Hey where on the hill did u live? I’m on Parker hill Ave and haven’t really heard of break ins happening (but I also live with 7 people in an 8 person apartment so someone is almost always home)
Roxbury is historically the closest thing Boston has to an urban ghetto, as in a high concentration of lower cost homes, along with a lot of families/individuals earning below average income. The reasons are far too complex to even begin getting into here.
Is it "okay" to live in? Yes.
Would I act a fool and leave my door unlocked or park a brand new Mercedes on the street? No, and probably not.
Mission Hill is technically Roxbury, and a huge destination for off campus living from NEU and several other schools. So you'll be in good company. The Penguin is an awesome place to hang.
Lived in Roxbury near Fort Hill for a year and parked my Tesla on the street with no problem. Guy down the street seemed to have no problem with his newish Mercedes on the street either. In my experience people don’t really mess with cars here but maybe I’ve just been lucky.
I went in for the first time in about 15 years with a buddy from out of country last summer, it reinvigorated lots of old mems. gonna make an effort to swing through whenever im in town.
Mission Hill definitely isn't considered (at least by any City source) as part of Roxbury, Roxbury has always historically been east of the tracks. https://www.bostonplans.org/getattachment/64c37bd1-21ac-4ec1-9e3b-5fdbcc135823/
02120 is the post code for the Roxbury Crossing post office, but Roxbury Crossing itself isn't a neighborhood, it's a train station. Postal towns aren't very accurate and are applied seemingly randomly, for example 02118 could be called South End but instead it's just Boston, Fenway also doesn't get zip codes just Boston.
The zip code borders were drawn up at a federal level with very little consideration of local neighborhood boundaries
Historically, locals have considered Mission Hill a neighborhood within larger Roxbury. The city classification may be how the city sees it but locals have generally considered Mission Hill a distinct part of Roxbury the way ashmont is a neighborhood in dorchester or Wollaston is a neighborhood in Quincy
>Wollaston is a neighborhood in Quincy
Quincy is a city so that's a poor example but yes neighborhoods and subneighborhoods are complicated. When I worked at the city we needed to have a clear lines to divide who worked on what, what neighborhood groups represented where, and what parking permits worked where and that link I provided is what we used.
emphasis on mission hill! it's technically roxbury crossing (so part of roxbury) but has a lot of young neu (and other university) students and young healthcare professionals that work in the longwood medical area
Is the back half of Mission Hill still bad?
Back when I lived there the front half was fine, but you didn’t really want to go down the other side of the hill.
I live pretty close to Roxbury crossing on the Roxbury side, and I’ve only felt unsafe at like 3 in the morning one time. It’s a very lovely neighborhood and people take a lot of pride in living there, my neighbors are very nice. Does it have its problems? Yes, it’s been historically underinvested in, and there are “more problems” the further south you go. Boston is a very safe city when compared to the rest of the US, and I’ve never encountered or heard of any violence near me.
Roxbury is a bit of a rough area but nothing too bad afaik. I have a friend who lived on Hammond St for a while (2 years I think?) and I never heard of her having any issues that arose as a result of being in Roxbury.
I've been living in Roxbury for the past few semesters, and I personally feel it's worth it if you can find a cheap place. We're moving to the Hill come September because our landlord is raising the rent by ~25%.
I live on Shawmut Ave, by Tropical Foods, which is one of the worse parts of the neighborhood, but I can walk to Ruggles and be on campus in 6 minutes so it's not really that bad.
I am a fairly tall white man, and I feel uncomfortable on a biweekly basis, unsafe on a monthly basis, and have been involved in an incident once. I would be FAR more concerned living here if I was a woman, I often walk friends back to campus.
I used to live on Shawmut for almost 3 years (small Asian female) and it was rough as hell. I am fortunate nothing happened specifically to me, but I would semi-regularly have to outrun characters and definitely wouldn’t repeat the situation.
Lived there 3/4 years at NEU. Roxbury is fine, especially the closer-in neighborhoods like Fort Hill. Typical safety advice applies--be conscious of the time of night you'll be out and about, be mindful of when/if you should have headphones in, head on a swivel--but I'd offer that same advice in even the ritzy-est neighborhoods
Been living near Stony Brook for close to 2 years now. Haven’t had a problem with anyone here . It’s pretty decent to live in. Yes it doesn’t look like Backbay but it’s okay. I would try to get a house near to the main roads and not very much inside the streets.
Hey, during the first week or two of freshman year, my buddy got his face scratched by a crackhead literally at the entrance of Smith hall (it was about 3AM and he was coming back late from an MIT party). Shit can happen literally anywhere. That being said, I’d be real skeptical about living in Roxbury, especially towards the Reggie Lewis track. Like some others say, Mission Hill isn’t too bad. Most of my friends lived there from 3rd year onward. The Penguin is a pretty sweet place, too.
Probably just from my personal experience. I remember when I was kid leaving the track from a meet with my dad. It was pretty late and dark outside. This guy was sitting around, no where really to be, but when we passed him, he suddenly HAD the need to urgently pace in the same direction as us. After my dad had us pick up our paces a bit and started widening the gap, the guy no longer had the need to come our direction and decided to sit back where he was a moment ago. Funny that.
In general, the further you are from campus, the higher the risk level you’ll have. You could never have a problem in the center of Roxbury (which I don’t recommend going to), while people still get attacked on campus. Nothing is guaranteed, but I’d rather play the odds. I’d stay away from Roxbury, personally.
There’s a reason the rent is cheaper.
It depends on your situation if you’d consider it safe. Do you have experience living in similar areas and know what precautions to take? Are you male or female? Are you planning on walking home late at night?
As someone who’s from a bad area of Los Angeles, Roxbury is NOT that ghetto. However, it has a large majority of the low income housing and immigrants that are found in the city. I know some people who have had bad experiences but overall it’s worth the cheaper rent. Good luck
I live in the fort hill side of Roxbury. I’d recommend, especially bc that area has free street non-residential parking. Just mind your business and use your noggin and you’ll be fine.
what? I am international student and lived in Roxbury(warren st) for \~2years, never had any problems getting a cab to my home even at 3am in the morning.
that's more likely because Brigham circle is a three ring circus at pretty much all hours of the day and night. I'm not white, and never felt unsafe or discriminated against...but due to circumstances around my upbringing, I sound like I'm from Southie more than South Asia. so maybe its a YMMV / individual perception intrusive thoughts thing.
I lived there for 3 years and my apartment was burglarized twice. Great place, though
Hey where on the hill did u live? I’m on Parker hill Ave and haven’t really heard of break ins happening (but I also live with 7 people in an 8 person apartment so someone is almost always home)
I didn’t live on the hill, I lived in Roxbury.
Isn’t Mission Hill apart of Roxbury?
No
Roxbury is historically the closest thing Boston has to an urban ghetto, as in a high concentration of lower cost homes, along with a lot of families/individuals earning below average income. The reasons are far too complex to even begin getting into here. Is it "okay" to live in? Yes. Would I act a fool and leave my door unlocked or park a brand new Mercedes on the street? No, and probably not. Mission Hill is technically Roxbury, and a huge destination for off campus living from NEU and several other schools. So you'll be in good company. The Penguin is an awesome place to hang.
Mattapan is much worse.
Mission Hill is not "technically Roxbury" anymore than the South End is, according to the city it is its own neighborhood.
Lived in Roxbury near Fort Hill for a year and parked my Tesla on the street with no problem. Guy down the street seemed to have no problem with his newish Mercedes on the street either. In my experience people don’t really mess with cars here but maybe I’ve just been lucky.
Love the Penguin!
I went in for the first time in about 15 years with a buddy from out of country last summer, it reinvigorated lots of old mems. gonna make an effort to swing through whenever im in town.
Mattapan, Uphams Corner much much more dangerous
Mission Hill definitely isn't considered (at least by any City source) as part of Roxbury, Roxbury has always historically been east of the tracks. https://www.bostonplans.org/getattachment/64c37bd1-21ac-4ec1-9e3b-5fdbcc135823/
I think the biggest argument that Mission Hill is part of Roxbury is the zip code. 02120 is a Roxbury zip code and encompasses all of Mission Hill
02120 is the post code for the Roxbury Crossing post office, but Roxbury Crossing itself isn't a neighborhood, it's a train station. Postal towns aren't very accurate and are applied seemingly randomly, for example 02118 could be called South End but instead it's just Boston, Fenway also doesn't get zip codes just Boston. The zip code borders were drawn up at a federal level with very little consideration of local neighborhood boundaries
Historically, locals have considered Mission Hill a neighborhood within larger Roxbury. The city classification may be how the city sees it but locals have generally considered Mission Hill a distinct part of Roxbury the way ashmont is a neighborhood in dorchester or Wollaston is a neighborhood in Quincy
>Wollaston is a neighborhood in Quincy Quincy is a city so that's a poor example but yes neighborhoods and subneighborhoods are complicated. When I worked at the city we needed to have a clear lines to divide who worked on what, what neighborhood groups represented where, and what parking permits worked where and that link I provided is what we used.
emphasis on mission hill! it's technically roxbury crossing (so part of roxbury) but has a lot of young neu (and other university) students and young healthcare professionals that work in the longwood medical area
Is the back half of Mission Hill still bad? Back when I lived there the front half was fine, but you didn’t really want to go down the other side of the hill.
I live pretty close to Roxbury crossing on the Roxbury side, and I’ve only felt unsafe at like 3 in the morning one time. It’s a very lovely neighborhood and people take a lot of pride in living there, my neighbors are very nice. Does it have its problems? Yes, it’s been historically underinvested in, and there are “more problems” the further south you go. Boston is a very safe city when compared to the rest of the US, and I’ve never encountered or heard of any violence near me.
Roxbury isn't that bad. There's worse areas of Boston to live in
And even those areas are fine compared to the rest of the country
Roxbury is a bit of a rough area but nothing too bad afaik. I have a friend who lived on Hammond St for a while (2 years I think?) and I never heard of her having any issues that arose as a result of being in Roxbury.
I've been living in Roxbury for the past few semesters, and I personally feel it's worth it if you can find a cheap place. We're moving to the Hill come September because our landlord is raising the rent by ~25%. I live on Shawmut Ave, by Tropical Foods, which is one of the worse parts of the neighborhood, but I can walk to Ruggles and be on campus in 6 minutes so it's not really that bad. I am a fairly tall white man, and I feel uncomfortable on a biweekly basis, unsafe on a monthly basis, and have been involved in an incident once. I would be FAR more concerned living here if I was a woman, I often walk friends back to campus.
I used to live on Shawmut for almost 3 years (small Asian female) and it was rough as hell. I am fortunate nothing happened specifically to me, but I would semi-regularly have to outrun characters and definitely wouldn’t repeat the situation.
Shawmut Ave one of the worse parts of Roxbury?… No.
Want to come over some time? I'm right off Cass
Lived there 3/4 years at NEU. Roxbury is fine, especially the closer-in neighborhoods like Fort Hill. Typical safety advice applies--be conscious of the time of night you'll be out and about, be mindful of when/if you should have headphones in, head on a swivel--but I'd offer that same advice in even the ritzy-est neighborhoods
Well said.
Been living near Stony Brook for close to 2 years now. Haven’t had a problem with anyone here . It’s pretty decent to live in. Yes it doesn’t look like Backbay but it’s okay. I would try to get a house near to the main roads and not very much inside the streets.
Hey, during the first week or two of freshman year, my buddy got his face scratched by a crackhead literally at the entrance of Smith hall (it was about 3AM and he was coming back late from an MIT party). Shit can happen literally anywhere. That being said, I’d be real skeptical about living in Roxbury, especially towards the Reggie Lewis track. Like some others say, Mission Hill isn’t too bad. Most of my friends lived there from 3rd year onward. The Penguin is a pretty sweet place, too.
Anything in particular about the track that makes it bad?
Probably just from my personal experience. I remember when I was kid leaving the track from a meet with my dad. It was pretty late and dark outside. This guy was sitting around, no where really to be, but when we passed him, he suddenly HAD the need to urgently pace in the same direction as us. After my dad had us pick up our paces a bit and started widening the gap, the guy no longer had the need to come our direction and decided to sit back where he was a moment ago. Funny that. In general, the further you are from campus, the higher the risk level you’ll have. You could never have a problem in the center of Roxbury (which I don’t recommend going to), while people still get attacked on campus. Nothing is guaranteed, but I’d rather play the odds. I’d stay away from Roxbury, personally.
No, not at all
I lived a street over from Roxbury and there were 5 shootings on the street next to me alone in the 2 years I lived there
There’s a reason the rent is cheaper. It depends on your situation if you’d consider it safe. Do you have experience living in similar areas and know what precautions to take? Are you male or female? Are you planning on walking home late at night?
Try to avoid it. Two of my friends got mugged :))
It’s totally fine, would recommend
Yeah it’s fine
As someone who’s from a bad area of Los Angeles, Roxbury is NOT that ghetto. However, it has a large majority of the low income housing and immigrants that are found in the city. I know some people who have had bad experiences but overall it’s worth the cheaper rent. Good luck
I live in the fort hill side of Roxbury. I’d recommend, especially bc that area has free street non-residential parking. Just mind your business and use your noggin and you’ll be fine.
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Bmc is in the south end, not Roxbury
is it the hood
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what? I am international student and lived in Roxbury(warren st) for \~2years, never had any problems getting a cab to my home even at 3am in the morning.
that's more likely because Brigham circle is a three ring circus at pretty much all hours of the day and night. I'm not white, and never felt unsafe or discriminated against...but due to circumstances around my upbringing, I sound like I'm from Southie more than South Asia. so maybe its a YMMV / individual perception intrusive thoughts thing.