Summer Internship Housing and Safety (Seattle: neighborhood, college, homeless)

[CharlBurn]

I'm a college student (female) who will be working at an internship in Seattle, near the King County Courthouse, and I'm from out of state and don't know the area. I need housing and was considering intern housing at UW or Seattle U. Which is generally safer?
And what should I be aware of in the courthouse area? Any safety concerns? Finally, do you recommend I drive or use public transportation? Thanks for any tips.

[jabogitlu]

This is going to depend on your personal comfort with negative urban aspects like homelessness or drug use. Both of those will show up on the streets around KCo Courthouse, although that neighborhood has recently improved (by a lot), so articles/news you see from early 2022 or prior are not that relevant at this time.

The UW area is safer than the Seattle U area overall, although both are pretty good, again, with the caveat that Seattle is a city and you need to understand cities. If you have zero tolerance for homelessness, drugs, urban crime, etc., then you'd want to look towards the UW. However, Seattle U is a lot closer to the KCo Courthouse.

I am not familiar with where the intern housing is at UW, but if it's close to the light rail station, you could easily use the light rail as there are multiple stops in the KCo Courthouse vicinity.

I'd say for the first few days plan to drive, then as you gain familiarity, you could try the light rail and see how you like it.

[CharlBurn]

Thanks! Very helpful info.