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King County

2,344,939 people, served by 41 police agencies that report to the FBI.

How a case moves here

King County follows Washington law on arrests, release, and courts. These rules are the same in every county in the state; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.

Who decides release first

A judge or court commissioner sets release at the preliminary appearance. Before that, a district or municipal court may adopt its own bail schedule that the jail applies; adopting one is optional and court by court.

CrRLJ 3.2CrR 3.2.1RCW 10.99.045RCW 3.42.010
Time to see a judge

A judge must decide probable cause within 48 hours of an arrest, counting weekends and holidays. The person must then appear before the court by the close of business on the next court day.

CrR 3.2.1(a), (c), (d)
Money bail

Court rules presume release on personal recognizance except in capital cases. A court may require a bond only after finding a likely failure to appear or a danger, must use the least restrictive conditions, and must consider the person's financial resources when setting a bond.

CrR 3.2
Courts

Each county has a superior court, which tries felonies. District courts hear misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors and can hold felony preliminary hearings, and municipal courts hear cases under city ordinances.

RCW 2.08.060RCW 3.66.060RCW 35.20.030
Judges and magistrates

Voters elect superior court judges on a nonpartisan ballot to four-year terms. District judges are also elected for four years and must be lawyers, except in districts under 5,000 people where a lay candidate passed the qualifying exam by 2003. Mayors appoint municipal judges for four-year terms unless the city makes the job elective.

RCW 2.08.060, 2.08.070RCW 29A.52.231RCW 3.34.060RCW 3.50.040, 3.50.050

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. The pretrial section rests on a secondary summary. Which counties use commissioners for preliminary appearances was not checked.

What this county does differently

Nothing county-specific yet

Whether King County runs a pretrial services office, uses a risk assessment, or has its own bail schedule appears here once a cited source says so.

Cities and towns

Every city, village, town, and township with any of its land in King County, largest first. Population, the whole place's: Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024.

Police agencies

Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29. An agency that serves several counties appears on each. Population served is the FBI's figure.

Crime

The crime index

Crime index offenses reported by agencies in King County, 2021 to 2025
Offense20212022202320242025Per 100kWashington
Violent crime9,95210,64010,5749,9968,191426339
Murder120129149108664.94.2
Rape9129119279829414040
Robbery2,9433,1353,2482,8712,10412373
Aggravated assault5,9776,4656,2506,0355,080257222
Property crime96,692101,63394,72286,84765,5423,8432,753
Burglary16,94616,78615,65714,30510,750642459
Larceny65,53466,02154,57455,34744,5812,4681,799
Motor vehicle theft14,21218,82624,49117,19510,211733495
Arson5534654263692981817

Outside the crime index

Offenses outside the crime index reported by agencies in King County, 2021 to 2025
Offense20212022202320242025Per 100kWashington
All offenses outside the crime index56,36857,57759,93256,81447,6912,4022,513
Simple assault and intimidation17,82618,97919,08118,38916,402782795
Vandalism22,81622,81524,80721,32715,380924928
Fraud7,4617,1187,0146,7866,232299305
Drug abuse violations2,0721,9292,3793,9464,488128184
Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc.1,8201,9932,1202,0391,8338584
Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing1,6862,1841,9501,7341,0977582
Forgery and counterfeiting8908036706544683043
Embezzlement8511111198784.22.9
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution)6305506145394942436
Prostitution and commercialized vice233130120841646.33.5
Gambling1212Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.0.2
Other Group A offenses8489631,0651,2181,0534449
Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total)1111191180.50.7
Human trafficking (not in the total)39405242361.81

Offenses agencies in King County reported to the FBI in incident detail (NIBRS), each year, the second table by the arrest class each offense falls in. Per 100k: offenses per 100,000 people the reporting agencies police, 2021 to 2025 added together, beside Washington's rate over the same years. Agencies that reported part of a year are counted with their people, as the state's rates count them. – means too few for a rate: the count is under 20.

Source: FBI NIBRS national master files, each agency's offenses and the FBI's population for it. Washington: the crime index: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, CrimeDB's chosen value per year (the state page's figures); outside it: FBI NIBRS, agencies that sent incident detail.