Portland Metro · Oregon
Is Beaverton Safe? Crime Rates, Safest Neighborhoods & Local Reality (2026)
Beaverton has a reputation problem it doesn't entirely deserve. Sit down with the raw crime data and the numbers look middling — somewhere in the middle of the Oregon pack, elevated property crime, violent crime that's relatively modest for a near-urban city of nearly 98,000 people. But that summary misses something important: Beaverton is a city of genuinely different micro-environments, where a few miles of geography separates one of the safer suburban landscapes in the Portland metro from commercial corridors where retail theft inflates the statistics considerably.
The practical daily reality for most Beaverton residents is quieter than the aggregate numbers suggest. Property crime — primarily car break-ins, retail theft, and opportunistic larceny — clusters predictably around commercial zones, transit hubs, and apartment-dense corridors. Violent crime, estimated at roughly 3.4 per 1,000 residents, is low enough that the average homeowner in Murrayhill or Sexton Mountain goes years without a meaningful incident. The city isn't crime-free, but it's not the cautionary tale that selective data presentation sometimes implies.
This guide breaks down what the numbers actually mean, which neighborhoods consistently rank as the safest, where property crime concentrates, and what precautions locals actually take — so you can make a genuinely informed decision about where in Beaverton to plant your family.
You'll see wildly different crime scores depending on which platform you check, and the divergence isn't a data error — it's a methodology problem. FBI UCR figures for 2024 suggest a violent crime rate of roughly 3.4 per 1,000 residents and a property crime rate around 26 per 1,000. Some aggregator sites normalize those figures differently and arrive at alarming percentile rankings; others compare Beaverton against exclusively rural communities and declare it dangerous by contrast. The more useful framing is this: Beaverton's violent crime rate sits comfortably below Portland's estimated 7.5 per 1,000, and its property crime rate, while elevated above the national average, is less than half of Portland's.
What structurally drives those property crime numbers matters more than the headline figure. Beaverton is home to several high-traffic retail corridors — the stretch of Canyon Road through Central Beaverton, the area around Beaverton Town Square, and the commercial density near the Beaverton TC MAX station — where shoplifting and car break-ins get reported at rates that inflate the citywide total without meaningfully threatening residential neighborhoods. High ownership rates in the southwest quadrant, combined with the more suburban street layouts of communities like Bethany and Sexton Mountain, produce a fundamentally different safety profile than what the aggregate suggests.
The long-term trend is genuinely encouraging. Twenty-year data tracking shows both violent crime and property crime declining from their peaks, and local police data suggests 2025 continued that downward trajectory from 2019 levels. Beaverton ranks safer than roughly 32% of Oregon cities by at least one commonly cited analysis — not a top-tier number, but not the outlier the worst-case framing implies either.
Beaverton's violent crime rate, commonly reported around 3.4 per 1,000 residents, is the figure most relocating families should weight most heavily. In practical terms, your statistical chance of being a victim of armed robbery, aggravated assault, or similar offenses in the city's residential southwest is considerably lower than the citywide average — CrimeGrade estimates put the risk in the safest quadrant closer to 1 in 444, compared to roughly 1 in 185 near the east-side commercial zones. Day-to-day life in most Beaverton neighborhoods simply doesn't involve meaningful exposure to violent crime, which is why residents who've lived here for years often express genuine surprise when they see the city's aggregate safety percentile.
Property crime is the real story in Beaverton, and larceny-theft drives the category. Car break-ins near MAX stations — particularly Beaverton Central and Beaverton TC — account for a disproportionate share of incidents, as do retail theft events at Canyon Road shopping centers. The east side of the city, closer to the commercial density along SW Jenkins Road and the Beaverton Town Square area, consistently shows higher property crime counts than the residential west and southwest. This is the pattern locals learn quickly: park your car inside your garage if you have one, don't leave valuables visible in vehicles near transit stops, and the daily experience of crime risk drops substantially.
Beaverton's safety story is one of the things I love talking about with buyers who've been scared off by aggregate statistics. When you look at where the crime actually concentrates — the commercial corridors near Canyon Road and around the transit center — and then compare that to what's happening in neighborhoods like Sexton Mountain, Bethany, or the Progress Ridge area, you're essentially looking at two different cities. The residential southwest has maintained consistently low incident rates for years, and that's reflected in sustained buyer demand. Homes in those corridors don't sit long, even when the broader market softens, because families who've done their homework know what they're getting.
What buyers most commonly underestimate is how much the MAX corridor shapes the crime map. Properties within a few blocks of Beaverton TC or Beaverton Central station benefit enormously from transit access, but that same foot traffic draws opportunistic property crime. I always walk buyers through the BPD's publicly available neighborhood crime dashboard before they make any offer — it maps incidents down to specific sub-areas of the city, and it's far more useful than any national aggregator. If you're choosing between two homes at similar price points and one is a mile from a MAX station versus three miles away, that distinction matters to the safety conversation in ways that a Zillow crime overlay simply won't show you. If you're considering Beaverton and want insight into which neighborhoods align with your priorities and budget, I'd welcome the opportunity to share what I've learned from helping hundreds of families make this move successfully.
Cedar Hills, anchored by the Cedar Hills Crossing shopping center along SW Barnes Road, is one of the longer-established residential areas in Beaverton — and its crime profile reflects a community that's matured into relative stability. Local reports consistently place Cedar Hills among the lower-crime residential neighborhoods in the city, driven by a dense base of longtime homeowners and a street layout that limits through-traffic in the interior residential streets. The proximity to MAX at the Sunset TC adds the familiar transit-adjacent property crime risk along Barnes Road itself, but that risk drops off noticeably as you move deeper into the neighborhood's residential core.
Best for: Buyers who want established neighborhood character, easy MAX access, and lower violent crime without paying Bethany prices.
Murrayhill sits in the southwest quadrant where Beaverton's safety profile consistently performs best. The neighborhood was developed with a planned residential feel — cul-de-sac-heavy streets, high homeownership rates, and good sightlines that tend to discourage opportunistic crime. Incidents here are rare enough that Murrayhill residents often discuss safety through the lens of minor property annoyances rather than serious concerns, and the area's distance from the primary commercial corridors keeps it out of the retail theft statistics that weigh on Central Beaverton's numbers.
Best for: Families prioritizing a quieter, lower-crime environment within easy reach of Progress Ridge TownSquare amenities.
South Beaverton occupies a middle ground on the safety spectrum — more residential than the Canyon Road corridor but with enough commercial activity along Murray Boulevard and Scholls Ferry Road to produce elevated property crime counts in certain pockets. The Fanno Creek Trail corridor cuts through here, which most residents experience as a genuine amenity, though trail-adjacent parking areas see occasional car break-ins. The deeper residential streets off Murray and Scholls are substantially quieter than the busy arterials suggest.
Best for: Buyers who want southwest Beaverton pricing without going all the way out to Sexton Mountain, and who are comfortable doing basic vehicle-security habits near trail access points.
Central Beaverton is where the aggregate statistics live. The area around Beaverton TC MAX station, Canyon Road, and the Beaverton Town Square retail zone generates a significant share of the citywide property crime count — not because residents are particularly at risk in their homes, but because high foot traffic in commercial areas produces a predictably higher volume of retail theft and car break-in reports. Violent crime here is more prevalent than in the southwest, and this is the one area of the city where the national aggregator warnings have some genuine basis. Residents who live in the apartment complexes nearest the transit center experience a more urban-feeling environment than anywhere else in Beaverton.
Best for: Buyers or renters who prioritize walkability and MAX access and are comfortable with urban-adjacent precautions; less ideal for those seeking the quietest possible residential setting.
Sexton Mountain is one of the names that comes up consistently when Beaverton residents discuss the safest parts of the city. Positioned in the far southwest near Cooper Mountain Nature Park, the neighborhood combines high homeownership rates with a suburban layout that simply doesn't attract the commercial crime patterns that affect the city's eastern corridors. CrimeGrade and multiple local analyses place the southwest quadrant — where Sexton Mountain sits — at roughly half the crime victimization risk of the city's east side. The tradeoff is distance from MAX and a car-dependent lifestyle, but for families where safety is the primary filter, that's often an acceptable exchange.
Best for: Households where safety is the top priority and car dependence is acceptable; consistently among the safest residential areas in Beaverton.
Bethany sits at Beaverton's northern edge, technically within city limits for planning purposes, and its safety profile reads like a different data set from Central Beaverton. The area is newer, predominantly owner-occupied, and benefits from Washington County's generally lower crime environment in planned residential communities. Bethany has virtually none of the transit-adjacent property crime patterns that affect the city's core, and its distance from the commercial density of Canyon Road keeps retail-driven larceny statistics low. The community's relative newness also means fewer of the older multifamily pockets that can contribute to property crime counts elsewhere.
Best for: Buyers seeking top-tier residential safety, good schools, and a neighborhood that trends younger and more affluent — at prices that reflect all of those factors.
| City | Violent Crime / 1K | Property Crime / 1K | Overall Safety Profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beaverton | ~3.4 | ~26 | Mid-tier; safe residential southwest, elevated commercial east |
| Portland | ~7.5 | ~65 | Significantly higher across all categories |
| Hillsboro | ~3.1 | ~23 | Slightly lower overall; comparable suburban profile |
| Tigard | ~3.2 | ~24 | Comparable to Beaverton; less commercial density |
| Aloha | ~4.0 | ~28 | Slightly higher; unincorporated area, fewer dedicated patrols |
| West Slope | ~2.8 | ~20 | Among the safer Portland-adjacent communities; smaller, quieter |
When buyers are researching safety in Beaverton, they're really doing early homework on where they want to plant roots — and that research directly shapes long-term value. Neighborhoods like Murrayhill and Sexton Mountain consistently attract buyers who prioritize lower crime areas, and that demand is real and sustained. Well-maintained homes in these areas, typically priced under $700,000, move quickly when they hit the market — sometimes within days. Cedar Hills also draws steady interest given its established feel and proximity to amenities. If a neighborhood checks your safety boxes, there's a good chance it checks other buyers' boxes too, which matters for resale down the road.
What I tell every buyer before they start touring is this: knowing your approval amount is not the same as knowing your comfortable budget. Your full monthly payment includes property taxes, homeowner's insurance, any HOA dues, and your loan structure — and that complete picture looks very different from just a purchase price. Beaverton moves fast enough that if you find the right home in Sexton Mountain or Murrayhill, you want to be ready to act, not scrambling to get your financing in order.
The thing crime apps consistently miss is the difference between where incidents are reported and where residents actually feel unsafe. The BPD publishes monthly crime reports broken down by 11 sub-areas, and any serious buyer should pull those before making an offer. What you'll find is that the SW Hall Boulevard corridor, the area around Beaverton TC, and the stretch of Canyon Road between Murray and the Sunset freeway ramp account for a lopsided share of property crime reports. Walk three blocks off Canyon Road into the residential side streets and the picture changes completely.
Locals who've been here more than a few years have developed a set of habits that feel unremarkable to them: garages get used as garages rather than storage, valuables don't stay in cars parked near the Beaverton TC platform, and the Ring camera network in neighborhoods like Murrayhill and Sexton Mountain is dense enough that porch theft rarely goes unrecorded. The Nextdoor activity in those neighborhoods skews toward lost dogs and garage sale announcements rather than crime alerts — which is probably the most honest safety signal available.
One thing worth knowing about the Beaverton Police Department: with approximately 130 sworn officers for a city of nearly 98,000 residents, the officer-to-resident ratio runs below the national norm. A 2025 budget deficit led to reductions including scaling back the bike patrol team. That's not a crisis, but it does mean response times in lower-priority situations may be longer than in cities with larger departments. Community engagement programs and the mental health resource team remain active, and the department's public data dashboard — available at beavertonpolice.org — gives residents more transparency into neighborhood-level activity than most comparable cities provide.
Local Expert Takeaway: If safety is your primary filter, focus your search on the SW quadrant — Sexton Mountain, Murrayhill, and the residential streets south of Scholls Ferry Road consistently outperform the citywide average by a significant margin. Buyers choosing between two comparable homes should pull the BPD's sub-area crime data for the specific zones before writing an offer. The gap between the safest and most active areas of Beaverton is wide enough to meaningfully affect daily experience, and it won't show up on any national crime map.
✅ Beaverton's residential southwest — including Sexton Mountain, Murrayhill, and Bethany — ranks among the safer suburban environments in the entire Portland metro, with violent crime risk estimated well below the citywide average.
⚠️ Property crime is elevated citywide, driven by commercial corridors and transit-adjacent areas rather than residential neighborhoods. Car break-ins near MAX stations and retail theft near Canyon Road are the dominant patterns.
📍 The gap between neighborhoods matters more than the citywide figure. The safest parts of Beaverton are measurably safer than the city average suggests — and the most active areas are more urban-feeling than most suburban buyers expect.
Is Beaverton a safe place to live?
For most residents, yes — particularly in the southwest neighborhoods where homeownership rates are high and commercial density is low. The citywide statistics are pulled upward by property crime concentrated in commercial corridors, while large swaths of the city's residential areas see very low incident rates. Beaverton is substantially safer than Portland across every major crime category.
What parts of Beaverton have the highest crime?
Central Beaverton — particularly the areas near Beaverton TC MAX station and along Canyon Road — consistently accounts for a disproportionate share of citywide property crime reports. This reflects the commercial density and high foot traffic in those zones rather than residential danger, but buyers seeking the quietest possible environment should look to the southwest quadrant instead.
How does Beaverton compare to nearby Hillsboro or Tigard for safety?
All three cities operate in a similar safety range, with violent crime rates between 3.1 and 3.4 per 1,000 residents and property crime in the low-to-mid 20s per 1,000. Hillsboro and Tigard have slightly lower property crime counts in some analyses, likely reflecting less MAX-adjacent commercial density. The differences are meaningful at the margin but shouldn't be the deciding factor between the three cities — neighborhood selection within any of them matters more than the citywide comparison.
Explore the full Beaverton series: Living in Beaverton · Is Beaverton Safe? · Cost of Living · Best Neighborhoods · Schools & Family Life · Youth Sports · Parks & Rec · Retiring in Beaverton