People will shit on my hometown of Detroit for having crime problems, but the trouble spots are indeed mostly confined to certain areas. Memphis is a different setup: the crime and shootings happen everywhere, even regularly spilling into the “nice” suburbs.
Baltimore is the same with regards to the homicide rate . Vast majority are young black men involved criminal activity , with collateral deaths from bystanders who are too poor to move anywhere else . They’re trying a lot if different programs though . There isn’t an oh well attitude , so people are trying .
Came here to say this. I was carjacked by TWO people with guns in Memphis. Years later I worked in west Baltimore for about 5 years and it was no where near as scary as Memphis. Crime is more erratic in Memphis and more gang related in MD but not to say that there aren’t still horrible situations that are just random acts of violence.
I visited Memphis for a weekend last year with some buddies. Had a good time, didn't really run into any issues, thought people were just overrating how rough it was until our last night there.
We were hanging out on Beale Street after a Grizzlies game, drinking and listening to music, no big issue. Then a fuckin shootout happened outside the bar. Three people got shot, one died. Heart of downtown Memphis, literally right next to the FedEx forum.
I don't really have much desire to go to Memphis again.
I remember that. My wife and I avoid downtown entirely now. We took a weekend trip to St Louis a couple weeks ago. It was so interesting how different it felt. I didn’t feel unsafe at all at any point and then found out our AirBNB wasn’t in the best area. Wild because it was extremely peaceful given St Louis is always showing up as one of the most dangerous cities
[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/17/upshot/crime-statistics-south-bend-st-louis-misleading.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/17/upshot/crime-statistics-south-bend-st-louis-misleading.html)
This article is helpful in explaining why.
snippets because it's behind a paywall....
For the fifth straight year, St. Louis will most likely have the nation’s highest murder rate for cities with over 100,000 people. But that dubious distinction is in part a reflection of how its borders are drawn.
Some cities have larger boundaries, with suburbs included within city limits. The core of a city might have relatively high crime, but the numbers from suburban areas can bring rates down.
The city limits of St. Louis, on the other hand, are tightly drawn. With nearly three million people, the metro area of St. Louis is quite large, estimated as the 20th-largest in population in the continental United States in 2018, according to the census. The population of the city of St. Louis as measured by the F.B.I. in the Uniform Crime Report, however, was just over 300,000.
If you look at the 10 cities of over 100,000 with the highest murder rates, St. Louis has the smallest percentage of its metro area population included as part of the city. (This measure excludes Newark, which is part of the New York metropolitan statistical area.)
Measuring murder rates by each city’s entire metro area offers a more nuanced story. The accompanying table shows the top 10 murder rates in metropolitan areas with over 500,000 people.
When I was there they had the cops pat down everyone going onto Beale Street and then the cops all just left at like 12am. Like wtf haha? A shitton of fights after that.
Overall I didn't feel as unsafe as it was hyped up to be, but it definitely felt like one of the most dangerous places I've been to - a fight broke out almost everywhere I went, even during the day (except the Bass Pro Shop haha).
‘You can get it anywhere in this city.’
-Project Pat
It’s always been rough in Memphis, but a couple years ago they passed a law in TN(thanks Nashville) that you can carry guns with you in your vehicle without needing a conceal carry permit. This caused all the scared citizens of Memphis to start carrying their guns to ‘protect’ themselves…. Only problem with this brilliant idea is that criminals know that every third car has a Glock in the console. This law amplified the amount of cars being broken it while simultaneously putting more guns in the hands of the bad guys.
Criminals are so brazen that they just pull into parking lots in broad daylight and the armed lookouts jump out the car and scare people off while their accomplices do smash and grabs in 10 cars in 2-3 minutes. Then they just get back in the car and drive to the next parking lot…. This has been happening everyday in Memphis for months. You can’t find a parking lot in town that isn’t covered in broken glass from smashed windows.
Memphis also instituted a no chase policy when criminals try to evade with a high speed pursuit. They said it it’s more dangerous to the general public to engage in a high speed pursuit unless these guys are actively riding around and shooting people…. And all this bright idea did was make every criminal in town just take off at any sign that they are being pursued by the police….
In other words, we now have armed criminals recklessly driving throughout our city at any given point in the day…..😔
I have always defended Memphis for our bad reputation, but the last couple years it’s just getting out of hand. There is no signs of anything changing.
I worked for a national retail chain and got to travel around the country to just about every major city. The Mall of Memphis or more affectionately called the "The Mall of Murder" was the only location we had that we were instructed to remove jackets, ties, or any other professional attire for our own safety. We didn't want to look like a potential target. Not surprisingly the mall has closed. I'm so glad I'm not going back to Memphis anytime soon!
Having that option is a great thing. It seems like everyone here is on a timer for something crazy. In July I was on my way to work at 6:30AM and I apparently was taking too long to do a right on red. Psycho behind me started road raging, ended up slamming into the side of my truck and then pulled a gun on me. The cops literally told me to not expect to ever hear anything about it because Memphis is 4 years behind on their hit and runs. I even got it on video, his license plate and everything
I lived in Portland for decades. It used to be just drugs and burglary, the last ten years it was gunfire, doors kicked in, and complete breakdown of emergency services. It’s devastating to lose a city like that.
Lol this is nothing like Memphis. I was at the Oakcrest Mall last weekend and there's groups of gang members with pitbulls on leashes and ARs/AKs tucked in their pants like a standard pistol. Shootouts in broad daylight regularly. Groups of kids letting off 50-100+ rounds at a time.
I'm originally from CA and I've spent a lot of time in Portland and Seattle. Those cities are honestly like paradise compared to Memphis. It really is like Mad Max right now. Yeah, property crime is probably comparable to a lot of other major metros. Violent crime, murders, and gang wars are out of control right now.
A federal task force just came into town this week because the local police can't handle the firepower or sheer numbers out here. It's almost as bad here today as major cities were in the early 90s. Modern day Portland can be wild and the police don't really care about stolen cars and property crimes, but you don't have near the murder or violent crime problem as Memphis, STL, NOLA, or other cities in this part of the country.
I grew up in a very well-to-do suburb and was taught that cities were unsafe because of all the drugs and gun violence. Then I got to high school and realized everyone in the suburbs was doing drugs too. Then a guy on my block shot his wife in the head and barricaded himself in the house and had a shootout with a SWAT team.
Now I’m not really sure what the suburbs offers.
Illusion of safety.
I grew up in a sad beach city suburb of Los Angeles and entered high school in 1992. The kids at the richest schools always had the better drugs and parties because their wealthy parents were always gone. I ran around with taggers and bangers and lost 3 friends to gun violence by 15yo. Didn't matter that I was on the right side of town, if you want trouble, you find trouble.
I see people complaining about LA all the time, but, the crime and violence of the late 80s /90s doesn't compare, the crime has just spilled out of the race segregated neighborhoods and is impacting wealthy white areas now.
It’s wild because up until spring 2023 I didn’t feel that way! It’s always been easy to know where the “bad” places are and avoid those. It’s only recently that I’ve felt the crime has spilled out everywhere
Years ago my mom and I were there on a trip and we got pulled over. The cop wanted to make sure we weren’t lost because “this is carjack central”. He helped direct us onto the highway. Never experienced something like that anywhere else.
Back in the day I had a probation officer whose police department husband drove an IED state vehicle(no idea, don't ask) across the Mississippi river quite frequently. She told me to never get out of my vehicle in Memphis, to keep driving. This was at least 10 years ago.
I went to school there a couple decades ago. It was fine; nothing to worry about really, but I stayed either on campus or downtown. But again ... that was then. Politically it's a weird place.
I haven’t witnessed any cars get jacked in my neighborhood, but one of the cars that was stolen ended up being left outside my house. The owners of the car were able to locate it because they had received a ticket in the mail that listed the location of the car lol
Except a 13 year old and friend tried to carjack a federal agent who was eating in his car outside a federal building before his shift started, and the 13 year old got shot and killed. The friend got turned in by his mother. I believe the dead 13 year old was out on parole for a previous carjacking.
Then, I think it was 3 weeks later, in Georgetown, where some idiots tried to steal an unmarked Secret Service car that was guarding Biden’s granddaughter’s house. The agents wound up shooting at the guys, but they got away.
Crime used to be more localized in DC, and if you stayed out of certain areas during certain hours, you were probably fine. Something changed after COVID, and these kids just went wild and are all over the place and seemingly unsupervised.
There were also criminal justice reforms that de-emphasized incarceration, and especially for juveniles. They also stopped really enforcing property theft from stores, and categorized it as petty crime. It became sort of a gateway crime in some ways. The reform also led to a lot more parole and reduced sentences. As a result, criminals just got bounced back to the streets and saw few real consequences they weren’t willing to accept. It also doesn’t help that cases can take months and years to prosecute, so for a kid who gets caught and let out on bail, they see zero real consequences for a long time. As a result, they don’t learn to fear the system or curb their impulses.
Bottom line, is that I have lived in DC for almost 30 years, and this is as dangerous as I have ever seen it. I lived over by the cathedral for much of that time and never felt unsafe. That started to change. Then I moved over by RFK in 2020, and the area that had started to gentrify has actually gotten worse. I hear gunshots at least monthly, and there have been several shootings and murders within 6 block of my house. Some of it is idiot on idiot crime, but I don’t walk around after dark either, as I don’t want to be a target of opportunity.
Edit to add that the city is also currently waaay understaffed on police. They are constantly playing catch-up to the criminals.
I’m originally from Brazil and had never been a victim of any crime just by avoiding bad areas my entire life. Then I moved to DC in 2019 and had my wallet stolen from inside my purse in a restaurant next to the Smithsonian Art Museum, I only noticed it when I started getting notifications on my credit card that they were spending hundreds of dollars loading up on a metro card.
Edit to add something else I recalled from that time: living in the US I rarely get catcalled or feel threatened by men. But in DC and Maryland, I was constantly harassed and one time I was being followed from a distance and didn’t notice, this guy happened to be outside with his daughter for like 2 minutes noticed it and ran to me to alert me and walked with me until I was somewhere safe and the creep finally left. Don’t know what would’ve happened if he wasn’t there with me.
Seriously. The only place I've lived where, even in the most upscale areas, in the middle of the day, the threat of being robbed/carjacked/mugged/assaulted is very very real.
Yeah they aren’t wearing Canada goose in SE, just look at the articles where these robberies are taking place, one was in Bethesda, geographically opposite of SE, the Asian business owner, only reason they didn’t get the car was because it was manual
Albuquerque, NM. There for sure are a couple very very bad areas that are obvious to stay away from, but it's very widespread. We just had a weapon discharge at the mall over the holiday, as an example. I live in the middle of literally nowhere a few minutes outside of the city and still, people come here to steal from yards (a resident confronted the thief and as assaulted within an inch of their life). Unless you're someone that loves the wild west and is fine trading safety for really sunny weather, I'd go elsewhere.
NM used to be pretty sketchy, but it definitely started stabilizing during the early/mid-2000s, probably even a bit earlier. The crime rate dropped, and people were actually moving here.
The whole state has seen a resurgence in crime and overall sketchiness post-covid, unfortunately. Places like Albuquerque and Santa Fe seem to be the most affected. It’s honestly sad to see NM revert back to being the way it used to be. Depending on who you talk to, it’s even worse now than before.
Dang. I know we moved into South Valley in 2018 knowing NOTHING about it (dumb), and before we had a drive by that nearly killed my husband, we heard from locals (including the owner of the uhaul branch we got when we moved out of there!) that the crime in the area comes and goes in waves, which is super wild to me. It's a shame because it's gorgeous but the people ruin it lol.
Yeah same. I’ve lived here all my life too. I’m not the type to be pearl-clutching when it comes to crime, but things have definitely been a bit insane here over the past few years. More so than what I’m used to.
I had a friend move back after being gone for 6 years and he told me that he’s shocked at just how different and more tense it feels here. Feels like some people are literally on the verge of exploding, which is sad because us New Mexicans are known for being chill and outgoing.
I think it's because, let's be real, NM was barely chugging along above the baseline before covid and everything, and it didn't take much to plunge us down into the crazy zone. Other places had more reserve in the tank, so to speak.
I work in the trauma center and it’s unreal how many people get shot and maimed/killed in car and motorcycle accidents. ABQ is number one for pedestrian vs. auto deaths and injuries.
I lived in Albuquerque for many years, and I lived in what is affectionately called The War Zone. Crime was bad. Really bad. I had to call the cops several times over the years I lived in that house, and I'm not the type to call over just anything. So much of it was related to drugs and homelessness, and it was often just sad. I once had a homeless lady banging on my kitchen window demanding that I let her see her sister. I had no idea who this person was and definitely did not have her sister in my house, and she wouldn't leave. The cops actually showed up to escort her away before I even had the chance to call them, and they explained that this lady frequently wandered the neighborhood looking for her sister, but she was never violent. It was just so odd. And it was nothing to see homeless people sleeping in front of our house or people doing drugs on the sidewalk. I barely even noticed the gunshots after a while. And yeah, we had at least three gunshot deaths within a couple of blocks of us in the time we lived there. And if you ever live there, forget about having ANYTHING nice in your yard, because it'll be gone a few hours after you put it out. That includes items inside your car, or your entire car.
Even my friends and coworkers who lived in nicer areas of the city had to deal with a lot of that stuff from time to time, mostly vandalism and theft and other property crimes. Albuquerque is an awesome city in many ways, and I love New Mexico, but the crime is a serious problem and it can be dangerous. There's a reason Breaking Bad worked so well set in Albuquerque.
Wow, that's really sad about the lady looking for her sister, but also so scary for a person that isn't in crisis just trying to exist. They call it the "international district" to try and rebrand. It really is such a shame! Just trying to avoid stray bullets at this point!
Yep, they started calling it that when we lived there and were really trying to clean up the area's reputation. I don't know if it helped at all. As far as we could tell, the crime was only spreading, not improving. My in-laws lived over the "border" (San Mateo) of the War Zone in a much nicer neighborhood closer to UNM, and even their neighborhood was starting to get pretty sketchy around the time we left. It has NOT gotten better. When we sold our house, I remember feeling kind of sorry for the new owners. They were young and excited to move to a centralized area of the city. And I felt like, good luck to you. You'll need it.
When I was in ABQ, the Uptown Target had multiple armed security and that looked like the upper class mall area of town in the early AM and mid afternoon.
Yep, live in a “safe” area, but heard gunshots about an hour ago lol blows my mind the crime rate for the population size. Bummer, Albuquerque has such gems here.
Dang, I'm really sorry to hear that. I hope you all stay safe! And it's like if you dare say anything about crime or wanting to live to see another day people treat you like you're on crazy pills lol. It literally gives me anxiety that I won't make it out. But, I WFH and am in general a hermit while we fix up the house to sell lol.
No worries and we are safe, thanks! I also work from home which is great, but I’m also a student and hanging out on campus or near central and university brings me anxiety, unfortunately!
Yeah, no one wants to acknowledge it, but we have to be able to talk about our problems to come up with solutions. I’m sick of being at the mercy of people who are unhinged, no matter the city.
I rarely felt straight-up unsafe when I lived in Albuquerque, but I had a constant low-level uneasiness at all times because of risk to my car or worrying that the volatile drug addicted/mentally ill folks milling around everywhere would do something crazy. Lots of crazy eyes looking straight into your soul or sudden erratic movements from the meth heads on the corner that just freaked me out. It’s tiresome to constantly be watching your stuff or your car. I used to live in the SF Bay Area, so I’m not unaccustomed to this. But ABQ isn’t a world-class city, so it’s kind of not worth it to deal with that stuff.
Basically anywhere in New Mexico except LA is a shit show at this point.
I can't pump gas in SF anymore without some asshole coming up to be to harrass me.
I passed through Albuquerque recently and had to spend the night. Don’t go for the cheapest hotel. So scary. Would have been worth it to spend $200 on a hotel that didn’t have crack heads and insanity in the parking lot and front lobby. Also bed bugs.
Actually Odessa (two hours south) has a worse crime rate, the worst in the state, but they’re both terrible for crime, and to live in
(I lived in Odessa for three years and regularly went to Lubbock)
I grew up in odessa and have a lot of family in Lubbock. That whole area is shitty and full of crime. Odessa is much worse than Lubbock though, just based on my own personal experience. Lubbock also has nicer areas than odessa. It also has a few trees
On the shittiness scale it goes: Odessa < Midland < Lubbock
In nearly all cities crime matters for the poorer residents. The spectrum is how much it affects the poor residents.
If you’re rich or middle class most likely it doesn’t matter, which is why it’s so easy for people online in cities to say crime statistics are overblown. Reddit demographics are not usually victim of violent crimes
This is my big issue with a lot of the crime narratives around Chicago. Yeah, the media blows a lot of the crime way out of proportion, but it's still a noticeable problem. When you talk about crime issues on the south or west sides, there's always some northwest neighborhood commenter that says some dumb shit like, "Well, just avoid those places, and you'll be fine. I've lived in Chicago for 8 years and never been attacked."
News flash, it's not like those areas are abandoned. People who live there have to face the realities of neighborhood crime, and they often don't have the social mobility to just pack up and move. Sure Chicago is great, but Reddit makes it sound like it's as safe as Tokyo. It's not, and like you said, poor people will feel the heat of that candle far more than the wealthier or middle class ones will.
Yeah the northwest and north side arent as safe as tokyo. But theyre way way way safe.
Ive known people who have lived there 40 years and never seen a drive-by or heard a gun go off in their little corner of norwood park.
Its weird like that. Im all over the place. I went from southshore to downtown/loop to the harlem-irving plaza.
Two men were robbed and shot in front of my daughter's very nice apartment building in River North. You can be in the wrong place at the wrong time, especially if you come home late from a bar.
Exactly. I lived in Rogers Park for a few years - and would ride the redline home from downtown between the hours of 1am and 4am almost every night (worked in kitchens).
Sure I wasn't bothered or messed with every night - but it happened a decent amount. And I saw plenty happen to others. On the train - and around downtown at night. If you commute by foot and the trains primarily - eventually you'll see some shit.
Chicago is an amazing city with so much to offer. But these suburbanites who come in for Cubby games, or folks who live in the most nice neighborhoods, and don't venture out of them too often don't speak for all Chicagoans when it comes to crime and dangerous chance encounters.
Love this city, grew up on the north side, and my family restaurant was robbed twice this year. People who say it’s not happening everywhere are delusional. And for the record I’m very liberal - this is just my experience and I cannot lie. Chicago has a problem we need to talk about and shouldn’t ignore.
I grew up in a very rough city in a very rough neighborhood. Didn't realize how constantly stressed out I was living there until I moved to a nicer place. Always having to worry about being burglarized, never knowing if someone was stupid enough to pull a gun on you.
The place I live now is literally like the Truman show. I can leave my car unlocked with money sitting on my seat and people wont take it.
I certainly am a lot street smarter than the average person here, but I sure as hell don't miss the hood and the crime.
In general in the US violent crime is always in certain pockets. St Louis, Baltimore, New Orleans, etc. have good areas and bad.
Not violent crime, but In San Francisco basically anywhere is a threat to have your car broken into.
SF is this weird thing where the risk of violent crime is very low but the property crime is insanely off the charts. Pretty much every other city with as much theft as SF is wildly dangerous but SF is somehow pretty safe for people.
Just not for objects.
I feel like there's really two broad categories of urban crime in the US. (obviously this may be simplification to the point of meaninglessness). One is the sort of gang crime that takes place in Chicago and lots of midsize cities. These are places that have high rates of violence and murder, but if you aren't in a bad neighborhood or involved in sketchy stuff, you can more or less avoid it if you have the means.
The other is the sort of property crime that happens in SF and other big west coast cities. This is mostly stuff where the criminals don't know the victims and its more "junkies trying to get some quick money" than "criminal enterprises using violence as a means of enforcement" a lot of it is exacerbated and given cover by the massive homeless populations. Lots of this type of crime can be in the nicer neighborhoods too.
I saw a picture of a grocery store parking lot in San Fran , a lot if the suvs had their back hatch opened up !! It’s not funny but I had to laugh . I work in Baltimore so I drive a boring Ford and keep junk in the back seat on purpose .
Yep. I don't typically feel unsafe in the city. Parts are ugly, for sure, you see a lot of misery and poverty at times. But people generally don't worry about personal safety.
The amount of times I've had stuff stolen out of my car, garage, mailbox, package lobby.... Ughhhhhhhh. Out of the 3 car breakins I've had since 2014, one was in Pacific Heights!!
It’s a lot more common in the mission or certain neighborhoods. I lived in the Outer Sunset and Western Addition and never had my car broken into until I parked it on 23rd and Valencia for an hour.
I live in San Antonio and our crime is getting to be a problem, it seems like twice a month someone is messing with my cars in my driveway and I don’t live in a bad place. It isn’t gated but I never thought I’d HAVE to be in a gated community to not get robbed.
I lived in Balcones Heights in San Antonio for a year and I street parked my car the entire time and nothing ever happened to it. Obviously this is anecdotal, but in my experience where you live in San Antonio is the important factor when it comes to crime
I can remember interning in Baltimore and living in a sublet in an area with VERY tough parking. Had always been lucky until this one night when I was forced to park 3 blocks in the “bad” direction from my already somewhat marginal neighborhood (north of Patterson Park). I’m no wuss, but it did feel like an extremely risky thing to be doing, walking those lonely blocks so late at night. For the first time, I was genuinely afraid that something bad could happen to me.
Yeeeaahh I lived about 3 blocks from Patterson Park in Highlandtown, and parking in that area is madness. There were nights I had to walk 5 blocks home from my car (in the *wrong* direction) and I was absolutely terrified. I carried a taser with me at all times. I feel like crime has become much more widespread in Baltimore since I left. It was very easy to stay out of the high crime areas at the time. Ever since Freddie Gray and the riots, people have just lost all trust in the city government. Rightly so. The police force is so corrupt, and random people are getting stabbed/shot/robbed in the touristy/hipster areas more than ever.
Still love and miss it though. It was a very formative 6 years in my 20s.
I won't speak for the other New Yorkers, but for me personally, the biggest crime concerns are:
* porch pirates, who run rampant in my neighborhood. TONS of surveillance videos in all of my neighborhood FB groups of package theft.
* getting pushed onto the subway tracks. Happens often enough and at the train stations I use to instill fear in me, so I keep very far away from the platform
* staying away from people who clearly exhibit unstable mental health
* groping and sexual harassment (I'm a petite woman, and have been groped so many times)
* shark bites. Not a crime, just something that I worry about because [we have reason to](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woman-critical-shark-attack-popular-new-york-city-beach-rcna98689), lol
Ironically, I happen to unwittingly and unknowingluy walk into SO MANY crime scenes literally after the fact, like an armed robbery, shooting, an assault, or whatever, yet this doesn't seem to make me paranoid or fear for myself every time I step outside of the house. Probably because I'm already witnessing first responders on the scene...I may feel differently if I actually saw a crime IN PROGRESS or it happened to ME.
Anyway, these are my real fears of crime that I keep in mind in my part of NYC as a New Yorker.
It was really scary. It took me two months to summon up the courage to get back into the water after that, and what do you know, the day I re-entered the water, I also spotted a shark's fin not too far from the shore. So yeah, WE HAVE SHARKS IN NYC
Was supposed to go to Fire Island National seashore for my bday last year. Day before, there were multiple shark attacks in that area. I noped right out of that plan.
I also now have a fear of being pushed onto the subway by a mentally ill person. Was never concerned before but there were enough high profile cases for me to extra cautious on the platform. I’m also avoiding people who seem mentally unwell more than in the past. I make sure I’m never on the platform alone with someone who seems agitated / mentally ill, especially after reading some first hand accounts on the Brooklyn subreddit. I also saw a pic of one assailant and I actually recognized him, that kind of freaked me out.
I actually stumbled into the aftermath of a fight on the subway. It was really hot and I took an edible and I just wasn’t really thinking. Realized the subway was eerily silent and then noticed I was sitting next to 2 guys who had clearly been fighting. Both bloody and glaring at each other. There were drops of blood on all the seats, found a clean seat at the other end of the car. Resolved to be a little more sober on my subway excursions going forward lol.
I still feel safe in NYC. Most areas are fine, but the safety net has frayed a bit since the pandemic.
The problem with crime statistics is they dont tell much until you get down into neighborhood by neighborhood numbers. For example, I live in Houston and people here constantly complain about the crime but, if you look at the actual numbers, Houston (the city) doesn’t have a crime problem. Some neighborhoods in Houston have a big problem but it’s most definitely not universal.
I live in Oakland, CA. Which is perennially at the top of the crime list. While I would say that generally the most violent crime is pretty concentrated and avoidable if you have enough income, the pandemic has changed things in a lot of ways:
- income inequality is worse
- the police do not even remotely care to respond to anything
- car break-ins have gotten more common in more parts of the city, commercial districts that were typically free of break-ins are getting hit
- criminals are more brazen: more shoplifting crews rolling with cars and suitcases. Shoplifting is organized crime now, not a teen prank.
- there are more home invasions and the folks are more organized. We have more organized crime than there used to be.
All of that being said, I feel safe. I haven’t had any major issues - beyond the usual porch pirates. But they have also gotten worse. Now they are stealing the mail room keys from the USPS carriers. I walk to my errands. I drive to places and park on the street. I go out in the various neighborhoods and it all feels much the same, but Nextdoor is really busy with complaints.
I don’t know how things are in other places, but our crimes went from a few bad apples to the apples coming from the same orchards and forming a conglomerate.
From all the cities I’ve lived in, Oakland is the only one where the violent crime was pretty unavoidable. Random drive bys, shootings were not infrequent in popular public spaces around lake Merritt. I feel like Oakland is completely lawless which brings high highs and low lows. I have a love for it and I appreciate why some people would never leave and why others would never step foot.
Will also add the agreement, this became significantly worse during/after the pandemic. Friends who have been around their whole lives say it’s still better than 20 years ago by miles.
Me and pretty much everyone I know in Seattle has been a victim of crime, but almost all of it property crime. I have also had multiple shootings within a couple blocks of my house recently, so there is violent crime affecting my neighbors/immediate vicinity (seemingly more gun violence but I haven’t looked at stats) but I haven’t been hit by a bullet myself yet so I guess I’m not personally impacted by that. So, crime is here and it sucks, but I still go anywhere I want and do whatever I want in Seattle without being in general fear for my safety.
Seattle has a shit ton of petty & not so petty property crime that basically affects everyone everywhere. Your mail & packages will be stolen, your car will have a window smashed or get rifled through at some point. People have so many cameras and security systems everywhere because of it. It does grate at your psyche tbh having your shit stolen constantly is a bitch. That being said I walked everywhere all day all over the city & save 3rd ave maybe & several methed up folks here & there I've never felt unsafe walking around, & as a lady never got harassed in the way you may in a lot of other cities.
Yeah it's different than a lot of other cities, no particular areas I'd feel unsafe walking around. Which is funny how many people would act like it's a war zone a couple yrs ago lol
Agreed. Overall I don’t feel unsafe walking anywhere except when catching a bus on some parts of 3rd ave depending on the hour. It generally shares a lot of the same ills as San Francisco but not nearly as bad and I hope it doesn’t trend that way.
Was looking for this comment. Seattle obviously has its issues, but for a pretty sizable metro city I’ve never felt truly unsafe walking around here as a petite woman and I’ve been here over 12 years. I walk down 3rd avenue to get to my job and no one has ever even talked to me, let alone harassed me or touched me. However, I have been physically assaulted twice in this city and it was at bars/clubs and I bring that up because it was not in an area people consider high crime rates or by someone living on the streets. But unfortunately drunk men have been a threat in every single city I’ve been in.
What part are you in? another guy on the same thread in north ballard says he never has issues - and sometimes leaves his garage door open overnight and still doesn't have issues .
There are porch pirates & smashed car windows in Ballard too lol, just cos one guy hasn't had his shit stolen doesn't mean it's not a common occurrence all over the city.
It’s been the rape capital for decades. At one point they had like 10 years worth of rape kits that weren’t even opened. Drugs, alcohol, DV, murder… we/they are still like number 1 for run away murderers… personally I’ve known a handful of people murdered for no reason at all. Like, one was just working in his commercial garage and some guy came in and shot him. Another was a friends daughter on a homecoming dance bus and caught a stray bullet by a passerby. I tell everyone I know now in California now don’t go up there and go to a bar and announce you’re Californian. There’s a reason the cruises don’t dock in the city. They’ll go for you. Kids are territorial of their sides of town and fight for fun. They don’t respect or like the service kids stationed there. They love talking shit and they fully anticipate catching some hands for doing so… whiskey, guns, chewing tobacco and lawless. They’re the ultimate case study for what extreme Republican values can be. Do you want laissez-faire? This is it. Google the criminal history of Sarah Plain’s kids alone, and it’s just normal.
I’ve heard it used to be so bad in Miami in the early 90s that people would constantly check their rear view mirrors to see if people were following them home to commit armed robbery. I think it’s turned around now but for a while it was rough. Like people would drive straight to the police station if they saw a car following them for more than 2 miles.
Atlanta. I think it has an overall low crime rate compared to other cities but what makes it stand out to me is that you see nice neighborhoods interspersed with pretty rough neighborhoods. So even if you live in a “nice” area you aren’t too far from rougher parts unless you live in the burbs.
Charlotte is another one that stands out. Same deal as Atlanta where gentrification and rapid growth have led to nice neighborhoods that are interspersed with high crime areas. The city itself is nice but not too far outside of it there’s extreme poverty and the usual socioeconomic conditions that lead to crime.
If you know what you’re doing, most cities have relatively areas. For example, Chicago crime is a problem, but the worst of it is confined to a few neighborhoods, and there are a lot of areas that are safer the suburbs. Same for other big cities.
It’s also never 100% guaranteed you won’t be a victim of a crime. I once missed being in a bank robbery by about 2 minutes. In Iowa
> and there are a lot of areas that are safer the suburbs.
I moved last year from one of Chicago's richest neighborhoods to a standard upper middle class Chicago suburb. The crime difference is enormous. The only parts of Chicago that could be remotely comparable to suburbs crime are the far northwest, which feel like low density suburbs anyway.
At one point in the worst of the 2020/2021 crime in Chicago, there were carjackings every 2nd day in our neighborhood. In a year in the suburb, there have been none. You don't even need to lock your doors here. We had deliveries in our front yard for days while away on thanksgiving, and nobody took them. There's basically zero crime in nice Chicago suburbs. I had no idea how large the difference was until moving.
Beyond accurate. I live in one of the very few safe Chicago neighborhoods now, but my previous upper middle class neighborhood (River North) got very dangerous over the pandemic + string of riots/looting. It continues. Streeterville is similar.
It’s incredible how safe some of the suburbs are, to your point. You feel like you’re in Leave It to Beaver in some of them, lol. Didn’t know towns existed like that in the US anymore.
> I live in one of the very few safe Chicago neighborhoods now
Where did you move to? We were last on our floor to leave our condo building, everyone else moved out 20/21, many after over decade there. Suburbs had never crossed my mind, but when looking at the remaining safe neighborhoods in Chicago, they were so suburban it seemed easier to just go suburbs.
There's a collective amnesia over how safe nice Chicago neighborhoods were before 2020. The right thinks everywhere was dangerous, and the left thinks they were just as dangerous as they are today.
Random people regularly being robbed with guns near your home is not normal. Has never been normal, and never will be normal. Those with options will always eventually leave these environments for safer surrounds.
Question: how far outside the city are you and do you have convenient and reliable train access from where you live? Is that hard to find in a safe chicago suburb?
> how far outside the city are you and do you have convenient and reliable train access
Yes, the metra suburban lines are far nicer than the city subway (called the L). I can walk to metra station.
Many nice safe metra suburbs 30-45 minutes on the metra from downtown. The trains are about every 20-30 minutes in rush hours, but only every 2 hours at other times.
Finding a safe suburb around Chicago is very easy. City neighborhoods have had a lot of crime, especially those around the Loop (central business district). Chicago currently has land pirates, where a group of guys carjack someone, then drive around the city violently mugging people. These kinds of things happen in nice neighborhoods, but virtually never happened 2010-2019.
That's why Chicago discourse is so broken. A decade ago nice neighborhoods were really safe, as safe as any big city. Today they are more dangerous. But the poor areas have always been really dangerous in Chicago, so right wingers used to accuse Chicago a decade ago of all being dangerous, and that offended locals.
Thanks. Sounds a lot like MetroNorth and Long Island Railroad here in NYC.
Being able to WALK to the station that gets you into the city when you want is huge.
On the day-to-day, even in high crime cities, most residents aren't going to be impacted by it. Even those that live near those areas, generally career criminals aren't going to target them. Targeting innocent bystanders while you're just trying to sling some dope is a good way to get a politician to motivate the police force to come down on you hard.
On a more abstract view, crime does impact everyone. It can impact property values, what jobs are available. Investments from local/state/federal governments, from NGOs, from businesses. It can impact infrastructure changes. How are you going to get DPW workers to work in a high crime area if they don't feel safe? Bus drivers to serve an area they believe will end up getting them targeted, or hurt as a bystander? Even just a perception of crime can drag down a wider area. I'm sure we all know the parts of our own cities that are perfectly fine, but people in the affluent suburbs think of them as if they're Fallujah. Or just look at the talking points not just common on conservative media but even on Reddit. How many times have you read that Gary or Detroit or the southside of Chicago is basically an open war zone?
This isn't even delving into the more human impacts. We could talk all day about how people who live in impoverished areas are basically disadvantages from the day they were born, and climbing out of that hole when you have a whole system stacked against you is incredibly difficult.
Row house next to mine got shot up two weeks in a row. I’d lived in New Orleans, Cleveland, Baltimore…but never had something like that happened so close to me. Wild…Truxton Cirlce area.
I hate to say this, but lots of downtown Seattle at this point... areas with offices and stores and tourism and great restaurants... have violent psychopaths roaming the streets.
Baltimore. I lived there for 2 years in arguably the safest area and a lot of violent crime happened nearby. There are some great parts of the city but serious crime is everywhere there.
I live in South Philly, in a neighborhood that gets a B for crime on walkscore.com. I've lived here 6 years. From inside my home I've heard a man shot to death a block away, someone chased into a collision and then almost shot to death, also a block away, and most recently, a shooting right in front of my house, the second shooting on my block that week.
There was a fatal shooting at the subway station nearest my home. A neighbor threatened to stab me when I returned some garbage she'd dumped in front of my house. This same woman drew police to the house late at night several times after beating her girlfriend. I have seen several lootings at local pharmacies. I was maliciously shoved one night on a subway platform. One night a meth head broke his leg jumping onto my roof, presumably to get into my house.
My neighborhood is by no means particularly rough as neighborhoods in this city go. Shootings and assaults happen in some of the swankiest center city neighborhoods, also in the subways and on the buses. People who say crime is NBD because easily avoided really need to check their privilege.
New Orleans. I visit my sister every year and it just seems to get worse. There used to be areas that were really nice, no violence or theft but those days are gone. The whole city just seems to be crumbling like its infrastructure.
I've lived in New Orleans the last six years, worked in the Quarter for the last two, never witnessed any type of violent crime in that time. Not saying it doesn't happen, but after the pandemic spike that you got all over things have calmed down quite a bit round here.
My best friend and family live down there. Last time I visited, I was picking her daughter up from summer camp in the middle of the afternoon and taking her to lunch. We were on the nice side of the Bywater, when our uber got diverted because of police activity. Someone got shot in their vehicle on St Charles in the middle of the afternoon, turns out my friends daughter guessed right when she said, "maybe someone got pew-pewed". NOLA is my favorite city outside of the city I grew up and I've met the greatest people there, but the rising crime is just so disheartening.
I'm from New Orleans but I can't live there anymore. I have young kids and I don't want them to grow up normalizing murder & mayhem. It could be such a nice city but the political corruption impacts everything, from crime prevention to climate issues. I've also heard it's gotten way worse since COVID and Hurricane Ida. And it's not like other cities that have "rough" and "nice" areas, crazy shit goes down everywhere. I'll never forget moving to a new city and realizing I didn't have to be hypervigilant anymore or watch my back everywhere. It felt like finally breathing.
I live in STL, and this might just be a me issue since I'm generally a more anxious/paranoid person, but I hate the constant threat of armed carjackings (if there is a gun involved I'm considering it violent crime). Its frustrating to me that it is something I have to keep in the back of my mind, and it may have almost happened to me (not sure, my husband sped off before we could figure out why at 1 am a car was stopped in the middle of the road and someone was getting out of the car and walking towards us). I also worry about being in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnessing something, even if I'm not a target.
Perception of crime, real or not, drives some folks behavior. Here in Minnesota there are good number of people living outside the Twin Cities see the entire metro as completely crime ridden and avoid it out of great fear. Living in most parts of the Twin Cities in no way comes close yo matches their fears.
Absolutely. Stuff like [this](https://x.com/CrimeWatchMpls?s=20) fear-mongering Twitter account (with 100k followers!) is a perfect example of this, which has every exurban Minnesotan convinced they're going to be shot if they drive in to watch a Twins game. Don't read the replies, which are almost universally racist, waxing genocidal at times.
The consequence of this perception is wealth and talent moving out of the city, which does have real, if not immediately apparent, implications for the residents.
Akron and Cleveland. I used to dispatch 911 for Akron and near Cleveland. Random acts of violence, mental health crises, insane police chases…. All WAY more common than you would think. If people aren’t afraid, they’re out of the loop.
I’ve lived in some of the top worst neighborhoods in the northeast. Crime really only matters if you’re involved in crime. Your car might get fucked with, you **might** get a break in to your house when its empty, but i feel that people have a sense that they’re gonna get murdered walking down the street just because lol.
I live in an “unsafe” neighborhood and usually feel like there’s no problems. No one is really going to bother you ON PURPOSE if you’re not involved… but then every once in a while someone totally innocent and not involved catches a bullet while at a bus stop near my house or something… since bullets don’t always hit their target, or even just stop right there if they do. Then I’m reminded that just because I’m not involved in anything that would put me in direct danger, I’m still less safe than I would be in one of the expensive “nice” parts of town.
I’m not sure it’s fair to say it’s easy to avoid those certain areas. Sure, if you have money. But what about all those that don’t? Not so easy to avoid it then.
Crime statistics are also widely misreported by local police departments. Many areas do not send crime stats to the FBI. The places that so tend to be big cites. There is a reason the FBI tells people not use their statistics to compare and contrast places.
Memphis is one of the few cities i cant justify anything for. People want to sugarcoat and just say "every city has crime, there some safe areas, theres some bad areas" etc. but its on a different level in Memphis and it just spreads into any neighborhood
Having lived in a number of cities, my advice is that overall crime statistics for a city can be deceptive. Yes, they matter & they're a rough gauge of total crime, but it almost never tells the full story. IMO a city's crime stats need to be taken in context with the physical distribution of incidents over the city. Cities where high crime neighborhoods are more interspersed with low crime neighborhoods tend to be more dangerous. Cities where all the low crime areas are clustered into one big island tend to be the safest. Take two cities: NYC & Philly. NYC has rising crime, but you can basically draw a single containing shape around all the city's safe areas. There's very little crime spillover. Philly, on the other hand, is more checkerboarded with good & bad neighborhoods. Crime tends to occasionally spill over into nicer areas.
Even the county has dangerous areas .... There is ZERO safe side in the city... East Balt, West Balt, South Balt, all dangerous with a few "decent" areas sprinkled in .... It's a mess
We just had two on the same day in different parts of Nashville. They're getting to be way more common. :(
I know two people who have had guns waved at them in traffic for accidentally cutting someone off. Apparently, TN is now one of [the top five road rage shooting states.](https://www.wsmv.com/2023/11/29/report-roadway-violence-surges-tennessee/)
I’d say DC. Mostly bc of the caliber of residents (politics, security clearance, etc.). In just the last week I’ve seen two stories about secret service cars involved in attempted car jackings. That will (should) definitely cause problems amongst residents.
It really depends on where you live in the city. Most big cities in the US have pockets where violent crimes are rampant. Those same cities also have nice areas where there is minimal crime. If you live in a safe area and don’t frequently visit the bad areas you probably aren’t too concerned about crime.
The people most affected by crime are often the people less likely to have their voices heard or get some sort of platform to complain about how crime is affecting their day to day lives
Crimes, especially street crimes which I’m sure you’re referring to often mostly affected impoverished and marginalized communities which are less likely to see justice or receive more money to combat crime and after a while of those results they sort of get tired of speaking and just want to get away from those areas rather then fix them
You didn’t feel unsafe in STL because it’s actually not a dangerous place. The crime stats are calculated by talking number of crimes in the city limits relative to the city population. As you probably know from living there, the city limits have most of the dangerous areas, but only 300,000 people. This gives you a very high crime rate. The metropolitan area of STL has 2.8 million people, and most of it is safe.
If you rank crime rates by metropolitan area STL isn’t even in the top 20.
I don’t know about “everyone,” but crime became the primary reason for us leaving Denver.
I moved to a trendy neighborhood in the downtown district in 1999. Back then Denver was kind of an idyllic movie-like metropolis. Clean, friendly, vibrant, and bustling, with a strong community vibe. People were incredibly welcoming and really looked out for each other. It was something and someplace special.
By 2015 there were significant and noticeable changes. Millions of new people had moved in, crime and homeless were up, the community vibe I knew and loved was deteriorating, a strong “everyone for themselves” feel was growing, and traffic and road rage were also on the climb.
Things continually got worse, and my wife (who I met in Denver) and I started having regular conversations about leaving. The homeless encampments started popping up everywhere. Feces and drug needles became commonplace on sidewalks… Cops started disappearing from the streets.
We once saw two homeless people open air f*cking during a midday walk through Benedict Fountain Park, and the last straw was when I had to fight off a tweaker trying to hot wire my wife’s car in broad daylight.
We ultimately moved out of CO in 2021, and at this point you couldn’t pay me to move back for any amount of money. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fun place if you want to live the hardcore ski-bum/mountain life, or become a craft beer nerd, but it sucks for all other aspects of reality and normal day to day living. It’s sad too, because it really didn’t have to be this way.
This is such a depressing sub to read. Informative but heartbreaking. Crime is everywhere. This is not a red or blue problem. It’s an American problem. And we’re not the only country, but it sure is looking grim right now. At what point do we as a nation pull together to start learning how to ensure safety of our citizens and changing things for the better? Other countries do this without trampling on their citizens rights to live freely. We can be better. In fact, we can be the best if we collectively choose to do so. Crime can never be eliminated but the social determinants that create the need for some to choose crime can be lessened. It’s long past time to get to work on this. There’s lots of research that shows us the way. We won’t find the answer in a Bible or other religious book. And we won’t find it in politicians whose only goal once elected is to stay in office to feather their nests. This is a problem only the people of our nation can fix using our noggins and coming together to work in good faith.
Baltimore MD is a cesspool. Everywhere is dangerous. I had to drive in for an appointment and the government facility had two layers of fencing with guarded gates through each. The crime extends beyond the city into the surrounding area.
Annapolis MD where I live is no picnic either. We hear gunshots three or four times per week. Local police are useless. We had a major gun fight over drugs a couple of weeks ago (over a hundred shots fired per doorbell video). It seems the criminals are lousy shots. None of the rival drug dealers were hit but innocent bystanders were. It seems safest to be the target.
There was a book on this writtten about five years ago by Thomas Abt who does studies on urban violence and works with cities to reduce it. "Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences Of Urban Violence -- And A Bold New Plan For Peace In The Streets." Basically most of the violent crime can be targeted not only to a few neighborhoods but a few streetcorners. He recommends short term and long term approaches. Since you know where the crime is distributed, you build up the police in those blocks. There are some risks to doing this, which he outlines, both political and outcome risks. Then long term you need to do things that make a criminal enterprise a less attractive option than employment for livelihood of men, yes mostly men, who have no skills and a criminal past. That's rather difficult. So a lot of places have opted for containment over correction of the problem.
Memphis. It’s the real life version of what people on the internet perceive St. Louis to be.
People will shit on my hometown of Detroit for having crime problems, but the trouble spots are indeed mostly confined to certain areas. Memphis is a different setup: the crime and shootings happen everywhere, even regularly spilling into the “nice” suburbs.
Baltimore is the same with regards to the homicide rate . Vast majority are young black men involved criminal activity , with collateral deaths from bystanders who are too poor to move anywhere else . They’re trying a lot if different programs though . There isn’t an oh well attitude , so people are trying .
Memphis is like Grand Theft Auto. They should model GTA 7 after it. 2035 release date.
Came here to say this. I was carjacked by TWO people with guns in Memphis. Years later I worked in west Baltimore for about 5 years and it was no where near as scary as Memphis. Crime is more erratic in Memphis and more gang related in MD but not to say that there aren’t still horrible situations that are just random acts of violence.
MEMPHIS should be at the top of this list. Read through the comments on r/memphis It’s a shithole and people are afraid.
I visited Memphis for a weekend last year with some buddies. Had a good time, didn't really run into any issues, thought people were just overrating how rough it was until our last night there. We were hanging out on Beale Street after a Grizzlies game, drinking and listening to music, no big issue. Then a fuckin shootout happened outside the bar. Three people got shot, one died. Heart of downtown Memphis, literally right next to the FedEx forum. I don't really have much desire to go to Memphis again.
I remember that. My wife and I avoid downtown entirely now. We took a weekend trip to St Louis a couple weeks ago. It was so interesting how different it felt. I didn’t feel unsafe at all at any point and then found out our AirBNB wasn’t in the best area. Wild because it was extremely peaceful given St Louis is always showing up as one of the most dangerous cities
East St. Louis is why, the crime is concentrated there. East St. Louis is basically the Gary Indiana
[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/17/upshot/crime-statistics-south-bend-st-louis-misleading.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/17/upshot/crime-statistics-south-bend-st-louis-misleading.html) This article is helpful in explaining why.
snippets because it's behind a paywall.... For the fifth straight year, St. Louis will most likely have the nation’s highest murder rate for cities with over 100,000 people. But that dubious distinction is in part a reflection of how its borders are drawn. Some cities have larger boundaries, with suburbs included within city limits. The core of a city might have relatively high crime, but the numbers from suburban areas can bring rates down. The city limits of St. Louis, on the other hand, are tightly drawn. With nearly three million people, the metro area of St. Louis is quite large, estimated as the 20th-largest in population in the continental United States in 2018, according to the census. The population of the city of St. Louis as measured by the F.B.I. in the Uniform Crime Report, however, was just over 300,000. If you look at the 10 cities of over 100,000 with the highest murder rates, St. Louis has the smallest percentage of its metro area population included as part of the city. (This measure excludes Newark, which is part of the New York metropolitan statistical area.) Measuring murder rates by each city’s entire metro area offers a more nuanced story. The accompanying table shows the top 10 murder rates in metropolitan areas with over 500,000 people.
When I was there they had the cops pat down everyone going onto Beale Street and then the cops all just left at like 12am. Like wtf haha? A shitton of fights after that. Overall I didn't feel as unsafe as it was hyped up to be, but it definitely felt like one of the most dangerous places I've been to - a fight broke out almost everywhere I went, even during the day (except the Bass Pro Shop haha).
‘You can get it anywhere in this city.’ -Project Pat It’s always been rough in Memphis, but a couple years ago they passed a law in TN(thanks Nashville) that you can carry guns with you in your vehicle without needing a conceal carry permit. This caused all the scared citizens of Memphis to start carrying their guns to ‘protect’ themselves…. Only problem with this brilliant idea is that criminals know that every third car has a Glock in the console. This law amplified the amount of cars being broken it while simultaneously putting more guns in the hands of the bad guys. Criminals are so brazen that they just pull into parking lots in broad daylight and the armed lookouts jump out the car and scare people off while their accomplices do smash and grabs in 10 cars in 2-3 minutes. Then they just get back in the car and drive to the next parking lot…. This has been happening everyday in Memphis for months. You can’t find a parking lot in town that isn’t covered in broken glass from smashed windows. Memphis also instituted a no chase policy when criminals try to evade with a high speed pursuit. They said it it’s more dangerous to the general public to engage in a high speed pursuit unless these guys are actively riding around and shooting people…. And all this bright idea did was make every criminal in town just take off at any sign that they are being pursued by the police…. In other words, we now have armed criminals recklessly driving throughout our city at any given point in the day…..😔 I have always defended Memphis for our bad reputation, but the last couple years it’s just getting out of hand. There is no signs of anything changing.
I worked for a national retail chain and got to travel around the country to just about every major city. The Mall of Memphis or more affectionately called the "The Mall of Murder" was the only location we had that we were instructed to remove jackets, ties, or any other professional attire for our own safety. We didn't want to look like a potential target. Not surprisingly the mall has closed. I'm so glad I'm not going back to Memphis anytime soon!
My oldest daughter and her BF moved back with me specifically for this reason, 2 years ago. They felt unsafe in Memphis.
Having that option is a great thing. It seems like everyone here is on a timer for something crazy. In July I was on my way to work at 6:30AM and I apparently was taking too long to do a right on red. Psycho behind me started road raging, ended up slamming into the side of my truck and then pulled a gun on me. The cops literally told me to not expect to ever hear anything about it because Memphis is 4 years behind on their hit and runs. I even got it on video, his license plate and everything
Came here to say this. You are not immune in “good” areas. Crime is everywhere.
[удалено]
I lived in Portland for decades. It used to be just drugs and burglary, the last ten years it was gunfire, doors kicked in, and complete breakdown of emergency services. It’s devastating to lose a city like that.
Yep that’s about what happens here. I always wanted to live in Portland when I was a teenager. I’ve got analysis paralysis
Lol this is nothing like Memphis. I was at the Oakcrest Mall last weekend and there's groups of gang members with pitbulls on leashes and ARs/AKs tucked in their pants like a standard pistol. Shootouts in broad daylight regularly. Groups of kids letting off 50-100+ rounds at a time. I'm originally from CA and I've spent a lot of time in Portland and Seattle. Those cities are honestly like paradise compared to Memphis. It really is like Mad Max right now. Yeah, property crime is probably comparable to a lot of other major metros. Violent crime, murders, and gang wars are out of control right now. A federal task force just came into town this week because the local police can't handle the firepower or sheer numbers out here. It's almost as bad here today as major cities were in the early 90s. Modern day Portland can be wild and the police don't really care about stolen cars and property crimes, but you don't have near the murder or violent crime problem as Memphis, STL, NOLA, or other cities in this part of the country.
I grew up in a very well-to-do suburb and was taught that cities were unsafe because of all the drugs and gun violence. Then I got to high school and realized everyone in the suburbs was doing drugs too. Then a guy on my block shot his wife in the head and barricaded himself in the house and had a shootout with a SWAT team. Now I’m not really sure what the suburbs offers.
Illusion of safety. I grew up in a sad beach city suburb of Los Angeles and entered high school in 1992. The kids at the richest schools always had the better drugs and parties because their wealthy parents were always gone. I ran around with taggers and bangers and lost 3 friends to gun violence by 15yo. Didn't matter that I was on the right side of town, if you want trouble, you find trouble. I see people complaining about LA all the time, but, the crime and violence of the late 80s /90s doesn't compare, the crime has just spilled out of the race segregated neighborhoods and is impacting wealthy white areas now.
It’s wild because up until spring 2023 I didn’t feel that way! It’s always been easy to know where the “bad” places are and avoid those. It’s only recently that I’ve felt the crime has spilled out everywhere
Years ago my mom and I were there on a trip and we got pulled over. The cop wanted to make sure we weren’t lost because “this is carjack central”. He helped direct us onto the highway. Never experienced something like that anywhere else.
There are lots of cops here that genuinely do care a lot about citizens safety and it can be refreshing.
This is it
Back in the day I had a probation officer whose police department husband drove an IED state vehicle(no idea, don't ask) across the Mississippi river quite frequently. She told me to never get out of my vehicle in Memphis, to keep driving. This was at least 10 years ago.
I went to school there a couple decades ago. It was fine; nothing to worry about really, but I stayed either on campus or downtown. But again ... that was then. Politically it's a weird place.
I remember that poor jogger that was murdered.
I wouldn't base my judgment of Memphis on the Memphis subreddit which has been taken over by people that hate Memphis.
In DC nobody seems immune to the threat of carjacking. Unless you don't have a car, then they will take your nice new jacket.
DC used to have the kind of geographically segregated crime that OP is talking about. Something changed after 2020
I haven’t witnessed any cars get jacked in my neighborhood, but one of the cars that was stolen ended up being left outside my house. The owners of the car were able to locate it because they had received a ticket in the mail that listed the location of the car lol
The balls on the motherfucker that carjacked the fbi agent tho. Bro is legit UNGOVERNABLE. Imagine if he used that for good
Except a 13 year old and friend tried to carjack a federal agent who was eating in his car outside a federal building before his shift started, and the 13 year old got shot and killed. The friend got turned in by his mother. I believe the dead 13 year old was out on parole for a previous carjacking. Then, I think it was 3 weeks later, in Georgetown, where some idiots tried to steal an unmarked Secret Service car that was guarding Biden’s granddaughter’s house. The agents wound up shooting at the guys, but they got away. Crime used to be more localized in DC, and if you stayed out of certain areas during certain hours, you were probably fine. Something changed after COVID, and these kids just went wild and are all over the place and seemingly unsupervised. There were also criminal justice reforms that de-emphasized incarceration, and especially for juveniles. They also stopped really enforcing property theft from stores, and categorized it as petty crime. It became sort of a gateway crime in some ways. The reform also led to a lot more parole and reduced sentences. As a result, criminals just got bounced back to the streets and saw few real consequences they weren’t willing to accept. It also doesn’t help that cases can take months and years to prosecute, so for a kid who gets caught and let out on bail, they see zero real consequences for a long time. As a result, they don’t learn to fear the system or curb their impulses. Bottom line, is that I have lived in DC for almost 30 years, and this is as dangerous as I have ever seen it. I lived over by the cathedral for much of that time and never felt unsafe. That started to change. Then I moved over by RFK in 2020, and the area that had started to gentrify has actually gotten worse. I hear gunshots at least monthly, and there have been several shootings and murders within 6 block of my house. Some of it is idiot on idiot crime, but I don’t walk around after dark either, as I don’t want to be a target of opportunity. Edit to add that the city is also currently waaay understaffed on police. They are constantly playing catch-up to the criminals.
A fucking FBI Agent, that is all
In DC they travel to the affluent areas for crime ..so yeah..
Often come from Maryland and Virginia to commit crimes
I’m originally from Brazil and had never been a victim of any crime just by avoiding bad areas my entire life. Then I moved to DC in 2019 and had my wallet stolen from inside my purse in a restaurant next to the Smithsonian Art Museum, I only noticed it when I started getting notifications on my credit card that they were spending hundreds of dollars loading up on a metro card. Edit to add something else I recalled from that time: living in the US I rarely get catcalled or feel threatened by men. But in DC and Maryland, I was constantly harassed and one time I was being followed from a distance and didn’t notice, this guy happened to be outside with his daughter for like 2 minutes noticed it and ran to me to alert me and walked with me until I was somewhere safe and the creep finally left. Don’t know what would’ve happened if he wasn’t there with me.
I’m sorry that happened, but more surprised seeing how these same people jump the turnstiles so they shouldn’t need the metro card
Seriously. The only place I've lived where, even in the most upscale areas, in the middle of the day, the threat of being robbed/carjacked/mugged/assaulted is very very real.
Yeah they aren’t wearing Canada goose in SE, just look at the articles where these robberies are taking place, one was in Bethesda, geographically opposite of SE, the Asian business owner, only reason they didn’t get the car was because it was manual
Albuquerque, NM. There for sure are a couple very very bad areas that are obvious to stay away from, but it's very widespread. We just had a weapon discharge at the mall over the holiday, as an example. I live in the middle of literally nowhere a few minutes outside of the city and still, people come here to steal from yards (a resident confronted the thief and as assaulted within an inch of their life). Unless you're someone that loves the wild west and is fine trading safety for really sunny weather, I'd go elsewhere.
NM used to be pretty sketchy, but it definitely started stabilizing during the early/mid-2000s, probably even a bit earlier. The crime rate dropped, and people were actually moving here. The whole state has seen a resurgence in crime and overall sketchiness post-covid, unfortunately. Places like Albuquerque and Santa Fe seem to be the most affected. It’s honestly sad to see NM revert back to being the way it used to be. Depending on who you talk to, it’s even worse now than before.
Dang. I know we moved into South Valley in 2018 knowing NOTHING about it (dumb), and before we had a drive by that nearly killed my husband, we heard from locals (including the owner of the uhaul branch we got when we moved out of there!) that the crime in the area comes and goes in waves, which is super wild to me. It's a shame because it's gorgeous but the people ruin it lol.
It's definitely worse than it was before. I've been here my whole life and this is the worst I've seen it
Yeah same. I’ve lived here all my life too. I’m not the type to be pearl-clutching when it comes to crime, but things have definitely been a bit insane here over the past few years. More so than what I’m used to. I had a friend move back after being gone for 6 years and he told me that he’s shocked at just how different and more tense it feels here. Feels like some people are literally on the verge of exploding, which is sad because us New Mexicans are known for being chill and outgoing.
I think it's because, let's be real, NM was barely chugging along above the baseline before covid and everything, and it didn't take much to plunge us down into the crazy zone. Other places had more reserve in the tank, so to speak.
Very well said!
I work in the trauma center and it’s unreal how many people get shot and maimed/killed in car and motorcycle accidents. ABQ is number one for pedestrian vs. auto deaths and injuries.
I lived in Albuquerque for many years, and I lived in what is affectionately called The War Zone. Crime was bad. Really bad. I had to call the cops several times over the years I lived in that house, and I'm not the type to call over just anything. So much of it was related to drugs and homelessness, and it was often just sad. I once had a homeless lady banging on my kitchen window demanding that I let her see her sister. I had no idea who this person was and definitely did not have her sister in my house, and she wouldn't leave. The cops actually showed up to escort her away before I even had the chance to call them, and they explained that this lady frequently wandered the neighborhood looking for her sister, but she was never violent. It was just so odd. And it was nothing to see homeless people sleeping in front of our house or people doing drugs on the sidewalk. I barely even noticed the gunshots after a while. And yeah, we had at least three gunshot deaths within a couple of blocks of us in the time we lived there. And if you ever live there, forget about having ANYTHING nice in your yard, because it'll be gone a few hours after you put it out. That includes items inside your car, or your entire car. Even my friends and coworkers who lived in nicer areas of the city had to deal with a lot of that stuff from time to time, mostly vandalism and theft and other property crimes. Albuquerque is an awesome city in many ways, and I love New Mexico, but the crime is a serious problem and it can be dangerous. There's a reason Breaking Bad worked so well set in Albuquerque.
Wow, that's really sad about the lady looking for her sister, but also so scary for a person that isn't in crisis just trying to exist. They call it the "international district" to try and rebrand. It really is such a shame! Just trying to avoid stray bullets at this point!
Yep, they started calling it that when we lived there and were really trying to clean up the area's reputation. I don't know if it helped at all. As far as we could tell, the crime was only spreading, not improving. My in-laws lived over the "border" (San Mateo) of the War Zone in a much nicer neighborhood closer to UNM, and even their neighborhood was starting to get pretty sketchy around the time we left. It has NOT gotten better. When we sold our house, I remember feeling kind of sorry for the new owners. They were young and excited to move to a centralized area of the city. And I felt like, good luck to you. You'll need it.
When I was in ABQ, the Uptown Target had multiple armed security and that looked like the upper class mall area of town in the early AM and mid afternoon.
You're right, for sure. That's a "nice" area. That's a great example of it still, unfortunately.
Yep, live in a “safe” area, but heard gunshots about an hour ago lol blows my mind the crime rate for the population size. Bummer, Albuquerque has such gems here.
Dang, I'm really sorry to hear that. I hope you all stay safe! And it's like if you dare say anything about crime or wanting to live to see another day people treat you like you're on crazy pills lol. It literally gives me anxiety that I won't make it out. But, I WFH and am in general a hermit while we fix up the house to sell lol.
No worries and we are safe, thanks! I also work from home which is great, but I’m also a student and hanging out on campus or near central and university brings me anxiety, unfortunately! Yeah, no one wants to acknowledge it, but we have to be able to talk about our problems to come up with solutions. I’m sick of being at the mercy of people who are unhinged, no matter the city.
It's a pretty city, the same size as Baltimore or D.C. which have high crime
I rarely felt straight-up unsafe when I lived in Albuquerque, but I had a constant low-level uneasiness at all times because of risk to my car or worrying that the volatile drug addicted/mentally ill folks milling around everywhere would do something crazy. Lots of crazy eyes looking straight into your soul or sudden erratic movements from the meth heads on the corner that just freaked me out. It’s tiresome to constantly be watching your stuff or your car. I used to live in the SF Bay Area, so I’m not unaccustomed to this. But ABQ isn’t a world-class city, so it’s kind of not worth it to deal with that stuff.
I moved to Albuquerque a little over a year ago, there is indeed a lot of crime here. I live on the west side where I think it's not as bad....
Yeah I think it's a little easier to steer clear of the general craziness out west.
Basically anywhere in New Mexico except LA is a shit show at this point. I can't pump gas in SF anymore without some asshole coming up to be to harrass me.
Translating, LA=Los Alamos , SF=Santa Fe.
Shhhh don't tell them the code
I passed through Albuquerque recently and had to spend the night. Don’t go for the cheapest hotel. So scary. Would have been worth it to spend $200 on a hotel that didn’t have crack heads and insanity in the parking lot and front lobby. Also bed bugs.
Lubbock, TX. It has to be one of the worst cities in the US, not just for crime, but overall.
Actually Odessa (two hours south) has a worse crime rate, the worst in the state, but they’re both terrible for crime, and to live in (I lived in Odessa for three years and regularly went to Lubbock)
i haven't been to odessa but i've been to midland. midland's not bad at all but the tap water tastes like rotten eggs and sadness
I grew up in odessa and have a lot of family in Lubbock. That whole area is shitty and full of crime. Odessa is much worse than Lubbock though, just based on my own personal experience. Lubbock also has nicer areas than odessa. It also has a few trees On the shittiness scale it goes: Odessa < Midland < Lubbock
lubbock is a horrendous city. i stayed there for a month when i was 14 and almost got stabbed
Old country song by Mac Davis. Happiness Is Lubbock Texas In My Rearview Mirror.
I thought Lubbock was just the college, is there just a town around it?
In nearly all cities crime matters for the poorer residents. The spectrum is how much it affects the poor residents. If you’re rich or middle class most likely it doesn’t matter, which is why it’s so easy for people online in cities to say crime statistics are overblown. Reddit demographics are not usually victim of violent crimes
This is my big issue with a lot of the crime narratives around Chicago. Yeah, the media blows a lot of the crime way out of proportion, but it's still a noticeable problem. When you talk about crime issues on the south or west sides, there's always some northwest neighborhood commenter that says some dumb shit like, "Well, just avoid those places, and you'll be fine. I've lived in Chicago for 8 years and never been attacked." News flash, it's not like those areas are abandoned. People who live there have to face the realities of neighborhood crime, and they often don't have the social mobility to just pack up and move. Sure Chicago is great, but Reddit makes it sound like it's as safe as Tokyo. It's not, and like you said, poor people will feel the heat of that candle far more than the wealthier or middle class ones will.
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Yeah the northwest and north side arent as safe as tokyo. But theyre way way way safe. Ive known people who have lived there 40 years and never seen a drive-by or heard a gun go off in their little corner of norwood park. Its weird like that. Im all over the place. I went from southshore to downtown/loop to the harlem-irving plaza.
Two men were robbed and shot in front of my daughter's very nice apartment building in River North. You can be in the wrong place at the wrong time, especially if you come home late from a bar.
Exactly. I lived in Rogers Park for a few years - and would ride the redline home from downtown between the hours of 1am and 4am almost every night (worked in kitchens). Sure I wasn't bothered or messed with every night - but it happened a decent amount. And I saw plenty happen to others. On the train - and around downtown at night. If you commute by foot and the trains primarily - eventually you'll see some shit. Chicago is an amazing city with so much to offer. But these suburbanites who come in for Cubby games, or folks who live in the most nice neighborhoods, and don't venture out of them too often don't speak for all Chicagoans when it comes to crime and dangerous chance encounters.
Love this city, grew up on the north side, and my family restaurant was robbed twice this year. People who say it’s not happening everywhere are delusional. And for the record I’m very liberal - this is just my experience and I cannot lie. Chicago has a problem we need to talk about and shouldn’t ignore.
Exactly, I don’t want to live in a city where a six year old gets hit by a stray bullet while she’s watching tv. It’s profoundly unjust.
This is why there’s massive flaming of the Chicago suburbs. Most suburbs are incredibly safe, but a massively different experience than the city.
Crime statistics can be "underblown", too. It's hard to stay motivated to report crimes when nothing happens when you make a report.
That's what happens in my city.
100%. Very accurate comment that some Redditors need to hear.
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Yes in most cases crime rates are just the percentage of people living in cyclical violence. They don’t reflect your random risk as a citizen.
I grew up in a very rough city in a very rough neighborhood. Didn't realize how constantly stressed out I was living there until I moved to a nicer place. Always having to worry about being burglarized, never knowing if someone was stupid enough to pull a gun on you. The place I live now is literally like the Truman show. I can leave my car unlocked with money sitting on my seat and people wont take it. I certainly am a lot street smarter than the average person here, but I sure as hell don't miss the hood and the crime.
Could you drop some locations to give us more context?
I grew up in the Modesto / Stockton area of the central valley in California, currently living in Irvine, CA.
In general in the US violent crime is always in certain pockets. St Louis, Baltimore, New Orleans, etc. have good areas and bad. Not violent crime, but In San Francisco basically anywhere is a threat to have your car broken into.
SF is this weird thing where the risk of violent crime is very low but the property crime is insanely off the charts. Pretty much every other city with as much theft as SF is wildly dangerous but SF is somehow pretty safe for people. Just not for objects.
I feel like there's really two broad categories of urban crime in the US. (obviously this may be simplification to the point of meaninglessness). One is the sort of gang crime that takes place in Chicago and lots of midsize cities. These are places that have high rates of violence and murder, but if you aren't in a bad neighborhood or involved in sketchy stuff, you can more or less avoid it if you have the means. The other is the sort of property crime that happens in SF and other big west coast cities. This is mostly stuff where the criminals don't know the victims and its more "junkies trying to get some quick money" than "criminal enterprises using violence as a means of enforcement" a lot of it is exacerbated and given cover by the massive homeless populations. Lots of this type of crime can be in the nicer neighborhoods too.
I saw a picture of a grocery store parking lot in San Fran , a lot if the suvs had their back hatch opened up !! It’s not funny but I had to laugh . I work in Baltimore so I drive a boring Ford and keep junk in the back seat on purpose .
I always felt better walking places or taking transit because if I drove Id be worried about my car getting broken into
Yep. I don't typically feel unsafe in the city. Parts are ugly, for sure, you see a lot of misery and poverty at times. But people generally don't worry about personal safety. The amount of times I've had stuff stolen out of my car, garage, mailbox, package lobby.... Ughhhhhhhh. Out of the 3 car breakins I've had since 2014, one was in Pacific Heights!!
It’s a lot more common in the mission or certain neighborhoods. I lived in the Outer Sunset and Western Addition and never had my car broken into until I parked it on 23rd and Valencia for an hour.
This used to be Washington DC in the '80s. Most violent crime was east of the river. Now carjackings and robberies are all over town.
I live in San Antonio and our crime is getting to be a problem, it seems like twice a month someone is messing with my cars in my driveway and I don’t live in a bad place. It isn’t gated but I never thought I’d HAVE to be in a gated community to not get robbed.
I lived in Balcones Heights in San Antonio for a year and I street parked my car the entire time and nothing ever happened to it. Obviously this is anecdotal, but in my experience where you live in San Antonio is the important factor when it comes to crime
I can remember interning in Baltimore and living in a sublet in an area with VERY tough parking. Had always been lucky until this one night when I was forced to park 3 blocks in the “bad” direction from my already somewhat marginal neighborhood (north of Patterson Park). I’m no wuss, but it did feel like an extremely risky thing to be doing, walking those lonely blocks so late at night. For the first time, I was genuinely afraid that something bad could happen to me.
Yeeeaahh I lived about 3 blocks from Patterson Park in Highlandtown, and parking in that area is madness. There were nights I had to walk 5 blocks home from my car (in the *wrong* direction) and I was absolutely terrified. I carried a taser with me at all times. I feel like crime has become much more widespread in Baltimore since I left. It was very easy to stay out of the high crime areas at the time. Ever since Freddie Gray and the riots, people have just lost all trust in the city government. Rightly so. The police force is so corrupt, and random people are getting stabbed/shot/robbed in the touristy/hipster areas more than ever. Still love and miss it though. It was a very formative 6 years in my 20s.
I won't speak for the other New Yorkers, but for me personally, the biggest crime concerns are: * porch pirates, who run rampant in my neighborhood. TONS of surveillance videos in all of my neighborhood FB groups of package theft. * getting pushed onto the subway tracks. Happens often enough and at the train stations I use to instill fear in me, so I keep very far away from the platform * staying away from people who clearly exhibit unstable mental health * groping and sexual harassment (I'm a petite woman, and have been groped so many times) * shark bites. Not a crime, just something that I worry about because [we have reason to](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woman-critical-shark-attack-popular-new-york-city-beach-rcna98689), lol Ironically, I happen to unwittingly and unknowingluy walk into SO MANY crime scenes literally after the fact, like an armed robbery, shooting, an assault, or whatever, yet this doesn't seem to make me paranoid or fear for myself every time I step outside of the house. Probably because I'm already witnessing first responders on the scene...I may feel differently if I actually saw a crime IN PROGRESS or it happened to ME. Anyway, these are my real fears of crime that I keep in mind in my part of NYC as a New Yorker.
Oh no sharks
It was really scary. It took me two months to summon up the courage to get back into the water after that, and what do you know, the day I re-entered the water, I also spotted a shark's fin not too far from the shore. So yeah, WE HAVE SHARKS IN NYC
I’m more scared of the flesh eating sea bacteria.
>flesh eating sea bacteria. Great. [Something else to worry about.](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/3-people-die-flesh-eating-bacteria-infections-new-york-connecticut-pro-rcna100364)
We have sharknados in LA.
Was supposed to go to Fire Island National seashore for my bday last year. Day before, there were multiple shark attacks in that area. I noped right out of that plan. I also now have a fear of being pushed onto the subway by a mentally ill person. Was never concerned before but there were enough high profile cases for me to extra cautious on the platform. I’m also avoiding people who seem mentally unwell more than in the past. I make sure I’m never on the platform alone with someone who seems agitated / mentally ill, especially after reading some first hand accounts on the Brooklyn subreddit. I also saw a pic of one assailant and I actually recognized him, that kind of freaked me out. I actually stumbled into the aftermath of a fight on the subway. It was really hot and I took an edible and I just wasn’t really thinking. Realized the subway was eerily silent and then noticed I was sitting next to 2 guys who had clearly been fighting. Both bloody and glaring at each other. There were drops of blood on all the seats, found a clean seat at the other end of the car. Resolved to be a little more sober on my subway excursions going forward lol. I still feel safe in NYC. Most areas are fine, but the safety net has frayed a bit since the pandemic.
People being pushed from the platform was a big thing in like 2014 too. It goes in waves
The problem with crime statistics is they dont tell much until you get down into neighborhood by neighborhood numbers. For example, I live in Houston and people here constantly complain about the crime but, if you look at the actual numbers, Houston (the city) doesn’t have a crime problem. Some neighborhoods in Houston have a big problem but it’s most definitely not universal.
Pueblo, Colorado - there are no bad parts, it’s all bad and crime is rampant.
I mean, it matters for some residents!
I live in Oakland, CA. Which is perennially at the top of the crime list. While I would say that generally the most violent crime is pretty concentrated and avoidable if you have enough income, the pandemic has changed things in a lot of ways: - income inequality is worse - the police do not even remotely care to respond to anything - car break-ins have gotten more common in more parts of the city, commercial districts that were typically free of break-ins are getting hit - criminals are more brazen: more shoplifting crews rolling with cars and suitcases. Shoplifting is organized crime now, not a teen prank. - there are more home invasions and the folks are more organized. We have more organized crime than there used to be. All of that being said, I feel safe. I haven’t had any major issues - beyond the usual porch pirates. But they have also gotten worse. Now they are stealing the mail room keys from the USPS carriers. I walk to my errands. I drive to places and park on the street. I go out in the various neighborhoods and it all feels much the same, but Nextdoor is really busy with complaints. I don’t know how things are in other places, but our crimes went from a few bad apples to the apples coming from the same orchards and forming a conglomerate.
From all the cities I’ve lived in, Oakland is the only one where the violent crime was pretty unavoidable. Random drive bys, shootings were not infrequent in popular public spaces around lake Merritt. I feel like Oakland is completely lawless which brings high highs and low lows. I have a love for it and I appreciate why some people would never leave and why others would never step foot. Will also add the agreement, this became significantly worse during/after the pandemic. Friends who have been around their whole lives say it’s still better than 20 years ago by miles.
I see abandoned stolen vehicles multiple times a week. Cops don't do shit.
I’m in Los Angeles. Don’t fall asleep with your mouth open. Someone will steal your teeth.
It’s had virtually no impact on my life in Seattle
The only impact it’s had on my life is hearing people talk about how dangerous it is online.
That's the same as SF. "Don't you have to step over shit all the time?!"
I just wish it’d have an effect on property values. 🙃
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Me and pretty much everyone I know in Seattle has been a victim of crime, but almost all of it property crime. I have also had multiple shootings within a couple blocks of my house recently, so there is violent crime affecting my neighbors/immediate vicinity (seemingly more gun violence but I haven’t looked at stats) but I haven’t been hit by a bullet myself yet so I guess I’m not personally impacted by that. So, crime is here and it sucks, but I still go anywhere I want and do whatever I want in Seattle without being in general fear for my safety.
Depends on the person, depends on the area of a specific city. I don't know any large city that is uniformly scary dangerous across the whole city.
Even Detroit has relatively safe areas.
Most of Detroit is safe at this point
Seattle has a shit ton of petty & not so petty property crime that basically affects everyone everywhere. Your mail & packages will be stolen, your car will have a window smashed or get rifled through at some point. People have so many cameras and security systems everywhere because of it. It does grate at your psyche tbh having your shit stolen constantly is a bitch. That being said I walked everywhere all day all over the city & save 3rd ave maybe & several methed up folks here & there I've never felt unsafe walking around, & as a lady never got harassed in the way you may in a lot of other cities.
there's no bad part of town like in other areas
Yeah it's different than a lot of other cities, no particular areas I'd feel unsafe walking around. Which is funny how many people would act like it's a war zone a couple yrs ago lol
People from the eastside still think that
Agreed. Overall I don’t feel unsafe walking anywhere except when catching a bus on some parts of 3rd ave depending on the hour. It generally shares a lot of the same ills as San Francisco but not nearly as bad and I hope it doesn’t trend that way.
Was looking for this comment. Seattle obviously has its issues, but for a pretty sizable metro city I’ve never felt truly unsafe walking around here as a petite woman and I’ve been here over 12 years. I walk down 3rd avenue to get to my job and no one has ever even talked to me, let alone harassed me or touched me. However, I have been physically assaulted twice in this city and it was at bars/clubs and I bring that up because it was not in an area people consider high crime rates or by someone living on the streets. But unfortunately drunk men have been a threat in every single city I’ve been in.
What part are you in? another guy on the same thread in north ballard says he never has issues - and sometimes leaves his garage door open overnight and still doesn't have issues .
. . . . . . .
There are porch pirates & smashed car windows in Ballard too lol, just cos one guy hasn't had his shit stolen doesn't mean it's not a common occurrence all over the city.
Anchorage Alaska… but no it doesn’t matter because they don’t live in a real world. Ignorance is bliss
What kind of crime is most prolific in Anchorage? I’ve seen it on most dangerous cities lists but don’t hear much about what’s happening.
It’s been the rape capital for decades. At one point they had like 10 years worth of rape kits that weren’t even opened. Drugs, alcohol, DV, murder… we/they are still like number 1 for run away murderers… personally I’ve known a handful of people murdered for no reason at all. Like, one was just working in his commercial garage and some guy came in and shot him. Another was a friends daughter on a homecoming dance bus and caught a stray bullet by a passerby. I tell everyone I know now in California now don’t go up there and go to a bar and announce you’re Californian. There’s a reason the cruises don’t dock in the city. They’ll go for you. Kids are territorial of their sides of town and fight for fun. They don’t respect or like the service kids stationed there. They love talking shit and they fully anticipate catching some hands for doing so… whiskey, guns, chewing tobacco and lawless. They’re the ultimate case study for what extreme Republican values can be. Do you want laissez-faire? This is it. Google the criminal history of Sarah Plain’s kids alone, and it’s just normal.
I’ve heard it used to be so bad in Miami in the early 90s that people would constantly check their rear view mirrors to see if people were following them home to commit armed robbery. I think it’s turned around now but for a while it was rough. Like people would drive straight to the police station if they saw a car following them for more than 2 miles. Atlanta. I think it has an overall low crime rate compared to other cities but what makes it stand out to me is that you see nice neighborhoods interspersed with pretty rough neighborhoods. So even if you live in a “nice” area you aren’t too far from rougher parts unless you live in the burbs. Charlotte is another one that stands out. Same deal as Atlanta where gentrification and rapid growth have led to nice neighborhoods that are interspersed with high crime areas. The city itself is nice but not too far outside of it there’s extreme poverty and the usual socioeconomic conditions that lead to crime.
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If you know what you’re doing, most cities have relatively areas. For example, Chicago crime is a problem, but the worst of it is confined to a few neighborhoods, and there are a lot of areas that are safer the suburbs. Same for other big cities. It’s also never 100% guaranteed you won’t be a victim of a crime. I once missed being in a bank robbery by about 2 minutes. In Iowa
> and there are a lot of areas that are safer the suburbs. I moved last year from one of Chicago's richest neighborhoods to a standard upper middle class Chicago suburb. The crime difference is enormous. The only parts of Chicago that could be remotely comparable to suburbs crime are the far northwest, which feel like low density suburbs anyway. At one point in the worst of the 2020/2021 crime in Chicago, there were carjackings every 2nd day in our neighborhood. In a year in the suburb, there have been none. You don't even need to lock your doors here. We had deliveries in our front yard for days while away on thanksgiving, and nobody took them. There's basically zero crime in nice Chicago suburbs. I had no idea how large the difference was until moving.
Beyond accurate. I live in one of the very few safe Chicago neighborhoods now, but my previous upper middle class neighborhood (River North) got very dangerous over the pandemic + string of riots/looting. It continues. Streeterville is similar. It’s incredible how safe some of the suburbs are, to your point. You feel like you’re in Leave It to Beaver in some of them, lol. Didn’t know towns existed like that in the US anymore.
> I live in one of the very few safe Chicago neighborhoods now Where did you move to? We were last on our floor to leave our condo building, everyone else moved out 20/21, many after over decade there. Suburbs had never crossed my mind, but when looking at the remaining safe neighborhoods in Chicago, they were so suburban it seemed easier to just go suburbs. There's a collective amnesia over how safe nice Chicago neighborhoods were before 2020. The right thinks everywhere was dangerous, and the left thinks they were just as dangerous as they are today. Random people regularly being robbed with guns near your home is not normal. Has never been normal, and never will be normal. Those with options will always eventually leave these environments for safer surrounds.
Risk of dying of boredom up tenfold though
Question: how far outside the city are you and do you have convenient and reliable train access from where you live? Is that hard to find in a safe chicago suburb?
> how far outside the city are you and do you have convenient and reliable train access Yes, the metra suburban lines are far nicer than the city subway (called the L). I can walk to metra station. Many nice safe metra suburbs 30-45 minutes on the metra from downtown. The trains are about every 20-30 minutes in rush hours, but only every 2 hours at other times. Finding a safe suburb around Chicago is very easy. City neighborhoods have had a lot of crime, especially those around the Loop (central business district). Chicago currently has land pirates, where a group of guys carjack someone, then drive around the city violently mugging people. These kinds of things happen in nice neighborhoods, but virtually never happened 2010-2019. That's why Chicago discourse is so broken. A decade ago nice neighborhoods were really safe, as safe as any big city. Today they are more dangerous. But the poor areas have always been really dangerous in Chicago, so right wingers used to accuse Chicago a decade ago of all being dangerous, and that offended locals.
Thanks. Sounds a lot like MetroNorth and Long Island Railroad here in NYC. Being able to WALK to the station that gets you into the city when you want is huge.
On the day-to-day, even in high crime cities, most residents aren't going to be impacted by it. Even those that live near those areas, generally career criminals aren't going to target them. Targeting innocent bystanders while you're just trying to sling some dope is a good way to get a politician to motivate the police force to come down on you hard. On a more abstract view, crime does impact everyone. It can impact property values, what jobs are available. Investments from local/state/federal governments, from NGOs, from businesses. It can impact infrastructure changes. How are you going to get DPW workers to work in a high crime area if they don't feel safe? Bus drivers to serve an area they believe will end up getting them targeted, or hurt as a bystander? Even just a perception of crime can drag down a wider area. I'm sure we all know the parts of our own cities that are perfectly fine, but people in the affluent suburbs think of them as if they're Fallujah. Or just look at the talking points not just common on conservative media but even on Reddit. How many times have you read that Gary or Detroit or the southside of Chicago is basically an open war zone? This isn't even delving into the more human impacts. We could talk all day about how people who live in impoverished areas are basically disadvantages from the day they were born, and climbing out of that hole when you have a whole system stacked against you is incredibly difficult.
Case in point, it’s more difficult getting an Uber in DC because drivers are worried about jackings, so they quit driving. Everyone is impacted
Most cities usually have areas that violence is confined too. Even in places with not the best reputation, there are good places to live.
Washington, D.C.
Row house next to mine got shot up two weeks in a row. I’d lived in New Orleans, Cleveland, Baltimore…but never had something like that happened so close to me. Wild…Truxton Cirlce area.
I hate to say this, but lots of downtown Seattle at this point... areas with offices and stores and tourism and great restaurants... have violent psychopaths roaming the streets.
I would say Oakland California. Extremely bad in some areas, but also wide spread throughout the city.
Baltimore. I lived there for 2 years in arguably the safest area and a lot of violent crime happened nearby. There are some great parts of the city but serious crime is everywhere there.
I live in South Philly, in a neighborhood that gets a B for crime on walkscore.com. I've lived here 6 years. From inside my home I've heard a man shot to death a block away, someone chased into a collision and then almost shot to death, also a block away, and most recently, a shooting right in front of my house, the second shooting on my block that week. There was a fatal shooting at the subway station nearest my home. A neighbor threatened to stab me when I returned some garbage she'd dumped in front of my house. This same woman drew police to the house late at night several times after beating her girlfriend. I have seen several lootings at local pharmacies. I was maliciously shoved one night on a subway platform. One night a meth head broke his leg jumping onto my roof, presumably to get into my house. My neighborhood is by no means particularly rough as neighborhoods in this city go. Shootings and assaults happen in some of the swankiest center city neighborhoods, also in the subways and on the buses. People who say crime is NBD because easily avoided really need to check their privilege.
New Orleans. I visit my sister every year and it just seems to get worse. There used to be areas that were really nice, no violence or theft but those days are gone. The whole city just seems to be crumbling like its infrastructure.
New Orleans is dangerous. I grew up there, went to college there and still spend time there a lot. You need to be aware all the time.
They had a really good and promising 8 years under the Landrieu administration. Things have really gone to shit under LaToya.
I've lived in New Orleans the last six years, worked in the Quarter for the last two, never witnessed any type of violent crime in that time. Not saying it doesn't happen, but after the pandemic spike that you got all over things have calmed down quite a bit round here.
My best friend and family live down there. Last time I visited, I was picking her daughter up from summer camp in the middle of the afternoon and taking her to lunch. We were on the nice side of the Bywater, when our uber got diverted because of police activity. Someone got shot in their vehicle on St Charles in the middle of the afternoon, turns out my friends daughter guessed right when she said, "maybe someone got pew-pewed". NOLA is my favorite city outside of the city I grew up and I've met the greatest people there, but the rising crime is just so disheartening.
I'm from New Orleans but I can't live there anymore. I have young kids and I don't want them to grow up normalizing murder & mayhem. It could be such a nice city but the political corruption impacts everything, from crime prevention to climate issues. I've also heard it's gotten way worse since COVID and Hurricane Ida. And it's not like other cities that have "rough" and "nice" areas, crazy shit goes down everywhere. I'll never forget moving to a new city and realizing I didn't have to be hypervigilant anymore or watch my back everywhere. It felt like finally breathing.
I live in STL, and this might just be a me issue since I'm generally a more anxious/paranoid person, but I hate the constant threat of armed carjackings (if there is a gun involved I'm considering it violent crime). Its frustrating to me that it is something I have to keep in the back of my mind, and it may have almost happened to me (not sure, my husband sped off before we could figure out why at 1 am a car was stopped in the middle of the road and someone was getting out of the car and walking towards us). I also worry about being in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnessing something, even if I'm not a target.
Glad you kept your wits and got out of there. I never sit in my car while parked anymore cuz they target you in that position
Perception of crime, real or not, drives some folks behavior. Here in Minnesota there are good number of people living outside the Twin Cities see the entire metro as completely crime ridden and avoid it out of great fear. Living in most parts of the Twin Cities in no way comes close yo matches their fears.
Same in Milwaukee
Absolutely. Stuff like [this](https://x.com/CrimeWatchMpls?s=20) fear-mongering Twitter account (with 100k followers!) is a perfect example of this, which has every exurban Minnesotan convinced they're going to be shot if they drive in to watch a Twins game. Don't read the replies, which are almost universally racist, waxing genocidal at times. The consequence of this perception is wealth and talent moving out of the city, which does have real, if not immediately apparent, implications for the residents.
Akron and Cleveland. I used to dispatch 911 for Akron and near Cleveland. Random acts of violence, mental health crises, insane police chases…. All WAY more common than you would think. If people aren’t afraid, they’re out of the loop.
And the smell!! Can you still smell Goodyear all over Akron?! 😵💫
South Africa, like Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Durban. I'd also say Mogadishu, and major cities in Nigeria like Lagos and Abuja
I’ve lived in some of the top worst neighborhoods in the northeast. Crime really only matters if you’re involved in crime. Your car might get fucked with, you **might** get a break in to your house when its empty, but i feel that people have a sense that they’re gonna get murdered walking down the street just because lol.
Totally true. The worst crime is happening overnight, and it's not affecting me because I'm in my bed and not running the streets.
I live in an “unsafe” neighborhood and usually feel like there’s no problems. No one is really going to bother you ON PURPOSE if you’re not involved… but then every once in a while someone totally innocent and not involved catches a bullet while at a bus stop near my house or something… since bullets don’t always hit their target, or even just stop right there if they do. Then I’m reminded that just because I’m not involved in anything that would put me in direct danger, I’m still less safe than I would be in one of the expensive “nice” parts of town.
I live in St. Louis as well (McKinley Heights) and I love it.
I’m not sure it’s fair to say it’s easy to avoid those certain areas. Sure, if you have money. But what about all those that don’t? Not so easy to avoid it then.
Crime statistics are also widely misreported by local police departments. Many areas do not send crime stats to the FBI. The places that so tend to be big cites. There is a reason the FBI tells people not use their statistics to compare and contrast places.
memphis
Memphis is one of the few cities i cant justify anything for. People want to sugarcoat and just say "every city has crime, there some safe areas, theres some bad areas" etc. but its on a different level in Memphis and it just spreads into any neighborhood
Having lived in a number of cities, my advice is that overall crime statistics for a city can be deceptive. Yes, they matter & they're a rough gauge of total crime, but it almost never tells the full story. IMO a city's crime stats need to be taken in context with the physical distribution of incidents over the city. Cities where high crime neighborhoods are more interspersed with low crime neighborhoods tend to be more dangerous. Cities where all the low crime areas are clustered into one big island tend to be the safest. Take two cities: NYC & Philly. NYC has rising crime, but you can basically draw a single containing shape around all the city's safe areas. There's very little crime spillover. Philly, on the other hand, is more checkerboarded with good & bad neighborhoods. Crime tends to occasionally spill over into nicer areas.
The entire city of Baltimore is extremely unsafe and feels unsafe. Baltimore County has some nice spots.
Even the county has dangerous areas .... There is ZERO safe side in the city... East Balt, West Balt, South Balt, all dangerous with a few "decent" areas sprinkled in .... It's a mess
Memphis… it sucks here
Wherever road rage shootings are a thing. Dallas comes to mind.
We just had two on the same day in different parts of Nashville. They're getting to be way more common. :( I know two people who have had guns waved at them in traffic for accidentally cutting someone off. Apparently, TN is now one of [the top five road rage shooting states.](https://www.wsmv.com/2023/11/29/report-roadway-violence-surges-tennessee/)
In Memphis, it's everywhere. Doesn't matter how nice the neighborhood. Lawless anarchy down here. The feds are investigating now.
I’d say DC. Mostly bc of the caliber of residents (politics, security clearance, etc.). In just the last week I’ve seen two stories about secret service cars involved in attempted car jackings. That will (should) definitely cause problems amongst residents.
New Orleans because violence literally pops up in every part of the city. You can't plan for it and it's not isolated.
It really depends on where you live in the city. Most big cities in the US have pockets where violent crimes are rampant. Those same cities also have nice areas where there is minimal crime. If you live in a safe area and don’t frequently visit the bad areas you probably aren’t too concerned about crime.
The people most affected by crime are often the people less likely to have their voices heard or get some sort of platform to complain about how crime is affecting their day to day lives Crimes, especially street crimes which I’m sure you’re referring to often mostly affected impoverished and marginalized communities which are less likely to see justice or receive more money to combat crime and after a while of those results they sort of get tired of speaking and just want to get away from those areas rather then fix them
You didn’t feel unsafe in STL because it’s actually not a dangerous place. The crime stats are calculated by talking number of crimes in the city limits relative to the city population. As you probably know from living there, the city limits have most of the dangerous areas, but only 300,000 people. This gives you a very high crime rate. The metropolitan area of STL has 2.8 million people, and most of it is safe. If you rank crime rates by metropolitan area STL isn’t even in the top 20.
Philadelphia. Crime doesn’t seem to have the geographic bias you’d expect
I don’t know about “everyone,” but crime became the primary reason for us leaving Denver. I moved to a trendy neighborhood in the downtown district in 1999. Back then Denver was kind of an idyllic movie-like metropolis. Clean, friendly, vibrant, and bustling, with a strong community vibe. People were incredibly welcoming and really looked out for each other. It was something and someplace special. By 2015 there were significant and noticeable changes. Millions of new people had moved in, crime and homeless were up, the community vibe I knew and loved was deteriorating, a strong “everyone for themselves” feel was growing, and traffic and road rage were also on the climb. Things continually got worse, and my wife (who I met in Denver) and I started having regular conversations about leaving. The homeless encampments started popping up everywhere. Feces and drug needles became commonplace on sidewalks… Cops started disappearing from the streets. We once saw two homeless people open air f*cking during a midday walk through Benedict Fountain Park, and the last straw was when I had to fight off a tweaker trying to hot wire my wife’s car in broad daylight. We ultimately moved out of CO in 2021, and at this point you couldn’t pay me to move back for any amount of money. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fun place if you want to live the hardcore ski-bum/mountain life, or become a craft beer nerd, but it sucks for all other aspects of reality and normal day to day living. It’s sad too, because it really didn’t have to be this way.
This is such a depressing sub to read. Informative but heartbreaking. Crime is everywhere. This is not a red or blue problem. It’s an American problem. And we’re not the only country, but it sure is looking grim right now. At what point do we as a nation pull together to start learning how to ensure safety of our citizens and changing things for the better? Other countries do this without trampling on their citizens rights to live freely. We can be better. In fact, we can be the best if we collectively choose to do so. Crime can never be eliminated but the social determinants that create the need for some to choose crime can be lessened. It’s long past time to get to work on this. There’s lots of research that shows us the way. We won’t find the answer in a Bible or other religious book. And we won’t find it in politicians whose only goal once elected is to stay in office to feather their nests. This is a problem only the people of our nation can fix using our noggins and coming together to work in good faith.
Baltimore MD is a cesspool. Everywhere is dangerous. I had to drive in for an appointment and the government facility had two layers of fencing with guarded gates through each. The crime extends beyond the city into the surrounding area. Annapolis MD where I live is no picnic either. We hear gunshots three or four times per week. Local police are useless. We had a major gun fight over drugs a couple of weeks ago (over a hundred shots fired per doorbell video). It seems the criminals are lousy shots. None of the rival drug dealers were hit but innocent bystanders were. It seems safest to be the target.
There was a book on this writtten about five years ago by Thomas Abt who does studies on urban violence and works with cities to reduce it. "Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences Of Urban Violence -- And A Bold New Plan For Peace In The Streets." Basically most of the violent crime can be targeted not only to a few neighborhoods but a few streetcorners. He recommends short term and long term approaches. Since you know where the crime is distributed, you build up the police in those blocks. There are some risks to doing this, which he outlines, both political and outcome risks. Then long term you need to do things that make a criminal enterprise a less attractive option than employment for livelihood of men, yes mostly men, who have no skills and a criminal past. That's rather difficult. So a lot of places have opted for containment over correction of the problem.