Bellingham, WA Crime Map

Bellingham, WA Crime Overview: A City That Earns Its Safety Reputation

With a population of 129,653 and an overall crime grade of B, Bellingham stands out as one of the safer mid-sized cities in the Pacific Northwest — and the neighborhood-level data makes that case even more convincingly. Across all 27 neighborhoods analyzed, 85.2% earned an A grade, while the remaining 14.8% landed at B. Not a single neighborhood scored C, D, or F. That means 100% of Bellingham's neighborhoods fall into the "safe" category, a distribution that is genuinely rare among cities of comparable size and density.

Safest Neighborhoods in Bellingham

The top tier of Bellingham's safety landscape is anchored by Silver Beach (A+, median income $103,260), Geneva (A+, $98,406), and Sudden Valley (A+, $89,510) — all of which combine low crime rates with above-average household incomes. Notably, the Western Washington University neighborhood also earns an A+ despite a median income of just $37,374, suggesting that the campus environment drives safety outcomes independent of wealth. Columbia (A+, $81,196) rounds out the five strongest performers. Further down the list, established residential areas like Samish (A, $97,282), Whatcom Falls (A, $79,535), and Cornwall Park (A, $75,884) continue the pattern of consistent, high-grade safety across Bellingham's core neighborhoods.

Higher-Crime Areas: Context Matters

Even Bellingham's highest-crime neighborhoods tell a measured story. King Mountain and Irongate both hold a B grade, while Birchwood and Cordata come in at B+. Happy Valley, listed among the higher-crime areas in relative terms, still earns an A-. To be clear, none of these neighborhoods represent a danger zone — a B grade in this context reflects a modest elevation in incident rates compared to the city's exceptionally safe baseline, not an alarm signal. Residents and prospective home buyers should weigh these grades as fine-grained comparisons within a city that performs well overall, not as warnings to avoid entire districts.

Property Crime vs. Violent Crime Patterns

Bellingham's crime profile, like most Pacific Northwest cities of its size, skews more heavily toward property crime than violent crime. Areas with higher commercial activity and traffic corridors — such as Cordata and Irongate — tend to see elevated rates of vehicle-related incidents and opportunistic theft, consistent with their B-range grades. Violent crime, by contrast, remains relatively dispersed and low in frequency across the city. The poverty rate of 20% and unemployment rate of 4.5% are factors that analysts typically correlate with property crime pressure, and Bellingham's data reflects that relationship without producing the violent crime spikes seen in cities with similar economic indicators but higher population density.

How the Interactive Crime Map Supports Better Decisions

Bellingham's crime map is a practical tool, not just an abstract data set. For home buyers evaluating properties near the median home value of $404,687, overlaying crime grades onto neighborhood boundaries helps clarify whether a listing in Birchwood or Cordata represents a meaningful safety trade-off relative to comparable homes in Samish or Cornwall Park. Renters paying near the city's median rent of $1,133 can use the map to compare walkability and nighttime safety across different parts of the city before signing a lease. Commuters traveling between Irongate's industrial corridor and residential neighborhoods to the north can identify patterns in time-of-day incident clustering. The map transforms raw crime data into decisions people can actually act on — whether that means choosing a neighborhood, adjusting a commute, or simply understanding the city they already call home.

The Bottom Line on Bellingham Safety

Bellingham's city-wide safety rating of A, combined with an overall crime grade of B, reflects a city where safety is the norm rather than the exception. The near-complete absence of low-graded neighborhoods across all 27 areas analyzed is the defining feature of this city's crime profile. Whether you are relocating, renting, or simply trying to stay informed, the data consistently points in the same direction: Bellingham is among the safer choices in Washington State.