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1 in 3 Seattle Residents Considering Relocating Due to Crime and Cost

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1 in 3 Seattle Residents Considering Relocating Due to Crime and Cost
Seattle's Space Needle was built for the 1962 World's Fair. (TinaImages/Shutterstock)
Elizabeth Dowell
7/8/2023
Updated:
7/11/2023
0:00
One in three Seattle residents is considering moving away from the city due to public safety concerns over daily crimes and high cost of living prices, according to a Seattle Times/Suffolk University poll published in June.
About 33 percent of Seattle residents surveyed said they were seriously considering moving out of the city. Sixty-seven percent said they were not. The poll of 500 residents was conducted by phone from June 12 to 16, with a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

Among the residents who say they are considering leaving, 37 percent blamed rising housing costs, and 34 percent cited public safety as their primary reason for moving.

Mr. Inslee said the bills address the state’s housing shortage and should make home ownership more affordable. He also said the new laws could help those experiencing homelessness.

“Homelessness is a housing crisis,” Mr. Inslee said.  

Public safety was the main concern among respondents in the highest household income bracket, those earning over $250,000 a year. These residents were also more likely to be homeowners than renters.

Of those wanting to move, 80 percent rated Seattle poorly as a place to live, and 66 percent said they did not feel safe in their neighborhood. In comparison, among the two-thirds of Seattleites who did not consider leaving, 88 percent rated the city as an excellent place to live, and 72 percent said they felt safe in their own neighborhood.

A "For Sale" sign is posted outside a residential home in the Queen Anne neighborhood near the Space Needle in Seattle on May 14, 2021. (Karen Ducey/Reuters)
A "For Sale" sign is posted outside a residential home in the Queen Anne neighborhood near the Space Needle in Seattle on May 14, 2021. (Karen Ducey/Reuters)

Mr. Inslee also signed a bill into law in April that will strengthen the prosecution of hate crimes and require rehab programs for offenders.

SB 5623 replaces the “physical injury” element of the definition of a hate crime with “assault.”
Under current Washington state law, a physical injury to the victim is required for prosecutors to charge a hate crime, but assaults meant to intimidate and demean—like spitting on someone—will now be grounds for prosecution as a hate crime.
“Hate crimes are horrific acts of violence that do more than affect individual victims — they make whole communities feel unwelcome,” said state Sen. Manka Dhingra (D-Redmond), chair of the Senate Law and Justice Committee and bill sponsor. “These crimes are corrosive to our society, and we need the proper tools available to protect survivors and ensure that courts can effectively supervise offenders in completing rehabilitative programs when needed.”

In the past three years, costs in the Seattle metro area climbed over 20 percent. Before the pandemic, it took nine years for costs to grow by that amount.

The Seattle metro area’s home price index is now 40 percent higher than in 2018, down from 50 percent in 2022. But wages have not kept up with these cost increases, and well-compensated tech and finance workers are skewing the city’s income average.

Moving patterns revealed these residents were more likely to move out of the county’s wealthiest neighborhoods. While lower-income residents moved less often, they were more likely to move out of the Puget Sound region altogether.

About 65 percent of residents considering leaving said the city’s ability to progress on homelessness had worsened, and 60 percent rated the quality of education as poor.

According to new Census Bureau data, many people are moving to Florida, which has experienced a population growth of over 22 million people from 2021 to 2022.

The 1.9 percent increase was the largest of any U.S. state over this period, exceeding Idaho and South Carolina, which saw their populations grow by 1.8 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.

“While Florida has often been among the largest-gaining states, this was the first time since 1957 that Florida has been the state with the largest percent increase in population,” Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the Population Division at the Census Bureau, said in a press release.

Despite people moving out of the state, many are also moving into it.

According to the Office of Financial Management, the state’s population expanded by about 1.1 percent year-over-year, mostly due to migration and housing growth. The previous year, the state population grew by about 1.3 percent. The annual estimates cover the 12 months running up until April 1.