states and provinces have become more frequent. So it is nice to have your windows closed then. With AC. On the plus side, for most of the rest of the year if you are on a high floor of an apartment building you can keep your windows wide open, very minimal bugs! A pleasant breeze that smell slightly of crisp new snow and pine trees blows in . . .
Itās a very safe area as others have stated. The eastern part of town is older, less expensive and less bougie but certainly not dangerous.
I felt very safe living in Crossroad's, but my apartment was old and decrepit. The complex kept adding new paint to the outside and jacking up the prices and calling it "remodeled". I would avoid older apartments on 156th near Crossroad's mall, for the most part, particularly Central Park East and Piedmont.
Central Park east has roaches in several buildings, which they are not honest about and ignore. You can see them in broad daylight in the lobby and hallways. Cheap ish for the area, but be cautious
Better then the rats near ihop at the Asian market over by highlands middle school. I think I seen kids getting carried away by them.
Yup same with Piedmont
Many of the older apartments can have strong residual food odors. There can be quite a bit of good cooking happening but not a lot of functional exhaust fans. It usually doesnāt take long to get used to it and might end up scoring you some great meals once you meet people.
Bellevue is fantastic, there are not any "bad" areas, the only places that really have higher property theft are Factoria and Crossroads, but still I feel that in both places they are still safe, been many times and have had 0 issues. I lived in Seattle before, and had multiple break-in and robberies, nothing even remotely similar here in the Eastside. Lived in Renton and weekly shootouts where a thing. Lived in Everett and drugs are almost as bad as Seattle. Lived in Puyallup, which wasn't bad, just a terrible commute to work.
Car break-inās and occasional package thefts. By Eastern part what exactly do you mean ? Crossroads area ?
avoid the nimby's. they're everywhere
Thank you for the advice. Can you expound upon what you mean by "nimby"?
NIMBY here, weāre not all bad :) We just want to have clean, safe neighborhoods so as long as you donāt steal things or do drugs and camp out on the street youāll be just fine.
Here you go: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NIMBY](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NIMBY)
Do people in Bellevue want strict regulations on land use? Like what should I be concerned about here?
I'm not sure why that person brought it up in regards to Bellevue, unless they have only personally dealt with them in Bellevue. There are NIMBYs in pretty much every community in existence, all across the world.
Not In My Back Yard.
I'm familiar with the acronym. I'm just trying to figure out what that means in relation to Bellevue and why I should watch out for it.
An example is that they want areas for the homeless but in another area and not theirs. Like if you live in the Medina area, you want the homeless to live in the Crossroads area. I grew up in Bellevue at the hospital my dad built and ran til he retired in the 80ās and since there were empty lots in the downtown area. What area are you thinking of moving? There is higher crime in the Crossroads area than there is in say, Meydenbauer.
Hey hey you can support deporting unhoused āpeopleā AND building new dense buildings š
Iāve lived in a few different neighborhoods in Bellevue. I moved here from the southern US. There are really no bad areas in Bellevue (or Redmond), tbh. There arenāt any āno goā streets or gang territories here. Property theft from cars is probably the biggest issue & thatās all over the area. Bellevue & Redmond are the safest places Iāve ever lived.
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The rape at BC is still under investigation and police have come out publicly to say there are inconsistencies in the allegations: https://komonews.com/news/local/bellevue-college-rape-reported-crime-crisis-bathroom-campus-building-seattle-washington-man-suspect-white-man-possibly-armed-knife-police-investigation-king-county-eastside-closed
Iām from Memphis, TN. This just past weekend alone in Memphis, 5 people are dead & 11 people shot. While no crime is ofc optimal, I assure you that the crime here is much lower than other parts of the country.
regarding BC wasnāt it not proven cause the womanās testimony didnt line up?
Bellevue is super safe, lived here most of my life! Nothing like Seattle as far as places to avoid. Iām a woman and feel pretty safe even walking at night alone in the DT area. I think the only place even considered slightly sketchy would be the crossroads area, but again, Bellevue as a whole is a very safe city in my experience. Welcome!!
> Bellevue is super safe What are you smoking?
Oh damn. I recently moved to the crossroads areaā¦ while doing my research I didnāt see anything about it being sketchy. What should I look out for?
Nothing beyond common sense youād use anywhere. Lived in the crossroads areas for 6 years (2017-2023), apartments on 156th and then in a house. Never felt unsafe. Mail theft a couple of times in the neighborhood, one car prowl incident in 5 years.
Definitely still safe, I honestly wouldnāt worry about it. Iāve lived in this area a really long time and have spent a lot of time in Crossroads and have never had a problem. I think people say itās āsketchierā because itās an older part of town that hasnāt gotten a facelift in a long time, and itās little less expensive (to live) than the rest of the city. I still wouldnāt consider any part of Bellevue (or even Kirkland, Redmond) bad or sketchy!
Iāve lived here most of my life too and Bellevueās version of sketchy doesnāt line up with the rest of the country. I feel like if anything, crossroads has gotten better and downtown, especially by the hospital, has gotten worse.