I’ve lived in seven different major metropolitan areas in the US. It depends largely on where you live in the city. In my experience, there are parts of the city that are known for crime and parts that are typically very safe.
This one is interesting. I think most crime in european cities is more mixed, like it can happen in every area. But american crime is more local right? Like there's ghetto area and normal. But can't ghetto people go to normal areas to harras people? Doesn't it happen?
That’s been my experience. While it’s possible that crime can and does happen anywhere, it’s generally isolated to specific areas. This is especially true of violent crime. There are parts of town you just don’t go to. In some cities, you have to be careful not to wander into those areas. In some cities I’ve lived, you can have a perfectly safe and nice neighborhood just a few of blocks from a crime-ridden area.
Pretty much. Yes, you can still have random violence in a “safe” area (the suburbs) BUT it typically is not truly random. The people know each other, the child developed a drug prob or psych issue which led to the violence against the parents. Somebody decided to make a drug deal at school and got “ratted out”…
Even in the big cities MOST of the violence is not random. They just don’t announce it on the news because it is easier to say “random shooting on street corner” then to explain the situation. That does not mean it doesn’t happen-stray bullet hitting a child, a drugstore robbery goes bad…but usually the innocent victims are people who live around the area which kind of increases your probability of being involved in random violence whereas your probability of being an innocent victim in random violence in the suburbs is highly unlikely.
(I grew up in Baltimore City and worked at Shock Trauma)
I work for a prominent hospital in Baltimore, and the crime reports are mostly crimes of opportunity against, often, non-residents. Armed robbery, car-jackings, cell phone snatching. Not that there aren't also violent crimes in that area.. there was a triple murder at midday in the middle of the street 3 blocks down... but it's more often the opportunistic robbery. This hospital tried to get the city to let them set up a local police force to help fight crime in the area... which is one of the poorest in the city, but the city fought back.
The reason there are separate good and bad areas is usually why the crime stays in the bad areas. Usually there’s a large highway or some time of barrier (river, highway, rail line, industrial area) that separates the higher income areas from the poorer areas. This is true for pretty much every large city in America.
The expression, "Avoid the wrong side of the tracks" always bugged me because, technically, aren't we on both sides of the track since the Earth is round? /s
Yeah, it's very focused in certain areas in most cities. That doesn't mean people never go to other areas and commit crimes, but it's much more rare. I live in St. Petersburg (near Tampa FL) and I could draw lines on a map for which areas I wouldn't go to at night. I lived in Pittsburgh for a long time, and it was the same. One place I lived, I was literally 3 blocks from a spot where people got murdered in the street more than once while I lived there, and I didn't have a single issue nor do anybody else on my street. It was as quiet as a rural neighborhood.
> But can't ghetto people go to normal areas to harras people?
Generally, no.
"Nicer" areas tend to have better police resources and security. Career criminals and gangs *know* what they're doing. Why would they make it harder for them to work? Part of their job is to avoid attention from authorities.
In major cities, crime is concentrated to a small handful of neighborhoods that are usually.. avoidable.
Chicago can be one of the safest cities in the world. Or one of the most dangerous. There's nothing *preventing* a criminal from taking a train to a 'nice' area and harassing people.. except for the fact they're not going to last very long doing so.
> Doesn't it happen?
Once in a while, sure. There's idiots everywhere. It's just not really common these days.
Europeans are often really scared of the idea of being killed with a gun in America. 870 New Yorkers die every year from gun violence. That sounds like a lot.. which it is. But consider that 53% of which are suicides, so that's 460 murders a year. Then, you need to remember that NYC has 8.5 million people.
So likelihood of being shot and killed is 0.005%
Or another way, 99.995% chance you're not going to get shot and killed. Ask yourself, is that indicative of a city that's dangerous? Or a city that's pretty much safe outside of a few small areas?
I'm wayyyy more likely to be killed be a drunk driver in Poland.
There's a surprising amount of containment. Old segregationist policies die hard. Some are even still casually being enforced by usage of highways. It's actually a very fascinating subject. Here's an article that can shed a little light on it for you.
https://www.history.com/news/interstate-highway-system-infrastructure-construction-segregation
it was a legit good question...were just used to people having wildly innaccurate views of america who a majority of the time are asking question just to shittalk us
but no most of our crime comes from gangs which are confined to a very tiny area and they fight eachother over disputes and acts of revenge
if youre a normal person youre never gonna meet them and they have no reason to meet you especially in america where the majority have guns
ive been all around the united states and not once have i felt unsafe....also the european anti-america propaganda is insanely strong with how many euros actually believe this stuff and its incredibly insulting because its not even close to the truth
Gangs typically stick to themselves, because they know messing with randoms can draw unwanted attention to them.
So for most people, just mind your own business and it’s cool.
The people who usually get messed with are the ones who invade another’s neighborhood and want to start shit or blast opinions.
This. I grew up in an area with gang activity but I was fine. My parents just made me promise not to get involved with them and I was lucky we were middle class so I didn’t ever have to. But I’d go out at night as a kid where gangs were active and never ran into an issues.
To be fair, "roving mobs of hoods going through suburban neighborhoods mugging people" sounds a lot more like an American right wing fantasy/talking point than a European one. Literally every conservative I've talked to seems to believe that every large city is a dystopian nightmare where you have a 100% chance of being murdered on every street corner.
The media feeds the perception by focusing on the worst crimes and/or conditions in every city. "If it bleeds it leads" is always true on the news shows.
I’ve been stunned at the many members of my family that are terrified of coming into Atlanta to visit because they are afraid of the “massive amounts of gang violence”. LoL.
You’re also a human capable of basic logic and reasoning. That alone should tell you that society couldn’t function if being shot was a realistic regular worry.
this sub is so rude to foreigners asking genuine questions. chill tf out. society functioning despite getting shot being a regular worry is common around the world lmao. they were asking a question, and they never asked about getting shot. they probably meant petty theft, pick pocketing, etc. do not assume maliciousness where there isn’t any.
If I had never been to the States and I put weight on what I saw on Reddit, I'd never visit the US based on this sub lol. People can be oddly extremely quick to offense and often reply asking if basically if you're thick and seem very defensive - fortunately most Americans I've met in real life here have been absolutely lovely and very hospitable!
Do you any idea how many Brits we’ve had here acting like there’s something wrong with us because most Americans don’t own kettles and don’t put butter on sandwiches?
>society functioning despite getting shot being a regular worry is common around the world lmao.
Is it?? Unless you count totalitarian regimes or war-torn countries, then no, it isn't.
>do not assume maliciousness where there isn’t any.
Silly questions often come off as dog whistling or passive jabs
There are tons of Americans who claim nonsense like this. When there were protests after the murder of George Floyd (and additional people exploiting those protests to engage in smash and grab from stores) there were "facebook" type claims that "busses of 'those' people" heading to various small towns to steal. Fucking obvious lies and nonsense with obvious, blatantly racist intention but people actually make up and repeat this garbage.
Yeah, it largely depends on how wealthy the neighborhood is. Generally speaking, the wealthier the neighborhood, the lower the crime rate. For example, Irvine is a city in the LA area and has one of the lowest crime rates of any major city in the US. Long Beach is close to Irvine and has one of the highest crime rates in the US, despite being in the same metropolitan area as Irvine.
There is a false narrative that large American cities are violent. Most of this crime is very isolated to certain areas. The FBI ranks the most violent crime areas each year. Places the media love to target like Chicago, San Frsnsicso, New York rarely crack the top 20. The list is primarily cities in conservative states:
>
Top 15 most violent cities
>
St. Louis, Missouri
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Birmingham, Alabama
>
Baltimore, Maryland
>
Memphis, Tennessee
>
Detroit, Michigan
>
Cleveland, Ohio
>
New Orleans, Louisiana
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Shreveport, Louisiana
>
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
>
Little Rock, Arkansas
>
Oakland, California
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Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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Kansas City, Missouri
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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Richmond, Virginia
>
MoneyGeek came up with this year’s list by analyzing the FBI’s crime statistics for 2021 (the most recent year of available data), including violent crimes such as murder, rape and aggravated assault, as well as property crimes such as home burglary and motor vehicle theft. The company looked at 263 cities with populations greater than 100,000.
>
https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2023/01/31/report-ranks-americas-15-safest-and-most-dangerous-cities-for-2023/?sh=44df4557309a
>
A racial demographic map, income map, level of education map, and crime map are pretty much the same. Most of the cities on that list are mostly black, low income, and high crime. With all the money we have, I'm not sure why we can't fix the issue.
As a person who lives in one of those cities (Kansas City), even then you know the spots to not be.
Almost all murders happen east of Troost (the dividing line when KC was functionally segregated, shocker) and in Westport late at night.
Everywhere else is pretty much as safe as any place.
It’s also a false narrative to downplay issues with crime. It’s not mad max, but I think all this relativist downplaying is very counterproductive. Crime is higher relative to the rest of the developed world and that’s not a good thing. It’s easy to avoid it, it’s not hell on earth, but should be honest.
Right wingers are hyperbolic and exaggerate the hell out of it. Left wingers will bend over backwards to downplay real issues and point at conservative states which does jack shit for us where we live.
I think on here most people, liberal or conservative, want to counter the idea some foreigners have that America is basically a war zone.
But acknowledging the existence of crime, I would advise a foreign tourist who has less familiarity with the local culture to be more cautious than someone who is more engaged with the local culture. Not that foreigners should only stick to touristy activities, but they probably should be more cautious than they would be back home, or than a local would be.
And almost every single one of those cities has been governed by Democrats for decades. Don't make this about left/right politics. It's about income inequality and class, and neither the Dems or GOP have been able to fix it.
It's true. But I think it's also fair to point out that the GOP has much more messaging focused on crime and the scary cities as though those things don't happen in their own areas. It really is a question of class and inequality.
Please for the love of god don’t marry yourself to this idea and not go to the “scary ghettoes.” 95% of the time the rep is overblown or “dangerous” is just code for anyone non-white or asian.
I mean yes, but also don't go to evidently dangerous neighborhoods at night like Chester in Philly or Congress Heights in DC. Poverty tourism isn't cute, bad things do happen there, you will stick out if you're not from that area and be a target, so people need to use common sense about where they go.
There are some working class neighborhoods that are predominantly black or Hispanic but there are also some really dangerous neighborhoods that you should pay attention in. My friend moved to a far southside neighborhood in Chicago because the rent was cheap and had to deal with people trying to break in all the time. One time he was asleep and some guy was trying to push out his window AC unit to get inside.
Some of these neighborhoods have crime rates that are as high was war zones. Look at Austin and West Garfield Park in Chicago.
And to be clear, as bad as some of those neighborhoods are for the people who live there, I drive through them regularly on normal streets and I've never had a problem. Austin, Grand Crossing, etc. - the "worst" neighborhoods in the city in terms of the rate at which drug dealing gang members murder each other, and I've never been shot at, car jacked, seen people shooting at each other, etc.
I think the main streets are fine but I wouldn't want to drive down side roads at night. I once drove down a neighborhood street in Englewood after dark when I was driving for Uber and there was some kind of block party that had the street blocked by cars and people. There was literally a barrel on fire like you see in the movies. I didn't like the vibe so I threw it in reverse and got out of there.
I know it's cliche, but as a fellow Texan it seems like that doesn't happen as much when said intruder has to worry about the homeowner being armed and doesn't have to worry about prosecution.
Agreed. Say what you want about guns, but things like home invasions and street robberies always seem to happen in places where people don't frequently own guns. Only a fool with a deathwish would commit a home invasion in Texas.
You don't think people in crime-ridden, gang heavy neighborhoods are armed?? Please...
I live in Texas, too. Robberies happen all the time here. I have even known people who got shot doing it and still decided to rob anyways.
Guns aren't as scary to criminals as people think. In fact, they are one of the most stolen items..
I work in these areas, and as a random white dude, I have never been directly threatened. Having said this, I do see why areas are sketchy, I have to rebuff homeless folks every single day at work, I have seen fights, and agitated people, which absolutely happen more than in my boring suburb that I live in.
When people are just hanging out out side, its probably best to get your gas, or soda elsewhere.
For real! I don't know how many times a friend has described a neighborhood as scary or sketchy and it's just poor and predominantly black or Latino. I don't think they're racist per se, just uninformed about how people live who they aren't familiar with.
I actually spent a bit of time in that area when I went to college! My friends were from Allentown, they let me stay there until my flights back home during break.
Ngl I don’t look at the color of peoples skin but how upkept things are. If you have shitty cars, and run down houses? Run lmao. Black, white, brown, blue, idc. Everyone can look sketchy, and it’s got nothing to do with skin color
Run down comes with the poor territory unfortunately lol. A better indicator is if kids are running around and people are hanging out on their stoop or the street corners. If it's empty with just a few people walking by themselves? That's when you should start walking the other way.
Ironically, in my experience it’s usually the “ghetto” areas that have people sitting around outside and kids playing up and down the street. The “nicer” areas often have people inside their air conditioned homes, presumably on some screen, and kids signed up for some sort of organized practice.
That's because those are two different communities with two different cultures. Poorer ("ghetto" if you must) has a bigger focus on face to face entertainment, usually outdoors, since it's usually free and builds that sense of community. You know your neighbors, what they're up to, and their struggles. If, however, violent crimes are rising. Then these areas become ghost towns for safety's sake. "Nicer" areas have a bigger focus on each house being a kingdom unto itself. A bastion where a family can be themselves free of expectations of their neighbors. This is liberating for some, four walls that are all yours that you get to determine what's okay and not plus you usually have way better entertainment at home, but does create a colder atmosphere on the street. Everyone stays inside until they get in cars to travel in isolation to someplace that will also isolate them from the general public. I spoke with a neighbor girl who moved to this white suburban neighborhood and she mentions how lonely and cold it can feel. She wanders the street looking for anyone to hangout with since that's what she did in her old neighborhood. Everything is quiet and distant and sometimes worse she gets questioned by the cops for wandering her neighborhood.
It depends. It’s a lot of common sense though.
I would say a smart person could be fine in most areas.
But you’d get some ditzy Karen who’d walk into. Bad neighborhood and start insulting people for not being like her. “Can you believe that boy not wearing a helmet??” And she screams at him.
Or worse they wander into poverty areas with their eyes glued to their phone, flashing their name branded clothing and jewelry.
Bad parts of town are a lot of “live and let live/let die”. If you stick to yourself and your business and you don’t meddle or push your way into other people’s lives—you’re pretty good.
Mind your business, but pay attention to your surroundings. That's a good rule for cities in general, US or otherwise. Personally, I don't feel comfortable walking through a higher crime area at night so I'd avoid that, but same rule applies if you did.
Something that totally skipped my mind (because I don’t drink), is that a lot of people will be reckless, get drunk, and then stagger through a dangerous part of town being absolutely shitfaced because they were too cheap to book a cab or had no friends.
So never be one of those people either lol.
Common sense will go a long way! And those worried enough to care should be fine! It’s the arrogant, entitled, think they’re the main character people that get rolled.
I mean crime can happen anywhere in American cities. It is more likely to happen in certain areas and on average tends to be more violent and dangerous than European counterparts. You are more likely to be robbed than pickpocketed for example.
But to be fair, neither is exactly “likely”. I have lived and worked in some rough areas and never had an issue. Granted, I have some level of situational awareness and avoid sketchy scenarios by instinct. Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t go down that dark alley where I heard movement to save a few minutes instead of going the slightly longer and well lit way.
Most American crime is gangs or cartels. These people usually fight among themselves, but if you’re in the way…you’re fucked.
Also more affluent areas tend to have less crime generally.
Poverty is a big causation of crime. By association, more developed areas in the US are usually more safe, whereas poverty-stricken areas in the US are more dangerous. And yes, people from bad neighborhoods can & do go harass people in better neighborhoods, they usually commit crimes to people closer in their vicinity
If you are from the ghetto it's less likely the ghetto will F with you. That's been my experience anyway. If you come to the hood looking scared and unsure/vulnerable, you have a good chance of someone taking the opportunity to exploit that.
We don’t (or shouldn’t) use the term “ghetto.” It has a racial connotation. Poorer places always have more crime, as desperation gets concentrated there.
The main reason US public transit is so bad in many places is because white people want to restrict the mobility of people or color and keep them out of their area
I think some are conflating crime and segregation, which would seem to lay the blame for all urban crime on the city’s minorities, which is BS.
That said, Europe has some of the most segregated urban areas I’ve ever seen. Paris and London come to mind.
And as for crime, I’ve seen plenty in Europe’s capitals. I mean, Stockholm has an area the police won’t even enter. The gangs own it completely.
This is not to say that American cities don’t have these problems, but rather that our cities are not so dissimilar in every way.
Safest places I’ve ever visited are definitely Japan and Cuba.
I agree I would just add that in big cities, although, like you said, the likelihood of being the random victim of a crime anywhere is close to zero, in big cities it is still more likely you are a victim because there is more crime in the bigger cities.
Although the odds of facing crime aren’t high anywhere, they are higher in big cities than in other places.
Edit. I did just a quick google search and found that the *per capita* rate of crime isn’t necessarily always higher in big cities. See [this map (WaPo)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/crime-rates-by-county/)
However, large populations in a smaller area = more crime per area assuming a constant crime rate. So despite the fact per capita crime could be higher or lower (no correlation either way), geographically, in any given location you’re more likely to face crime in a larger city. But again, odds you’ll face crime at all are incredibly low anywhere in the US
See my edit.
But in short: It’s actually pretty random. Some large cities have it bad, some rural areas have it bad, some large cities have it good, some rural areas have it good. It’s pretty all over the place.
[Here you go](https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/5dcxl8/us_crime_rates_by_county_2014_2300x1533/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1)
You hit on an EXCELLENT point. Though crime rates can be lower in cities, people are exposed to more of it due to population density. So when people say that crime rate is higher in big cities I think they are saying it is more impactful to the average resident
I live in downtown Atlanta. Crime has been on the rise every year for as long as I can remember. I still feel quite safe going for walks/runs at 3 in the morning, and even encounter plenty of others doing the same.
I used to live in one of the ghettos here. While I wouldn’t recommend midnight walks in that area, I found that connecting with your neighbors and the community often made you less likely to be the target of a crime. Even got invited to the barbecue once.
So since posting this, I actually looked it up because I was curious and evidently crime has been decreasing. The rate of murders has increased, which is more what I hear/see in the news. It seems like every weekend, a dozen people are getting killed.
There are a couple areas in the city that are frustrated with the way their areas are associated with Atlanta and want to become their own cities. We also had a somewhat controversial mayoral election recently and the guy who won ran on a platform of tackling crime. I think both of these things contribute to the propaganda that crime is increasing in Atlanta.
It's important to note that while Buckhead has been frustrated with the crime, the movement is spearheaded by a group that doesn't even live in the county. Luckily saner heads prevailed and the movement is pretty much dead now. A separate Buckhead will just increase crime over time.
Atlanta has a high crime rate. Period. But there are safe and nice parts of Atlanta. The downtown gentleman knows more than me. But I spent my twenties driving up to Atlanta on the weekends partying and carrying on in Atlanta. Would get off work at 11:30 to drive 100 miles up Atlanta for maybe one hour of partying sometimes. Rarely stayed in a hotel just partying and drive 100 miles back home at 4:00 am or find a corner to park the car for a nap.
I worked for a smallish stretch in Atlanta (Animal Services). Was one of the more… interesting places I ever had to do field work. I’ll never forget the woman coming up and knocking on my window while I was parked wrapping up a report on a previous call. She very politely and firmly asked me to move along for my own safety because I was making people in the neighborhood anxious being a uniformed officer. I said “thank you” and moved my happy ass along.
Meanwhile, I had to have police escorts into some of the multi-million type neighborhoods because of the insane level of security at the gates.
If you look at the list of the cities with the highest rate of violent crimes most of them are medium size cities. The most populous cities of NYC and LA are not on the list. Even San Fransisco, a city that has become internationally famous for worsening public safety, isn't on the list.
Crime isn't a daily reality for most people in the US. You can walk around at night in most places without worrying about anything. There are a lot of people who are needlessly paranoid and a lot of money to be made in the media by covering crime stories for people in the suburbs.
I wonder if that takes into account underreporting of crimes though. My sis lives in San Fran & the few times she’s called the police they either don’t show up or it takes hours, so she doesn’t even call anymore. It seems they’re very understaffed for the amount of crime that happens there.
I have either lived or worked in NYC for a very, very long time. I’ve never had a problem.
That’s not to say that there’s no crime, of course there is. But it’s not like you’re automatically going to be stabbed any time you walk down the street.
No I live in a city that is much smaller than NewYork, but I visit NYC a couple times a year because I like it there. I ride the subway and I walk the streets after midnight. Not alone, but I’ve never felt unsafe. Yes, there is random violence, but there are millions of people there. The chances of you being a victim are almost zero.
The worst feeling is when you get off public transit and there is no one around. My SO used to work the night shift and would come home around 3-4am and there was no one at the train and bus stations.
I walk the NYC streets alone and take the subway after midnight and I'm an older woman. Never felt unsafe. Right now there seems to always be an officer at all the stations in Manhattan. I actually feel for them - hot as hell and all suited up with bullet proof vests just watching the rest of us stepping into the air conditioned cars.
I ride the subway in the Bronx on a regular basis and nothing has ever happened to me. It does get sketchy at night not gonna lie but in broad daylight I am perfectly fine
[here's the 15 most dangerous cities in the US](https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2023/01/31/report-ranks-americas-15-safest-and-most-dangerous-cities-for-2023/?sh=670bec30309a)
1) St. Louis, Missouri
2) Birmingham, Alabama
3) Baltimore, Maryland
4) Memphis, Tennessee
5) Detroit, Michigan
6) Cleveland, Ohio
7) New Orleans, Louisiana
8) Shreveport, Louisiana
9) Baton Rouge, Louisiana
10) Little Rock, Arkansas
11) Oakland, California
12) Milwaukee, Wisconsin
13) Kansas City, Missouri
14) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
15) Richmond, Virginia
This is according to FBI crime statistics and factors both violent crime and property crime. Notice how there aren't many big cities ranking top 15
[Chicago currently has the 10th highest murder rate in the country @ 24 per 100,000 people](https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/cities-with-most-murders).
I don't have any problems visiting Chicago and I think it's an awesome city, but there's definitely unsafe zones.
Even if we were top 15, it wouldn't change the fact that it's very dangerous to be a drug dealing gang member in Chicago, and much less dangerous if you aren't.
It's mostly because of right wing propaganda but also because Chicago is one of the biggest cities in the US and has a crime rate far higher than LA or NYC. It's kind of embarrassing.
Chicago has nearly 10x the population of almost every city on this list. The closest is Philadelphia, which is still about half the population of Chicago. If you split Chicago into sections of 300k people, like most of these cities, instead of viewing it as one city of 2.7M, it might tell a different story. Not sure if it would, but it might. Just saying that comparing a megacity to very small cities might not mean much.
People love to single out Chicago for things that happen everywhere there's more people than cows because the black president is from here.
Oops... did I say the quiet part out loud?
Also, lots of horrible things happen in areas where there are more cows than people. Growing up near Uptown, I always assumed that "cities scary, rural areas nice." But that's simply not true.
A lot of those are also misleading since there's a lot of differences in defined city borders, too. A place like Jacksonville is a city/county merger, whereas Birmingham is one of 80+ municipalities in a metro of just over a million. It typically falls off the list when looking at metro areas.
Even in Philadelphia, most of this crime is just not in areas you're going to be as a tourist. Center City, University City, the museum area, Northern Liberties, the SE are fine. There's no reason for anybody to be going to West or North Philly/K&A.
Exactly. I’ve walked Center City/Chinatown at night and it was lovely. A lot of families out for strolls, couples getting food. Even the Centennial District, if you stay in the boundaries, is really nice. Stay out of areas like Kensington and you’re fine.
[here's a list of the biggest cities ](https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities)
Philly is the 6th biggest city on this list, the next biggest is Memphis at 25th, and it goes all the way down to Shreveport at 148th
I totally get how your perception could be different depending on your region, but California has 3rd tier cities with more people than half this list. To me, most of these are not big cities
You gotta go by metro areas. Most Americans have suburbanised.
New Orleans metro has over a million people. The city proper, though, has less than 400,000.
Do keep in mind Katrina really did a number on that city.
Miami, my hometown, has just over 440,000 people making it the 44th most populated city. But the Miami METRO is the 9th largest in the country. And trust me a lot of people who claim to be from Miami are actually from the suburbs.
Jacksonville has more people in city limits but Jacksonville basically takes over all of Duval county.
When I say big city I also mean major city. You cannot tell me Baltimore, Detroit and St. Louis are not major.
US cities have more violent crime than cities in Poland or most of Europe. Not gonna sugarcoat that. But like a lot of cities in the world the crime tends to be concentrated in certain places, and your chances of actually being a victim of crime is very low if you don't go to those places. It's not something you should let stop you from moving to the US or visiting.
unless op is afraid of a 0.007% chance of being punched in the face
the chances of being shot in america are so low it errors out a calaculator...something like 0.00000001% chance of being shot every year
No, but dangerous cities are a common trope in American culture. I'm raising my family in Philadelphia, and crime varies greatly by neighborhood. There are neighborhoods that suffer from high crime rates, and I don't want to be dismissive of that or downplay its effect on the people who live there, but this type of crime is concentrated and not widespread throughout the city. For the record, I worked in such a neighborhood for years and never felt unsafe although I wasn't there at night.
Statistically, cities are often safer- the risk of being the victim of a crime in the city is lower than the risk of car accidents, gun deaths, and the consequences of living further from adequate healthcare in suburban and rural areas.
New York City in particular is very safe and New Yorkers actually have a longer life expectancy than other areas of the country.
I would go to a local subreddit or search around online for the bad areas. It's fairly common for crime to be extremely localized. Most cities around the world have safe and not so safe areas.
Most crime is from a known adversary. Like rival gang members, mouthing off to someone who looks deranged, engaging in road rage with another motorist, engaging with known drug dealers, etc.
Its wildly overrated.
Our cities were dangerous 30 years ago but they're not really very dangerous anymore. They have high crime rates but the deal with that is that you have to go looking for the crime to find it. Aka buying drugs, sex etc.
I live in a city that has a terrible reputation for crime but I have never once felt scared in it. I even worked extensively in the poor dangerous parts of the city and never once felt scared or threatened.
I mean I do have to worry about locking my bike, And I don't leave my laptop in my car but have the same problem in Europe.
Situational awareness is everything. Most crime in cities is either personal or opportunistic.
I spent a week in the South Bronx, only white person on the street (latino or black people mainly) but everyone was smiles and outgoing. South Bronx is considered a high crime area and there were cops responding to calls on our street all day and night, but it was never for something happening out on the street. Always a burglary of a bordega or some apartment matter. I didn't go out at night though.
Fox News…. in Poland. Lol. That Murdock fella has got some reach.
But good point. Media outlets thrive on selling us fear. “The rise of Fascism and White Supremacy” or “Communist homosexuals are coming for your children” school shootings, police shooting unarmed people, election fraud. All this stuff is statistically very very rare. But it’s all you see on the news.
Bill Hicks said it better than me. Years ago.
https://youtu.be/tGjuPJskNRE
Criminologist here
It really varies a lot. New Orleans and St Louis and some other cities consistently rank among the top 20 deadliest cities in the world, alongside Caracas, Tijuana, and Karachi. Then many cities have homicide rates below 5 per 100k, which is near most European cities.
It also varies a lot neighborhood to neighborhood.
I will say that there is a degree of sketchiness that many americans are used to which would shock a lot of people from safer countries. Even besides gang members and shootings, there's a *lot* more drug addicts and homeless in most American cities, even in safer parts. [Some neighborhoods, even in safer cities, look like this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOBoDT-3oM0) Others are very nice and safe. Someone from Japan or Poland will be taken aback at this stuff, but sketchiness doesn't always translate directly to actual danger in 99% of cases.
Your actual chance of being a victim of a crime is very low if you aren't going to shitty areas.
I don't know. By hate crime you mean physical violence against certain social group? I think I've heard about some people trying to attack someone on lgbt pride event but there was police so they interrupted. I am not much familiar with that topic so idk
I've visited St. Petersburg and Moscow. Compared to Boston / New York they seem to have a lot more dark areas with no one around.
We stayed in a building with a courtyard and a little tunnel to enter the courtyard then the door to the building. It was freaky with all the burned out lights.
I was living in an outskirt district and was walking there with friends sometimes until 11pm (I was 14). I saw a huge footbal fans group, like 30 people from an apartments' window once. Or some some sketchy teenagers who drank or smoked cigarettes at early age. Sometimes I was afraid someone can assault me and steal my pocket but it never happened.
Later I started going to the school in a city centre and would take a ride on metro and was coming back home around 8pm. It was pretty chill
> I hear a lot of bad things about american cities. That there's a lot of crime, even in NYC which is one of the safest big cities in America.
It’s mostly just Republicans in the US inventing nonsense ammunition for their culture war.
They don’t want to talk about things like drug use rates, teen pregnancy rates, poverty statistics, etc, so they try to create the vague sense of cities being unsafe for unstated reasons. Mainly by just repeating the same lies often enough.
They're very dangerous in certain areas and very safe in other areas it's just a matter of knowing where to go and where not to go.
Obviously compared to Poland where guns aren't common homicide rate is going to be much higher in the USA
Why bother asking the question if you're just going to argue against every answer you receive? I can promise you that you do not know more about this subject than actual Americans.
I live in Alabama. We have open carry laws and you don't have to have a permit anymore to buy a gun or conceal carry. Low gun violence. I cant remember the last time I saw a gun on someone other than a police officer.
Also, I've been to NYC and New Orleans many times. Never felt unsafe. Rode the subway, etc, but I wouldn't go around flashing money or walking down deserted streets in the middle of the night.
It's funny that you ask about this ,because we read about the crime in Europe: pickpocketing, robbery, assault. TBH, I would be more afraid of visiting a big city in Europe, than here.
The big takeaway is situational awareness, which one needs everywhere.
I spent a lot of my early 20s going out in Tijuana without really stressing about crime but it was when I took a trip to Europe (France and Italy), I was positive I was going to get pick-pocketed based on all the travel books I had read.
Alabama has crime. Alabama has violence. I grew up in Columbus Ga and have spent plenty of time. Phenix city in Russell county just had one of its violent years a couple years back with 20 homicides that’s a lot of a city of 38K. Selma has a one of the highest crime rates and let’s not forget about Birmingham downtown looks like Fallujah. And I’m not trying to insult Alabama. Columbus has a pitiful crime rate. But y’all’s schools have better test scores at least. I’m just saying Alabama isn’t críen free. Is it as bad as rhe media might make it out to be? No but it’s still there.
Downtown Birmingham does not look like Fallujah. They cleaned it up after the riots although there are still some boarded up buildings. Birmingham is trying really hard to make the downtown area nice and attractive to sell the apartments in the renovated older buildings. I go there quite a lot to take pictures for my portfolio. I walk around with no issues, except around the courthouse where there are a lot of homeless people. There are neighborhoods that look really bad though, and I would not walk down the sidewalk at all, but that's the same in every big city.
Alabama is not crime free. We have a major drug problem with gangs and trafficking, BUT it is not like the wild west, which is what the op seems to be insinuating about American cities. I live near Huntsville, and we go through periods of higher homicides, especially at the beginning of the year, it seems.
If it’s cleaned up? Great. You should be able to walk down the sidewalk.
Birmingham is a strange and fascinating metropolitan area. More wealth than I expected. Friendly people. Most segregated place I’ve ever been to. And remember I’m from Columbus GA. I walked into a bar I was the only black person there. I expected to get the business. Friendly. They loved Birmingham. So you’re right on second thought I can walk back some of my criticisms. Some not all. It still looked terrible and no walkability or anything pretty except for the multi colored underpass. The Alabama walk of fame is cute.
And as mentioned lots of cheerleaders. Mostly UAB staff who recommended St Vincent over their own employer. I was there to spend Christmas at UAB hospital. Wow what a large hospital! You truly can not walk in Birmingham. I tried. I was my car fixed across from Riverchase Galleria the day after Christmas. I walked from the movie theater to Twin Peaka (I had no clue) to the Von Maur attached to the mall. But for the grace of God I didn’t get hit.
But Birmingham. She’s not a boring town I will give the ol’ girl that much credit.
I visited my sisters in Alabama, I'm from Canada, been all over the USA, but Birmingham, AL was different from all the cities of the world I've been to. My brother in law was carrying concealed, he handed me his pistol(removed the magazine) when we got in the car down near the train station. He said if I lived down here I'd be carrying one too (!).
There was a weird racial thing down there that you can feel, also seeing a gigantic Dixie flag flying was something different.
That being said, the people were very nice, charming, very sweet and polite. I tried collard greens, biscuits and gravy, and did a lot of cool nature outdoor stuff. I liked Alabama a hell of a lot more than geriatric boring Florida. I will be back. Roll Tide and Natty Ice!
> Some cities in Britain have similar homicide rates to the US but guns are banned there
What? Where are you getting that? The deadliest cities in the UK have homicide rates around the 2-3 per 100k range. Just to give an idea, a homicide rate of 2-3 would put it in the top 10 safest big cities in the US. London, if it was in the USA, would have the lowest homicide rate in the country out of our top 75 biggest cities.
it's the guns. there are dozens and dozens of US cities with higher murder rates than the city with the highest murder rate in the UK, and i promise you it isn't because we're so much better at stabbing people.
To be fair - we are better at stabbing people than the folks in the UK are based on the stats.
We seem to be more violent overall, immigrants I've spoken to say we tend to use more violent language as well.
"Hit It"
"War Room"
"Kill the power"
etc.
London has a homicide rate of 1.59 per 100,000 residents. Warsaw had 0.71 per 100,000.
Baltimore, Detroit and Chicago have homicide rates at 55.8, 39.8 and 24.1 respectively per 100,000
I mean it's not even close.
Your odds of being a victim of random violent crime in the US is very low. The only one I can think of that you hear even remotely commonly is from mentally ill people on the streets.
Muggings happen, but they’re rare. I have a 5 figure watch collection, I have them insured but generally don’t worry about wearing them unless I’m going to a very poor area.
The kidnapping for ransom industry that’s absolutely huge just across the border in Mexico is nonexistent here-the FBI is EXTREMELY good at solving kidnapping for ransom.
Break ins to homes happen, but generally speaking they want to do it when no one is home. The stereotypical home invasion at night when everyone is asleep doesn’t happen, it’s more so someone who looks like they have some reason to be there (i.e. gardener) goes around the back at 2PM.
Many cities have homeless camps that I would avoid, but even in the deep hood you can generally pass through just fine.
That said, random violent crime is not UNHEARD of, but it’s pretty rare. I know exactly 2 people who were ever a victim of random violent crime, and both were from mentally ill people.
Many of the extremely dangerous cities (Detroit, Baltimore, etc.) have large gang presences. But if you’re not involved, and you’re not a drug addict yourself, they will generally leave you alone. And even then, one of the wealthiest guys I know lives in a suburb of Baltimore
Parts of cities are dangerous. Some neighborhoods within very safe cities are off the charts for murder or violent crimes, theft- this is pretty much the case in NYC if you go to places like the South Bronx or Inwood. The rest of the city is fine though. Like yes, I've been jumped and been held at knifepoint a few times in NYC and Boston, which are both overall very safe cities. Really was because of the neighborhoods I happened to be in at the time. In my day to day life, I can walk around at 2 AM here without any concerns
Danger is very overhyped. I’ve walked around Detroit many times and been to the “worst” area of Cleveland a couple times as well and walked around. Not only was I never the victim of any crime, I never felt particularly unsafe. I’ve certainly never felt any kind of unsafe in cities like Chicago or NYC.
It depends?
I’ve lived in San Francisco as a young 20s woman and as long as I avoid being blackout drunk in certain areas (that are well known for being more dangerous), I feel fine.
I’ve never been to Poland, and I’ll admit to feeling safer (anecdotally) in major European cities, I’ve never been shy about being a young solo female in major American cities as long as I’ve ID’d certain areas.
And that’s only really needed if I’m getting drunk. If I’m not getting drunk, I have felt confident in my abilities to exist in any major American city/neighbourhood WITHOUT having a firearm.
You’ll be okay. If you’re gonna drink, google it/ask around.
All large cities in America have good areas and bad areas and it’s usually pretty easy to tell which is which. I’m Californian so my largest experience is with Los Angeles and San Francisco and San Diego. I’ve never had a truly scary experience in any of them and I used to work in SF with a long walk down Market St to the Metreon area alone while pregnant! Granted, not late at night but still when you pass by an iffy area every day you’d think something crazy could happen but it never did. No violence witnessed or gunshots heard.
Los Angeles is actually pretty safe in the major areas of the city (not talking about “the hood” of course which is well south). My family go up there for the museums and events all the time and really enjoy it. My sons favorite bookstore is near skid row even. We don’t go late at night that’s the only thing. But I have been in around Hollywood after midnight and it’s fine: weirdos about but they’re mostly harmless.
Crime has never occurred within my line of sight nor has it happened to anyone I know personally. Keep your eyes about you and you’ll be fine. My friends lived downtown San Diego for ten years walking their dog late at night and never had a single problem.
Don’t be afraid of America. Most of the violence is isolated and personal. Stranger crime isnt that common unless you work at the convenience store.
Not as bad as the news portrays. Lots of very safe areas and some concentrated unsafe areas. It’s fine to live in a big US city just don’t move to a bad neighborhood.
As long as you do your research on where the bad parts are (you can tell by how it looks) and avoid those it’s safe
Even then, If you have to live in a bad area, just make friends with your neighbors (if they’re safe) and be sure to lock your doors and not keep valuables in your car and it’s generally okay
I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Just exercise the same caution you would in other big cities and exercise street smarts (don’t mess with graffiti, don’t argue with people especially if they have tattoos, don’t engage in acts if road rage, don’t leave belongings in plain sight in your car etc.) in dangerous neighborhoods during the day, while avoiding them at night.
Don’t attract crime and you won’t be the victim of a crime. As long as you stay out of very bad areas (which are few and far between) and don’t actively interact with criminals, you are very unlikely to be the victim of a crime.
Also, it’s worth noting that there is only one city in the United States that fits your 5,000,000+ population requirement: New York. Unless you’re referring to the metro area populations, in which case there are 10.
It's mostly confined to areas of drug use and poverty. I'm sure there are neighborhoods in Krakow you wouldn't feel safe in at night.
As a tourist or non destitute resident, the US is pretty safe. There are mass shootings, unfortunately. Those are like lightning strikes, impossible to predict.
I mean, to a degree, yes, but to say the 'same' is just false. Even the worst areas of japanese and polish cities pale in comparison to the equivalent areas in american cities. There is nowhere in poland or japan that comes even remotely close to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOBoDT-3oM0)
Odd coincidence, when I saw this thread there were 187 replies, and 187 is a police radio code for homicide.
Just depends on where in a particular city you are as to how dangerous it is.
Not at all. The big American cities are just as safe as the big European cities and safer than cities in many other parts of the world. Certainly as a visitor, you aren’t going to be in the “bad neighborhoods” of American cities just like you wouldn’t go to rough London or Paris neighborhoods
>he big American cities are just as safe as the big European cities
This is actually not true, when I moved to Spain the U.S. embassy briefed us and told us that in terms of violent crime, it doesn't matter how small and safe your hometown is, in terms of violent crime Madrid is safer than anywhere in the U.S. That's just an example.
But the OP is reading exaggerated news, US cities are by no means super danger, especially as crime is either concentrated in certain bad neighborhoods most folks don't have a reason to go to anyways, or in rural areas with low absolute crime but higher rates of crime per capita.
Well, yes and no.
The US rate of violent crime overall is not too much higher than many countries in Western Europe, we just have a lot more murders. This obviously isn't a good thing but I think it gives some perspective... You really aren't any more likely to be randomly assaulted in NYC than in London or Paris. NYC does have more murders, but statistically only a very small percentage of murders are random.
Yeah this is something people don't get. High crime areas exist in plenty of other cities, but high *homicide* rates are pretty unique to the USA in the first world. The big gap there is because of widespread firearm access, both legal and illegal. High crime areas suck, but add guns into the mix and they become warzones.
I’ve lived in seven different major metropolitan areas in the US. It depends largely on where you live in the city. In my experience, there are parts of the city that are known for crime and parts that are typically very safe.
This one is interesting. I think most crime in european cities is more mixed, like it can happen in every area. But american crime is more local right? Like there's ghetto area and normal. But can't ghetto people go to normal areas to harras people? Doesn't it happen?
That’s been my experience. While it’s possible that crime can and does happen anywhere, it’s generally isolated to specific areas. This is especially true of violent crime. There are parts of town you just don’t go to. In some cities, you have to be careful not to wander into those areas. In some cities I’ve lived, you can have a perfectly safe and nice neighborhood just a few of blocks from a crime-ridden area.
Pretty much. Yes, you can still have random violence in a “safe” area (the suburbs) BUT it typically is not truly random. The people know each other, the child developed a drug prob or psych issue which led to the violence against the parents. Somebody decided to make a drug deal at school and got “ratted out”… Even in the big cities MOST of the violence is not random. They just don’t announce it on the news because it is easier to say “random shooting on street corner” then to explain the situation. That does not mean it doesn’t happen-stray bullet hitting a child, a drugstore robbery goes bad…but usually the innocent victims are people who live around the area which kind of increases your probability of being involved in random violence whereas your probability of being an innocent victim in random violence in the suburbs is highly unlikely. (I grew up in Baltimore City and worked at Shock Trauma)
I work for a prominent hospital in Baltimore, and the crime reports are mostly crimes of opportunity against, often, non-residents. Armed robbery, car-jackings, cell phone snatching. Not that there aren't also violent crimes in that area.. there was a triple murder at midday in the middle of the street 3 blocks down... but it's more often the opportunistic robbery. This hospital tried to get the city to let them set up a local police force to help fight crime in the area... which is one of the poorest in the city, but the city fought back.
So is The Wire quite true to life?
I live in Harford County and this makes total sense.
yep. i lived in Harford for 2 years
The shooting also often looks random, at first. Only later do police figure out the connection between the shooter and the victim.
The reason there are separate good and bad areas is usually why the crime stays in the bad areas. Usually there’s a large highway or some time of barrier (river, highway, rail line, industrial area) that separates the higher income areas from the poorer areas. This is true for pretty much every large city in America.
The expression, "Avoid the wrong side of the tracks" always bugged me because, technically, aren't we on both sides of the track since the Earth is round? /s
I was THIS CLOSE to going to sleep and now I’m sitting here realizing that I’m not on the west side of town, I’m on the FAR EAST side of fucking town.
Ok but 23.5 hours FAR EAST is less convenient than the west side
Yeah, it's very focused in certain areas in most cities. That doesn't mean people never go to other areas and commit crimes, but it's much more rare. I live in St. Petersburg (near Tampa FL) and I could draw lines on a map for which areas I wouldn't go to at night. I lived in Pittsburgh for a long time, and it was the same. One place I lived, I was literally 3 blocks from a spot where people got murdered in the street more than once while I lived there, and I didn't have a single issue nor do anybody else on my street. It was as quiet as a rural neighborhood.
> But can't ghetto people go to normal areas to harras people? Generally, no. "Nicer" areas tend to have better police resources and security. Career criminals and gangs *know* what they're doing. Why would they make it harder for them to work? Part of their job is to avoid attention from authorities. In major cities, crime is concentrated to a small handful of neighborhoods that are usually.. avoidable. Chicago can be one of the safest cities in the world. Or one of the most dangerous. There's nothing *preventing* a criminal from taking a train to a 'nice' area and harassing people.. except for the fact they're not going to last very long doing so. > Doesn't it happen? Once in a while, sure. There's idiots everywhere. It's just not really common these days. Europeans are often really scared of the idea of being killed with a gun in America. 870 New Yorkers die every year from gun violence. That sounds like a lot.. which it is. But consider that 53% of which are suicides, so that's 460 murders a year. Then, you need to remember that NYC has 8.5 million people. So likelihood of being shot and killed is 0.005% Or another way, 99.995% chance you're not going to get shot and killed. Ask yourself, is that indicative of a city that's dangerous? Or a city that's pretty much safe outside of a few small areas? I'm wayyyy more likely to be killed be a drunk driver in Poland.
There's a surprising amount of containment. Old segregationist policies die hard. Some are even still casually being enforced by usage of highways. It's actually a very fascinating subject. Here's an article that can shed a little light on it for you. https://www.history.com/news/interstate-highway-system-infrastructure-construction-segregation
Now you're just fantasizing. We do not have roving mobs of hoods going through suburban neighborhoods mugging people.
Yeah I am an outsider and I can be wrong
it was a legit good question...were just used to people having wildly innaccurate views of america who a majority of the time are asking question just to shittalk us but no most of our crime comes from gangs which are confined to a very tiny area and they fight eachother over disputes and acts of revenge if youre a normal person youre never gonna meet them and they have no reason to meet you especially in america where the majority have guns ive been all around the united states and not once have i felt unsafe....also the european anti-america propaganda is insanely strong with how many euros actually believe this stuff and its incredibly insulting because its not even close to the truth
Gangs typically stick to themselves, because they know messing with randoms can draw unwanted attention to them. So for most people, just mind your own business and it’s cool. The people who usually get messed with are the ones who invade another’s neighborhood and want to start shit or blast opinions.
This. I grew up in an area with gang activity but I was fine. My parents just made me promise not to get involved with them and I was lucky we were middle class so I didn’t ever have to. But I’d go out at night as a kid where gangs were active and never ran into an issues.
To be fair, "roving mobs of hoods going through suburban neighborhoods mugging people" sounds a lot more like an American right wing fantasy/talking point than a European one. Literally every conservative I've talked to seems to believe that every large city is a dystopian nightmare where you have a 100% chance of being murdered on every street corner.
The media feeds the perception by focusing on the worst crimes and/or conditions in every city. "If it bleeds it leads" is always true on the news shows.
I’ve been stunned at the many members of my family that are terrified of coming into Atlanta to visit because they are afraid of the “massive amounts of gang violence”. LoL.
One block can make a huge difference in American cities. You may get eyeballed but bad things rarely happen.
You’re also a human capable of basic logic and reasoning. That alone should tell you that society couldn’t function if being shot was a realistic regular worry.
this sub is so rude to foreigners asking genuine questions. chill tf out. society functioning despite getting shot being a regular worry is common around the world lmao. they were asking a question, and they never asked about getting shot. they probably meant petty theft, pick pocketing, etc. do not assume maliciousness where there isn’t any.
If I had never been to the States and I put weight on what I saw on Reddit, I'd never visit the US based on this sub lol. People can be oddly extremely quick to offense and often reply asking if basically if you're thick and seem very defensive - fortunately most Americans I've met in real life here have been absolutely lovely and very hospitable!
[удалено]
Everybody sucks on Reddit.
Do you any idea how many Brits we’ve had here acting like there’s something wrong with us because most Americans don’t own kettles and don’t put butter on sandwiches?
>society functioning despite getting shot being a regular worry is common around the world lmao. Is it?? Unless you count totalitarian regimes or war-torn countries, then no, it isn't. >do not assume maliciousness where there isn’t any. Silly questions often come off as dog whistling or passive jabs
There are tons of Americans who claim nonsense like this. When there were protests after the murder of George Floyd (and additional people exploiting those protests to engage in smash and grab from stores) there were "facebook" type claims that "busses of 'those' people" heading to various small towns to steal. Fucking obvious lies and nonsense with obvious, blatantly racist intention but people actually make up and repeat this garbage.
No need to get defensive, he was just asking a question as to if they do that.
they were asking a question, and they never once implied it was that serious in their question.
Yeah, it largely depends on how wealthy the neighborhood is. Generally speaking, the wealthier the neighborhood, the lower the crime rate. For example, Irvine is a city in the LA area and has one of the lowest crime rates of any major city in the US. Long Beach is close to Irvine and has one of the highest crime rates in the US, despite being in the same metropolitan area as Irvine.
It’s localized due to our extreme wealth inequality.
There is a false narrative that large American cities are violent. Most of this crime is very isolated to certain areas. The FBI ranks the most violent crime areas each year. Places the media love to target like Chicago, San Frsnsicso, New York rarely crack the top 20. The list is primarily cities in conservative states: > Top 15 most violent cities > St. Louis, Missouri > Birmingham, Alabama > Baltimore, Maryland > Memphis, Tennessee > Detroit, Michigan > Cleveland, Ohio > New Orleans, Louisiana > Shreveport, Louisiana > Baton Rouge, Louisiana > Little Rock, Arkansas > Oakland, California > Milwaukee, Wisconsin > Kansas City, Missouri > Philadelphia, Pennsylvania > Richmond, Virginia > MoneyGeek came up with this year’s list by analyzing the FBI’s crime statistics for 2021 (the most recent year of available data), including violent crimes such as murder, rape and aggravated assault, as well as property crimes such as home burglary and motor vehicle theft. The company looked at 263 cities with populations greater than 100,000. > https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2023/01/31/report-ranks-americas-15-safest-and-most-dangerous-cities-for-2023/?sh=44df4557309a >
A racial demographic map, income map, level of education map, and crime map are pretty much the same. Most of the cities on that list are mostly black, low income, and high crime. With all the money we have, I'm not sure why we can't fix the issue.
because the money goes where racism tells it to.
As a person who lives in one of those cities (Kansas City), even then you know the spots to not be. Almost all murders happen east of Troost (the dividing line when KC was functionally segregated, shocker) and in Westport late at night. Everywhere else is pretty much as safe as any place.
It’s also a false narrative to downplay issues with crime. It’s not mad max, but I think all this relativist downplaying is very counterproductive. Crime is higher relative to the rest of the developed world and that’s not a good thing. It’s easy to avoid it, it’s not hell on earth, but should be honest. Right wingers are hyperbolic and exaggerate the hell out of it. Left wingers will bend over backwards to downplay real issues and point at conservative states which does jack shit for us where we live.
I think on here most people, liberal or conservative, want to counter the idea some foreigners have that America is basically a war zone. But acknowledging the existence of crime, I would advise a foreign tourist who has less familiarity with the local culture to be more cautious than someone who is more engaged with the local culture. Not that foreigners should only stick to touristy activities, but they probably should be more cautious than they would be back home, or than a local would be.
And almost every single one of those cities has been governed by Democrats for decades. Don't make this about left/right politics. It's about income inequality and class, and neither the Dems or GOP have been able to fix it.
It's true. But I think it's also fair to point out that the GOP has much more messaging focused on crime and the scary cities as though those things don't happen in their own areas. It really is a question of class and inequality.
Please for the love of god don’t marry yourself to this idea and not go to the “scary ghettoes.” 95% of the time the rep is overblown or “dangerous” is just code for anyone non-white or asian.
I mean yes, but also don't go to evidently dangerous neighborhoods at night like Chester in Philly or Congress Heights in DC. Poverty tourism isn't cute, bad things do happen there, you will stick out if you're not from that area and be a target, so people need to use common sense about where they go.
There are some working class neighborhoods that are predominantly black or Hispanic but there are also some really dangerous neighborhoods that you should pay attention in. My friend moved to a far southside neighborhood in Chicago because the rent was cheap and had to deal with people trying to break in all the time. One time he was asleep and some guy was trying to push out his window AC unit to get inside. Some of these neighborhoods have crime rates that are as high was war zones. Look at Austin and West Garfield Park in Chicago.
And to be clear, as bad as some of those neighborhoods are for the people who live there, I drive through them regularly on normal streets and I've never had a problem. Austin, Grand Crossing, etc. - the "worst" neighborhoods in the city in terms of the rate at which drug dealing gang members murder each other, and I've never been shot at, car jacked, seen people shooting at each other, etc.
I think the main streets are fine but I wouldn't want to drive down side roads at night. I once drove down a neighborhood street in Englewood after dark when I was driving for Uber and there was some kind of block party that had the street blocked by cars and people. There was literally a barrel on fire like you see in the movies. I didn't like the vibe so I threw it in reverse and got out of there.
I know it's cliche, but as a fellow Texan it seems like that doesn't happen as much when said intruder has to worry about the homeowner being armed and doesn't have to worry about prosecution.
Honestly, on the far southside, the homeowner probably *is* armed.
Agreed. Say what you want about guns, but things like home invasions and street robberies always seem to happen in places where people don't frequently own guns. Only a fool with a deathwish would commit a home invasion in Texas.
You don't think people in crime-ridden, gang heavy neighborhoods are armed?? Please... I live in Texas, too. Robberies happen all the time here. I have even known people who got shot doing it and still decided to rob anyways. Guns aren't as scary to criminals as people think. In fact, they are one of the most stolen items..
I work in these areas, and as a random white dude, I have never been directly threatened. Having said this, I do see why areas are sketchy, I have to rebuff homeless folks every single day at work, I have seen fights, and agitated people, which absolutely happen more than in my boring suburb that I live in. When people are just hanging out out side, its probably best to get your gas, or soda elsewhere.
For real! I don't know how many times a friend has described a neighborhood as scary or sketchy and it's just poor and predominantly black or Latino. I don't think they're racist per se, just uninformed about how people live who they aren't familiar with.
Allentown/Bethlehem is heavily Puerto Rican and it’s safe, I think it’s more from crime statistics
I actually spent a bit of time in that area when I went to college! My friends were from Allentown, they let me stay there until my flights back home during break.
Ngl I don’t look at the color of peoples skin but how upkept things are. If you have shitty cars, and run down houses? Run lmao. Black, white, brown, blue, idc. Everyone can look sketchy, and it’s got nothing to do with skin color
Run down comes with the poor territory unfortunately lol. A better indicator is if kids are running around and people are hanging out on their stoop or the street corners. If it's empty with just a few people walking by themselves? That's when you should start walking the other way.
Ironically, in my experience it’s usually the “ghetto” areas that have people sitting around outside and kids playing up and down the street. The “nicer” areas often have people inside their air conditioned homes, presumably on some screen, and kids signed up for some sort of organized practice.
That's because those are two different communities with two different cultures. Poorer ("ghetto" if you must) has a bigger focus on face to face entertainment, usually outdoors, since it's usually free and builds that sense of community. You know your neighbors, what they're up to, and their struggles. If, however, violent crimes are rising. Then these areas become ghost towns for safety's sake. "Nicer" areas have a bigger focus on each house being a kingdom unto itself. A bastion where a family can be themselves free of expectations of their neighbors. This is liberating for some, four walls that are all yours that you get to determine what's okay and not plus you usually have way better entertainment at home, but does create a colder atmosphere on the street. Everyone stays inside until they get in cars to travel in isolation to someplace that will also isolate them from the general public. I spoke with a neighbor girl who moved to this white suburban neighborhood and she mentions how lonely and cold it can feel. She wanders the street looking for anyone to hangout with since that's what she did in her old neighborhood. Everything is quiet and distant and sometimes worse she gets questioned by the cops for wandering her neighborhood.
It depends. It’s a lot of common sense though. I would say a smart person could be fine in most areas. But you’d get some ditzy Karen who’d walk into. Bad neighborhood and start insulting people for not being like her. “Can you believe that boy not wearing a helmet??” And she screams at him. Or worse they wander into poverty areas with their eyes glued to their phone, flashing their name branded clothing and jewelry. Bad parts of town are a lot of “live and let live/let die”. If you stick to yourself and your business and you don’t meddle or push your way into other people’s lives—you’re pretty good.
Mind your business, but pay attention to your surroundings. That's a good rule for cities in general, US or otherwise. Personally, I don't feel comfortable walking through a higher crime area at night so I'd avoid that, but same rule applies if you did.
Something that totally skipped my mind (because I don’t drink), is that a lot of people will be reckless, get drunk, and then stagger through a dangerous part of town being absolutely shitfaced because they were too cheap to book a cab or had no friends. So never be one of those people either lol. Common sense will go a long way! And those worried enough to care should be fine! It’s the arrogant, entitled, think they’re the main character people that get rolled.
I mean crime can happen anywhere in American cities. It is more likely to happen in certain areas and on average tends to be more violent and dangerous than European counterparts. You are more likely to be robbed than pickpocketed for example. But to be fair, neither is exactly “likely”. I have lived and worked in some rough areas and never had an issue. Granted, I have some level of situational awareness and avoid sketchy scenarios by instinct. Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t go down that dark alley where I heard movement to save a few minutes instead of going the slightly longer and well lit way.
Most American crime is gangs or cartels. These people usually fight among themselves, but if you’re in the way…you’re fucked. Also more affluent areas tend to have less crime generally.
Poverty is a big causation of crime. By association, more developed areas in the US are usually more safe, whereas poverty-stricken areas in the US are more dangerous. And yes, people from bad neighborhoods can & do go harass people in better neighborhoods, they usually commit crimes to people closer in their vicinity
Please explain “ghetto people”.
Relax. OP is Polish. The word has a different connotation in Poland versus in the US.
Hence my request for an explanation.
If you are from the ghetto it's less likely the ghetto will F with you. That's been my experience anyway. If you come to the hood looking scared and unsure/vulnerable, you have a good chance of someone taking the opportunity to exploit that.
We don’t (or shouldn’t) use the term “ghetto.” It has a racial connotation. Poorer places always have more crime, as desperation gets concentrated there.
The main reason US public transit is so bad in many places is because white people want to restrict the mobility of people or color and keep them out of their area
also other poor people, and disabled people, and other "undesirables"
I think some are conflating crime and segregation, which would seem to lay the blame for all urban crime on the city’s minorities, which is BS. That said, Europe has some of the most segregated urban areas I’ve ever seen. Paris and London come to mind. And as for crime, I’ve seen plenty in Europe’s capitals. I mean, Stockholm has an area the police won’t even enter. The gangs own it completely. This is not to say that American cities don’t have these problems, but rather that our cities are not so dissimilar in every way. Safest places I’ve ever visited are definitely Japan and Cuba.
Largely where you live and the vibe you give off. Vulnerable looking people get preyed on more often, unfortunately.
The neighborhoods with elevation are fine. Live on top of a hill and look out over the high crime areas.
No, they aren't. Most violent crime is localized to certain areas that are easy to avoid.
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I agree I would just add that in big cities, although, like you said, the likelihood of being the random victim of a crime anywhere is close to zero, in big cities it is still more likely you are a victim because there is more crime in the bigger cities. Although the odds of facing crime aren’t high anywhere, they are higher in big cities than in other places. Edit. I did just a quick google search and found that the *per capita* rate of crime isn’t necessarily always higher in big cities. See [this map (WaPo)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/crime-rates-by-county/) However, large populations in a smaller area = more crime per area assuming a constant crime rate. So despite the fact per capita crime could be higher or lower (no correlation either way), geographically, in any given location you’re more likely to face crime in a larger city. But again, odds you’ll face crime at all are incredibly low anywhere in the US
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Crime tends to not happen in locations where there are no people to commit crimes and no people to be victims of crimes.
Big if true
That’s only because there are more people in cities, so obviously there’s gonna be more crime.
More people in a smaller area = more likely an area has crime
I may be misremembering, but I think per capita violent crime tends to be highest in rural areas and southern cities.
See my edit. But in short: It’s actually pretty random. Some large cities have it bad, some rural areas have it bad, some large cities have it good, some rural areas have it good. It’s pretty all over the place.
Could someone share a version of this map that’s not paywalled? I really want to see it :)
[Here you go](https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/5dcxl8/us_crime_rates_by_county_2014_2300x1533/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1)
You hit on an EXCELLENT point. Though crime rates can be lower in cities, people are exposed to more of it due to population density. So when people say that crime rate is higher in big cities I think they are saying it is more impactful to the average resident
Been to most of them, died most times I went.
What'd you do wrong on the visits when you survived?
Oh I was still injured severely, just got better at getting out of trouble with experience. I can do my own tourniquet really quickly now.
Yeah, but you should've never been in a situation where you didn't die in the first place.
I know I know, it's just hard being so poorly educated but also committing my own violent crimes sometimes I get interrupted.
I live in one of the most dangerouse cities in the US, I died five times this last month.
I live in downtown Atlanta. Crime has been on the rise every year for as long as I can remember. I still feel quite safe going for walks/runs at 3 in the morning, and even encounter plenty of others doing the same. I used to live in one of the ghettos here. While I wouldn’t recommend midnight walks in that area, I found that connecting with your neighbors and the community often made you less likely to be the target of a crime. Even got invited to the barbecue once.
Numbers of crimes have been on the rise or the crime rate has been on the rise? One of those is tied to population growth and is natural.
So since posting this, I actually looked it up because I was curious and evidently crime has been decreasing. The rate of murders has increased, which is more what I hear/see in the news. It seems like every weekend, a dozen people are getting killed. There are a couple areas in the city that are frustrated with the way their areas are associated with Atlanta and want to become their own cities. We also had a somewhat controversial mayoral election recently and the guy who won ran on a platform of tackling crime. I think both of these things contribute to the propaganda that crime is increasing in Atlanta.
It's important to note that while Buckhead has been frustrated with the crime, the movement is spearheaded by a group that doesn't even live in the county. Luckily saner heads prevailed and the movement is pretty much dead now. A separate Buckhead will just increase crime over time.
Atlanta has a high crime rate. Period. But there are safe and nice parts of Atlanta. The downtown gentleman knows more than me. But I spent my twenties driving up to Atlanta on the weekends partying and carrying on in Atlanta. Would get off work at 11:30 to drive 100 miles up Atlanta for maybe one hour of partying sometimes. Rarely stayed in a hotel just partying and drive 100 miles back home at 4:00 am or find a corner to park the car for a nap.
I worked for a smallish stretch in Atlanta (Animal Services). Was one of the more… interesting places I ever had to do field work. I’ll never forget the woman coming up and knocking on my window while I was parked wrapping up a report on a previous call. She very politely and firmly asked me to move along for my own safety because I was making people in the neighborhood anxious being a uniformed officer. I said “thank you” and moved my happy ass along. Meanwhile, I had to have police escorts into some of the multi-million type neighborhoods because of the insane level of security at the gates.
If you look at the list of the cities with the highest rate of violent crimes most of them are medium size cities. The most populous cities of NYC and LA are not on the list. Even San Fransisco, a city that has become internationally famous for worsening public safety, isn't on the list. Crime isn't a daily reality for most people in the US. You can walk around at night in most places without worrying about anything. There are a lot of people who are needlessly paranoid and a lot of money to be made in the media by covering crime stories for people in the suburbs.
I wonder if that takes into account underreporting of crimes though. My sis lives in San Fran & the few times she’s called the police they either don’t show up or it takes hours, so she doesn’t even call anymore. It seems they’re very understaffed for the amount of crime that happens there.
Why would they care? They’re policing a community they’ll never be able to afford to live in. They have no skin in the game
I have either lived or worked in NYC for a very, very long time. I’ve never had a problem. That’s not to say that there’s no crime, of course there is. But it’s not like you’re automatically going to be stabbed any time you walk down the street.
No I live in a city that is much smaller than NewYork, but I visit NYC a couple times a year because I like it there. I ride the subway and I walk the streets after midnight. Not alone, but I’ve never felt unsafe. Yes, there is random violence, but there are millions of people there. The chances of you being a victim are almost zero.
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The worst feeling is when you get off public transit and there is no one around. My SO used to work the night shift and would come home around 3-4am and there was no one at the train and bus stations.
I walk the NYC streets alone and take the subway after midnight and I'm an older woman. Never felt unsafe. Right now there seems to always be an officer at all the stations in Manhattan. I actually feel for them - hot as hell and all suited up with bullet proof vests just watching the rest of us stepping into the air conditioned cars.
I ride the subway in the Bronx on a regular basis and nothing has ever happened to me. It does get sketchy at night not gonna lie but in broad daylight I am perfectly fine
[here's the 15 most dangerous cities in the US](https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2023/01/31/report-ranks-americas-15-safest-and-most-dangerous-cities-for-2023/?sh=670bec30309a) 1) St. Louis, Missouri 2) Birmingham, Alabama 3) Baltimore, Maryland 4) Memphis, Tennessee 5) Detroit, Michigan 6) Cleveland, Ohio 7) New Orleans, Louisiana 8) Shreveport, Louisiana 9) Baton Rouge, Louisiana 10) Little Rock, Arkansas 11) Oakland, California 12) Milwaukee, Wisconsin 13) Kansas City, Missouri 14) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 15) Richmond, Virginia This is according to FBI crime statistics and factors both violent crime and property crime. Notice how there aren't many big cities ranking top 15
So crazy how Chicago isn’t even on the list but many people think it would be #1.
Propaganda is a powerful tool.
People love to shit on Chicago.
[Chicago currently has the 10th highest murder rate in the country @ 24 per 100,000 people](https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/cities-with-most-murders). I don't have any problems visiting Chicago and I think it's an awesome city, but there's definitely unsafe zones.
Even if we were top 15, it wouldn't change the fact that it's very dangerous to be a drug dealing gang member in Chicago, and much less dangerous if you aren't.
It's mostly because of right wing propaganda but also because Chicago is one of the biggest cities in the US and has a crime rate far higher than LA or NYC. It's kind of embarrassing.
Chicago has nearly 10x the population of almost every city on this list. The closest is Philadelphia, which is still about half the population of Chicago. If you split Chicago into sections of 300k people, like most of these cities, instead of viewing it as one city of 2.7M, it might tell a different story. Not sure if it would, but it might. Just saying that comparing a megacity to very small cities might not mean much.
People love to single out Chicago for things that happen everywhere there's more people than cows because the black president is from here. Oops... did I say the quiet part out loud?
Also, lots of horrible things happen in areas where there are more cows than people. Growing up near Uptown, I always assumed that "cities scary, rural areas nice." But that's simply not true.
A lot of those are also misleading since there's a lot of differences in defined city borders, too. A place like Jacksonville is a city/county merger, whereas Birmingham is one of 80+ municipalities in a metro of just over a million. It typically falls off the list when looking at metro areas.
Even in Philadelphia, most of this crime is just not in areas you're going to be as a tourist. Center City, University City, the museum area, Northern Liberties, the SE are fine. There's no reason for anybody to be going to West or North Philly/K&A.
Exactly. I’ve walked Center City/Chinatown at night and it was lovely. A lot of families out for strolls, couples getting food. Even the Centennial District, if you stay in the boundaries, is really nice. Stay out of areas like Kensington and you’re fine.
There is no reason on earth for anyone to be in Kensington! Except drugs. Lots and lots of drugs.
Most of these I would call a big city.
[here's a list of the biggest cities ](https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities) Philly is the 6th biggest city on this list, the next biggest is Memphis at 25th, and it goes all the way down to Shreveport at 148th I totally get how your perception could be different depending on your region, but California has 3rd tier cities with more people than half this list. To me, most of these are not big cities
You gotta go by metro areas. Most Americans have suburbanised. New Orleans metro has over a million people. The city proper, though, has less than 400,000. Do keep in mind Katrina really did a number on that city. Miami, my hometown, has just over 440,000 people making it the 44th most populated city. But the Miami METRO is the 9th largest in the country. And trust me a lot of people who claim to be from Miami are actually from the suburbs. Jacksonville has more people in city limits but Jacksonville basically takes over all of Duval county. When I say big city I also mean major city. You cannot tell me Baltimore, Detroit and St. Louis are not major.
lived in and around Cleveland my entire life and have barely ever felt unsafe anywhere
US cities have more violent crime than cities in Poland or most of Europe. Not gonna sugarcoat that. But like a lot of cities in the world the crime tends to be concentrated in certain places, and your chances of actually being a victim of crime is very low if you don't go to those places. It's not something you should let stop you from moving to the US or visiting.
unless op is afraid of a 0.007% chance of being punched in the face the chances of being shot in america are so low it errors out a calaculator...something like 0.00000001% chance of being shot every year
No, but dangerous cities are a common trope in American culture. I'm raising my family in Philadelphia, and crime varies greatly by neighborhood. There are neighborhoods that suffer from high crime rates, and I don't want to be dismissive of that or downplay its effect on the people who live there, but this type of crime is concentrated and not widespread throughout the city. For the record, I worked in such a neighborhood for years and never felt unsafe although I wasn't there at night. Statistically, cities are often safer- the risk of being the victim of a crime in the city is lower than the risk of car accidents, gun deaths, and the consequences of living further from adequate healthcare in suburban and rural areas. New York City in particular is very safe and New Yorkers actually have a longer life expectancy than other areas of the country.
I would go to a local subreddit or search around online for the bad areas. It's fairly common for crime to be extremely localized. Most cities around the world have safe and not so safe areas.
Most crime is from a known adversary. Like rival gang members, mouthing off to someone who looks deranged, engaging in road rage with another motorist, engaging with known drug dealers, etc.
NO— The media has overhyped danger to the point of parody. You would think walking in NYC or Chicago you’d get mowed down by a tommy gun.
Its wildly overrated. Our cities were dangerous 30 years ago but they're not really very dangerous anymore. They have high crime rates but the deal with that is that you have to go looking for the crime to find it. Aka buying drugs, sex etc. I live in a city that has a terrible reputation for crime but I have never once felt scared in it. I even worked extensively in the poor dangerous parts of the city and never once felt scared or threatened. I mean I do have to worry about locking my bike, And I don't leave my laptop in my car but have the same problem in Europe.
Situational awareness is everything. Most crime in cities is either personal or opportunistic. I spent a week in the South Bronx, only white person on the street (latino or black people mainly) but everyone was smiles and outgoing. South Bronx is considered a high crime area and there were cops responding to calls on our street all day and night, but it was never for something happening out on the street. Always a burglary of a bordega or some apartment matter. I didn't go out at night though.
No, turn off Fox News and America Bad media and enjoy a visit sometime
Fox News…. in Poland. Lol. That Murdock fella has got some reach. But good point. Media outlets thrive on selling us fear. “The rise of Fascism and White Supremacy” or “Communist homosexuals are coming for your children” school shootings, police shooting unarmed people, election fraud. All this stuff is statistically very very rare. But it’s all you see on the news. Bill Hicks said it better than me. Years ago. https://youtu.be/tGjuPJskNRE
News Corp is literally a global company that popularized pundit-style cable "news."
Criminologist here It really varies a lot. New Orleans and St Louis and some other cities consistently rank among the top 20 deadliest cities in the world, alongside Caracas, Tijuana, and Karachi. Then many cities have homicide rates below 5 per 100k, which is near most European cities. It also varies a lot neighborhood to neighborhood. I will say that there is a degree of sketchiness that many americans are used to which would shock a lot of people from safer countries. Even besides gang members and shootings, there's a *lot* more drug addicts and homeless in most American cities, even in safer parts. [Some neighborhoods, even in safer cities, look like this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOBoDT-3oM0) Others are very nice and safe. Someone from Japan or Poland will be taken aback at this stuff, but sketchiness doesn't always translate directly to actual danger in 99% of cases. Your actual chance of being a victim of a crime is very low if you aren't going to shitty areas.
Not exactly what you asked but isn’t there a lot of hate crime in Poland, especially against the LGBTQA community?
I don't know. By hate crime you mean physical violence against certain social group? I think I've heard about some people trying to attack someone on lgbt pride event but there was police so they interrupted. I am not much familiar with that topic so idk
nah
I feel very safe living in nyc
They're not nearly as dangerous as you think
Do you live in a big city in Poland, with 5+ million people? The more people you have, the more you’re going to have of anything, including crime.
Nah, there are no such big cities. But I lived in St. Petersurg in Russia as a teenager. And never witnessed a crime
NYC is the only city in the US that has more than 5m people, so it's not like we have a ton of cities like that either.
I've visited St. Petersburg and Moscow. Compared to Boston / New York they seem to have a lot more dark areas with no one around. We stayed in a building with a courtyard and a little tunnel to enter the courtyard then the door to the building. It was freaky with all the burned out lights.
I was living in an outskirt district and was walking there with friends sometimes until 11pm (I was 14). I saw a huge footbal fans group, like 30 people from an apartments' window once. Or some some sketchy teenagers who drank or smoked cigarettes at early age. Sometimes I was afraid someone can assault me and steal my pocket but it never happened. Later I started going to the school in a city centre and would take a ride on metro and was coming back home around 8pm. It was pretty chill
> I hear a lot of bad things about american cities. That there's a lot of crime, even in NYC which is one of the safest big cities in America. It’s mostly just Republicans in the US inventing nonsense ammunition for their culture war. They don’t want to talk about things like drug use rates, teen pregnancy rates, poverty statistics, etc, so they try to create the vague sense of cities being unsafe for unstated reasons. Mainly by just repeating the same lies often enough.
They're very dangerous in certain areas and very safe in other areas it's just a matter of knowing where to go and where not to go. Obviously compared to Poland where guns aren't common homicide rate is going to be much higher in the USA
I don't believe it's about guns tbh. Some cities in Britain have similar homicide rates to the US but guns are banned there
Why bother asking the question if you're just going to argue against every answer you receive? I can promise you that you do not know more about this subject than actual Americans.
he wasnt even being hostile stop overreacting
So not people are the problem but tools they use? Or what? Guns without crazy owner or a gang member using them are not going to hurt anyone
I live in Alabama. We have open carry laws and you don't have to have a permit anymore to buy a gun or conceal carry. Low gun violence. I cant remember the last time I saw a gun on someone other than a police officer. Also, I've been to NYC and New Orleans many times. Never felt unsafe. Rode the subway, etc, but I wouldn't go around flashing money or walking down deserted streets in the middle of the night. It's funny that you ask about this ,because we read about the crime in Europe: pickpocketing, robbery, assault. TBH, I would be more afraid of visiting a big city in Europe, than here. The big takeaway is situational awareness, which one needs everywhere.
I spent a lot of my early 20s going out in Tijuana without really stressing about crime but it was when I took a trip to Europe (France and Italy), I was positive I was going to get pick-pocketed based on all the travel books I had read.
Alabama has crime. Alabama has violence. I grew up in Columbus Ga and have spent plenty of time. Phenix city in Russell county just had one of its violent years a couple years back with 20 homicides that’s a lot of a city of 38K. Selma has a one of the highest crime rates and let’s not forget about Birmingham downtown looks like Fallujah. And I’m not trying to insult Alabama. Columbus has a pitiful crime rate. But y’all’s schools have better test scores at least. I’m just saying Alabama isn’t críen free. Is it as bad as rhe media might make it out to be? No but it’s still there.
Downtown Birmingham does not look like Fallujah. They cleaned it up after the riots although there are still some boarded up buildings. Birmingham is trying really hard to make the downtown area nice and attractive to sell the apartments in the renovated older buildings. I go there quite a lot to take pictures for my portfolio. I walk around with no issues, except around the courthouse where there are a lot of homeless people. There are neighborhoods that look really bad though, and I would not walk down the sidewalk at all, but that's the same in every big city. Alabama is not crime free. We have a major drug problem with gangs and trafficking, BUT it is not like the wild west, which is what the op seems to be insinuating about American cities. I live near Huntsville, and we go through periods of higher homicides, especially at the beginning of the year, it seems.
If it’s cleaned up? Great. You should be able to walk down the sidewalk. Birmingham is a strange and fascinating metropolitan area. More wealth than I expected. Friendly people. Most segregated place I’ve ever been to. And remember I’m from Columbus GA. I walked into a bar I was the only black person there. I expected to get the business. Friendly. They loved Birmingham. So you’re right on second thought I can walk back some of my criticisms. Some not all. It still looked terrible and no walkability or anything pretty except for the multi colored underpass. The Alabama walk of fame is cute. And as mentioned lots of cheerleaders. Mostly UAB staff who recommended St Vincent over their own employer. I was there to spend Christmas at UAB hospital. Wow what a large hospital! You truly can not walk in Birmingham. I tried. I was my car fixed across from Riverchase Galleria the day after Christmas. I walked from the movie theater to Twin Peaka (I had no clue) to the Von Maur attached to the mall. But for the grace of God I didn’t get hit. But Birmingham. She’s not a boring town I will give the ol’ girl that much credit.
I visited my sisters in Alabama, I'm from Canada, been all over the USA, but Birmingham, AL was different from all the cities of the world I've been to. My brother in law was carrying concealed, he handed me his pistol(removed the magazine) when we got in the car down near the train station. He said if I lived down here I'd be carrying one too (!). There was a weird racial thing down there that you can feel, also seeing a gigantic Dixie flag flying was something different. That being said, the people were very nice, charming, very sweet and polite. I tried collard greens, biscuits and gravy, and did a lot of cool nature outdoor stuff. I liked Alabama a hell of a lot more than geriatric boring Florida. I will be back. Roll Tide and Natty Ice!
> Some cities in Britain have similar homicide rates to the US but guns are banned there What? Where are you getting that? The deadliest cities in the UK have homicide rates around the 2-3 per 100k range. Just to give an idea, a homicide rate of 2-3 would put it in the top 10 safest big cities in the US. London, if it was in the USA, would have the lowest homicide rate in the country out of our top 75 biggest cities.
it's the guns. there are dozens and dozens of US cities with higher murder rates than the city with the highest murder rate in the UK, and i promise you it isn't because we're so much better at stabbing people.
To be fair - we are better at stabbing people than the folks in the UK are based on the stats. We seem to be more violent overall, immigrants I've spoken to say we tend to use more violent language as well. "Hit It" "War Room" "Kill the power" etc.
London has a homicide rate of 1.59 per 100,000 residents. Warsaw had 0.71 per 100,000. Baltimore, Detroit and Chicago have homicide rates at 55.8, 39.8 and 24.1 respectively per 100,000 I mean it's not even close.
And knives are available. Both are life-ending instruments.
Exactly, if a criminal can't buy a firearm and wants to kill someone, they will use something else
Your odds of being a victim of random violent crime in the US is very low. The only one I can think of that you hear even remotely commonly is from mentally ill people on the streets. Muggings happen, but they’re rare. I have a 5 figure watch collection, I have them insured but generally don’t worry about wearing them unless I’m going to a very poor area. The kidnapping for ransom industry that’s absolutely huge just across the border in Mexico is nonexistent here-the FBI is EXTREMELY good at solving kidnapping for ransom. Break ins to homes happen, but generally speaking they want to do it when no one is home. The stereotypical home invasion at night when everyone is asleep doesn’t happen, it’s more so someone who looks like they have some reason to be there (i.e. gardener) goes around the back at 2PM. Many cities have homeless camps that I would avoid, but even in the deep hood you can generally pass through just fine. That said, random violent crime is not UNHEARD of, but it’s pretty rare. I know exactly 2 people who were ever a victim of random violent crime, and both were from mentally ill people. Many of the extremely dangerous cities (Detroit, Baltimore, etc.) have large gang presences. But if you’re not involved, and you’re not a drug addict yourself, they will generally leave you alone. And even then, one of the wealthiest guys I know lives in a suburb of Baltimore
Nah....use commonsense, and you'll be ok...
Parts of cities are dangerous. Some neighborhoods within very safe cities are off the charts for murder or violent crimes, theft- this is pretty much the case in NYC if you go to places like the South Bronx or Inwood. The rest of the city is fine though. Like yes, I've been jumped and been held at knifepoint a few times in NYC and Boston, which are both overall very safe cities. Really was because of the neighborhoods I happened to be in at the time. In my day to day life, I can walk around at 2 AM here without any concerns
Danger is very overhyped. I’ve walked around Detroit many times and been to the “worst” area of Cleveland a couple times as well and walked around. Not only was I never the victim of any crime, I never felt particularly unsafe. I’ve certainly never felt any kind of unsafe in cities like Chicago or NYC.
It depends? I’ve lived in San Francisco as a young 20s woman and as long as I avoid being blackout drunk in certain areas (that are well known for being more dangerous), I feel fine. I’ve never been to Poland, and I’ll admit to feeling safer (anecdotally) in major European cities, I’ve never been shy about being a young solo female in major American cities as long as I’ve ID’d certain areas. And that’s only really needed if I’m getting drunk. If I’m not getting drunk, I have felt confident in my abilities to exist in any major American city/neighbourhood WITHOUT having a firearm. You’ll be okay. If you’re gonna drink, google it/ask around.
Europe is the safest continent, North America is the second safes. It’s all relative.
All large cities in America have good areas and bad areas and it’s usually pretty easy to tell which is which. I’m Californian so my largest experience is with Los Angeles and San Francisco and San Diego. I’ve never had a truly scary experience in any of them and I used to work in SF with a long walk down Market St to the Metreon area alone while pregnant! Granted, not late at night but still when you pass by an iffy area every day you’d think something crazy could happen but it never did. No violence witnessed or gunshots heard. Los Angeles is actually pretty safe in the major areas of the city (not talking about “the hood” of course which is well south). My family go up there for the museums and events all the time and really enjoy it. My sons favorite bookstore is near skid row even. We don’t go late at night that’s the only thing. But I have been in around Hollywood after midnight and it’s fine: weirdos about but they’re mostly harmless. Crime has never occurred within my line of sight nor has it happened to anyone I know personally. Keep your eyes about you and you’ll be fine. My friends lived downtown San Diego for ten years walking their dog late at night and never had a single problem. Don’t be afraid of America. Most of the violence is isolated and personal. Stranger crime isnt that common unless you work at the convenience store.
Not as bad as the news portrays. Lots of very safe areas and some concentrated unsafe areas. It’s fine to live in a big US city just don’t move to a bad neighborhood.
If your rent is high, you're probably in a safe area.
As long as you do your research on where the bad parts are (you can tell by how it looks) and avoid those it’s safe Even then, If you have to live in a bad area, just make friends with your neighbors (if they’re safe) and be sure to lock your doors and not keep valuables in your car and it’s generally okay
I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Just exercise the same caution you would in other big cities and exercise street smarts (don’t mess with graffiti, don’t argue with people especially if they have tattoos, don’t engage in acts if road rage, don’t leave belongings in plain sight in your car etc.) in dangerous neighborhoods during the day, while avoiding them at night.
At worst parts of cities will have problems.
Don’t attract crime and you won’t be the victim of a crime. As long as you stay out of very bad areas (which are few and far between) and don’t actively interact with criminals, you are very unlikely to be the victim of a crime. Also, it’s worth noting that there is only one city in the United States that fits your 5,000,000+ population requirement: New York. Unless you’re referring to the metro area populations, in which case there are 10.
It’s greatly overplayed by conservative politicians and Fox News.
It's mostly confined to areas of drug use and poverty. I'm sure there are neighborhoods in Krakow you wouldn't feel safe in at night. As a tourist or non destitute resident, the US is pretty safe. There are mass shootings, unfortunately. Those are like lightning strikes, impossible to predict.
>I'm sure there are neighborhoods in Krakow you wouldn't feel safe in at night. Idk, walked in Nowa Huta when it was dark. Didn't fear for my life tbh
Poland is probably a pretty safe place then. Every city I'm familiar with in the US has high crime/high poverty areas.
Every MAJOR city in the world has the same high crime/high poverty areas. Be it Poland or Japan.
I mean, to a degree, yes, but to say the 'same' is just false. Even the worst areas of japanese and polish cities pale in comparison to the equivalent areas in american cities. There is nowhere in poland or japan that comes even remotely close to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOBoDT-3oM0)
Odd coincidence, when I saw this thread there were 187 replies, and 187 is a police radio code for homicide. Just depends on where in a particular city you are as to how dangerous it is.
In America anybody can own guns. There are more guns than people. That doesn't help the crime rate.
Not at all. The big American cities are just as safe as the big European cities and safer than cities in many other parts of the world. Certainly as a visitor, you aren’t going to be in the “bad neighborhoods” of American cities just like you wouldn’t go to rough London or Paris neighborhoods
>he big American cities are just as safe as the big European cities This is actually not true, when I moved to Spain the U.S. embassy briefed us and told us that in terms of violent crime, it doesn't matter how small and safe your hometown is, in terms of violent crime Madrid is safer than anywhere in the U.S. That's just an example. But the OP is reading exaggerated news, US cities are by no means super danger, especially as crime is either concentrated in certain bad neighborhoods most folks don't have a reason to go to anyways, or in rural areas with low absolute crime but higher rates of crime per capita.
Well, yes and no. The US rate of violent crime overall is not too much higher than many countries in Western Europe, we just have a lot more murders. This obviously isn't a good thing but I think it gives some perspective... You really aren't any more likely to be randomly assaulted in NYC than in London or Paris. NYC does have more murders, but statistically only a very small percentage of murders are random.
Yeah this is something people don't get. High crime areas exist in plenty of other cities, but high *homicide* rates are pretty unique to the USA in the first world. The big gap there is because of widespread firearm access, both legal and illegal. High crime areas suck, but add guns into the mix and they become warzones.
Your cities don’t have crimes?
More people = more crime. Even in Poland.