Feeling Safe at School

Students of color and LGBT+ students are less likely to feel safe at school.

In a survey of Washington public school students, 8th, 10th, and 12th graders were asked whether they feel safe at school. In 2023, 83.7% of King County students said they feel safe at school.  

  • Race and ethnicity: Overall Asian students were the most likely group to feel safe at school (87.3%), although this varied by Asian ethnic group with Cambodian/Khmer (79.3%), Filipino (80.2%), Vietnamese (80.3%) and other Asian ethnicity (78.5%) students less likely to feel safe at school.   Black (78.4%), Hispanic/Latino (79.4%), Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (80.4%), those identifying as another race (80.5%) and Mutiple race (81.7%) students were less likely to feel safe at school.   

  • Sexual orientation: Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (75.7%) students were less likely than Heterosexual (86.7%) students to feel safe at school.  

  • Region: Students in the South Region were less likely to feel safe (78.5%) than students in East Region (90.5%) and North Region of the county (87.2%).  

  • Gender: Transgender (69.0%), Other gender (70.7%) or who were questioning their gender (70.2%) students were less likely than cisgender students to feel safe at school. 

Notes & Sources

Source: Healthy Youth Survey (HYS) 2004 - 2023

Every 2 years, Washington public school students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades answer questions about safety and violence, physical activity and diet, alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, and related risk and protective factors. To learn more about the survey, please go to https://www.doh.wa.gov/DataandStatisticalReports/DataSystems/HealthyYouthSurvey.  

Numerator: Students who agreed with the statement, "I feel safe at my school.”  

Denominator: All students who answered the question. 

To learn more about the Healthy Youth Survey and view the data biography, click here.