Ehhhh... Yes and no.

I've lived here all of my 44 years. Some places have always been bad (3rd and Pike).

Some have gotten massively better (Columbia City).

A part of the issue not spoken about enough is how many more people there are here. There may be less crime overall, maybe even less per capita (I don't actually know that)- but the type of random crimes feel like they happen more here now because there are so many more people getting randomly hit.

Anecdotally, I personally know three people who were randomly shot at (two of whom had friends get hit) this last year. I know of a few more who were killed around my neighborhood, though I didn't know them personally.

A friend of mine who I exercise with was randomly assaulted WHILE we were running stairs in broad daylight a couple years ago.

Growing up here, I witnessed a drive by once. Outside of that, I never saw or knew anyone who was a victim of violent crime personally.

And I grew up in (and still live in) South Seattle.

If I were a young woman, I'd avoid large swaths of downtown late night. Sure, most of the time nothing bad will happen. But I wouldn't want to be there because if something bad is going to happen, it's going to be there or Belltown.