It'a not always that easy. A former friend of mine was murdered outside his apartment. According to onlookers, a man was beating a prostitite bloody outside my friend's apartment. My friend rushed out to protect her, and the man stabbed him in the stomach. I heard nobody ever identified the murdered. Would you stand by while a woman is beaten to a pulp outside your home? ... Another guy I knew was murdered at a fake Craigslist pickup. Both of these were in central Houston, Texas. I don't think either person was choosing to live that dangerously. If you are around that crap it may be hard to always avoid it. Mostly.. not always...
@@petromondo1332 In Portland OR three men had their throats slashed for defending two black muslim high school girls from a crazy racist guy on the train (two men died but the youngest survived, the attacker fled up the stairs onto the overpass and into a nearby neighborhood but was chased down by people from the train after it was stopped, local racist gangs showed up to his trial to brag about how he did nothing wrong and it was all self defense all while they wore black docs with red laces) sometimes being the better person gets you killed but rest assured that society does not accept that as a correct answer, most people want nothing bad to happen and the more of us who act to prevent bad things from happening, the better. People stepped in between the victims of harassment and became victims of assault/murder, if people had accepted that then he would’ve gotten away with it but people intervened and he was held accountable in a court of law. I’m glad that car was packed with people and I’m glad they didn’t act like it was normal behavior and ignore it to not make a fuss. I think the city didn’t make the killer, he would’ve killed anyone in any small town who offended him by stopping his harassment, he only got stopped because he was in the city in broad daylight IMHO (speaking as someone who missed being on that car by a matter of hours, I had to take the bus and questioned why so many police were at that station)
As someone who lives in the suburbs of St. Louis, this video is a godsend. I can't tell you how many times I hear my fellow suburbanites either bad mouthing downtown, or bad mouthing another American downtown, while rarely, if ever, visiting either. Resulting in a warped perspective which wrongfully keeps people and investment from flowing to the central core. I'm happy to report however that downtown St. Louis is seeing a lot of development and attention right now. Especially on the city's north side, which has been historically disinvested in for decades. I like to think that this change is partly because of videos like this which show people the importance of not judging a book by it's cover, especially when it comes to a whole city. Thanks for the awesome content and keep up the good work!
I have a friend who lives in the St. Louis suburbs and I looked at a couple homes for her. I took a glance at some of the housing downtown and was loving what you can get compared to even the cheaper NY metro area suburbs.
Honestly, some of the people from the suburbs think that the Central West End is a death trap. If that's their definition of dangerous urban area, then there's a lot of work that needs to be done to change someone's mind.
Yeah, exactly. I'm from Buffalo, and I've noticed that there's a big overlap in the Venn diagram between people people who are the most melodramatically scared of the city and people who haven't actually been to the city more than a handful of times in the last 30 years.
The downtowns tend to be fine. It's the areas just outside the downtown (not the suburbs but the area between the city and the suburbs) that tend to be trashy. East St Louis being a perfect example of such a place
@@AdamSmith-gs2dv that's a gross oversimplification. You're probably right for the most part but I'm sure there are some nice neighborhoods in St Louis outside of downtown. And there's also some suburbs that you might consider "trashy."
Many people shun Mexico City because of the country’s general reputation and the aversion to big and dense places, but any visitor could tell you that safety really depends on the neighborhood and even the streets within neighborhoods. Cities are complex and generalizing can prevent us from seeing the bigger picture. Great video.
And my god it’s Mexico City! One of the great metropolises! To act as if it’s a war zone is just blinkered prejudice against cities (and maybe brown folks as well).
I visited some very obviously "safe" areas of CDMX, but I also went to a lot of areas of town that were warned against in the research I did beforehand. Not to minimize it because maybe I was fortunate, but I could never figure out where the "dangerous" part was. There are too many people around all the time who are just busy living their lives. It's like NY that way.
Please citynerd, I live in NYC and people that don't live here think NYC is a high crime city when on a per capita basis its one of the safest cities in the country. I would rather that they think NYC is a high crime city, its hard enough getting theatre tickets as it is.
Superb video as always. I visited Chicago for the first time a few months ago and was blown away by how clean, relatively safe, and beautiful most of the city is.
As a native Chicagoan, thank you! It's a beautiful, clean and affordable city with so much to do. The media tends to only show you the gang warfare that happens in and unfortunately controls about 10% of the city's neighborhoods. The rest of the city is spectacular, with each neighborhood having its own feel and distinctions from the others. Not to mention (since it's CityNerd's channel), it's incredibly cheap and easy to get almost anywhere in the city via L train, bus, bike or by walking.
@@NickWojcicki I visited for six days just to check it out for myself. I enjoyed exploring the various neighborhoods, music and culture immensely. The weather in March was sunny and mild, while it was raining every day in Seattle where I'm from. And a 7 day L pass for $20 is unreal. Chicago is totally underrated in my opinion.
@@jazzcatjohn The funny thing is having grown up in Chicago all I heard about was how expensive everything was, high taxes, corrupt politicians, high crime etc. I agree after living all over the country it is pretty nice compared to most other cities.
I live here. Moved here 4 months ago. Chicago is beautiful clean and safe. It is NOTHING like the media portrays it not even close. Living here is fucming amazing and I came from a real hell hole.... florida. Never moving back
This is such a well presented and important episode. You'll get flak from the haters, but your data-driven analysis of this important issue is very enlightening. Also, great tips at the end.. "Don't be in a street gang." Excellent advice.
A lot of "data-driven" analysis (think data driven policing) is what he's arguing against in this video. This is looking at the data, asking if it holds a certain meaning, and deciding it doesn't.
My friends from high school who were in street gangs we're easily making upwards of 120K a year selling mysterious powders and stinky flowers. I make 35k a year in my late 30s. They also got a lot more women than I ever did. Of course half of them are dead but hey not everyone is satisfied with being alive are they?
As a. victim of a stranger violent crime in a city neighborhood with low violent crime, I appreciate this video so much.! It wasn’t the city’s fault for the crime but I think it resulted in better crime prevention and victim care than my rural town upbringing would have provided. It’s been hard to connect the dots and vocalize this. I hope we as a society can look at all of this at a deeper level than “city crime stats.”
Let me tell you how nice it is, as someone who lives in the larger St. Louis metro area, that an urbanist regularly mentions my community and not only mentions its problems but also the really great things about this city. Keep up the great work like seriously. This video put into words feelings I sort of felt for a long time but couldn't articulate clearly myself.
I lived in downtown Chicago for a year after college. My family was terrified and texted me weekly about news they heard and constantly feared for my safety. It was literally the best year of my life. Chicago is amazing
"Chicago is amazing." SHHH! You'll stir up the haters; they're amazingly ubiquitous. Also, some of them are incredibly powerful (e.g., A.B.C., N.B.C., C.B.S., Fox News, C.N.N., Hollywood, etc.). Writing that "Chicago is amazing" makes them absolutely boil with a seething, insatiable hatred! "My family was terrified...and constantly feared for my safety." Does your family live in an auto-dominated area (like 95% of the U.S.)? If so, perhaps we should be afraid for them. Estimated Number of Auto-Crash Deaths (2021): 42,915.
ya I thought Chicago was cool until l got jumped. Context matters though it was late at night and it was along the riverwalk which wasn't illuminated greatly. But I can't really look at the city the same way ever again 😂.
Great point on granularity in crime data. I purchased my starter home in an urban neighborhood with some elevated crime statistics. I just so happened to purchase this home next to a mismanaged apartment complex, and there was a lot of seedy foot traffic outside my home, including open drug deals, fights, people on substances, and sex workers. Plus there were a couple times people died next door from gun shots. My car was broken into once. I lived in this home for a dozen years because I liked the neighborhood/neighbors with the exception of a few pretty bad tenants in this apartment complex. Despite many unsavory types who lived there, many of the residents of the apartments were good people. After my second child, my family needed more space, and we moved less than a mile away in the same neighborhood. The difference in safety was substantial. Most foot traffic is either children playing in the street, or people going on nice walks. There's a tangible difference in my stress levels when I'm in front of my house because I'm no longer worried about witnessing something bad. It's absolutely stunning how localized crime can be, and I'm glad you brought up the issue. Even one apartment complex can drag down the safety statistics of an entire neighborhood. Move over one block, and it's an entirely different feel. Changing topics, I'm about to throw you an idea for a video. I wonder which areas have increased their walkability score. Whether it's a neighborhood, city, or metro area, what sort of steps were implemented to increase that score, an what are some consequences of those changes? Maybe find areas with the biggest delta in walkability score over a 5-year period? Thanks for all the amazing videos!
Totally can relate to you in many ways! Not long ago I spent a period homeless, and while there were unsavory types at the shelter where I stayed, interestingly enough I was pretty much treated like a son lol! (A lot of individuals were older than me). In other words they looked out for me and would generally jump to my defense if anything happened. That doesn’t mean I was reckless. But it certainly opened my eyes a little and made me think twice about judging an area (or individuals) based on reputation. If that make sense?
It's definitely like that in my city as well. One block can look trashed, and a few streets away is amazing. People often don't realize how different neighborhoods can be block to block, but then again that's what keeps the best spots for the locals.
exactly. When we use more granularity on statistical data it shows cities aren't dangerous per se, just the areas with lots of brown people. Gun ownership isn't dangerous per se, just when lots of brown people have them.
CITY NERD FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGES ALBUQUERQUE! My day has been made. We talk about the subject of this video all the time in my house. That high crime area you identified is known to locals as “The War Zone”. The city has attempted to rebrand it as “The International District”. It might be a high crime area, but it does have bomb Vietnamese food.
Another Burqueño here to say that violent crime is not the problem many think it is! The areas highlighted have some places that are not especially dangerous, but for the most part people only go there if they need something. Downtown and the War Zone both also have large homeless populations with high drug use, which seems to contribute to the violent crime. If you stay on the major thoroughfares and avoid the encampments (like the ones near the railroad tracks), you're unlikely to encounter any violent crime. Park in maintained garages. Spend a little extra time walking on major streets instead of taking the most direct route. Don't go to the area late at night. And, as much as it pains me to say it, avoid public transit outside of peak hours.
STL resident of a streetcar suburb and I have been telling people for years that STL has had a biased crime ranking because we don't get to include any of the suburbs in our population. Due to the great divorce of the city and the county in 1876 the city limits have never changed and this causes 90% of the population to not included in that FBI crime report 100k to the very high end. It was really cool to see you compare our city area to another though. Love your videos!
I still have the screenshot my english friend sent me when I moved to Glasgow saying "Glasgow is the murder capital of Western Europe" and I've lived here for 3 years now, neither me nor any of my friends have been murdered, assaulted with weapons, harmed or threatened criminally in any way.
"Haven't been murdered" is probably a lower bar than I would use to determine safety, but congratulations on your continued survival in the St. Louis of western Europe!
yep, I've lived in various cities in 3rd world asian countries and have only been mugged once. It just comes down to avoiding certain areas, and taking precautions if you do need to go to the wonderful bars and restos in those 'ghetto' areas.
One of the best ways to stay safe in your city is to learn it. Crime generators are places where there is a high volume of people moving through it, such as stadiums, malls, and city centers, while crime attractors are places where there's opportunity to commit crime. Places where there's lots of drug use or street prostitution are examples, as are problematic bars or strip clubs. If a crime attractor becomes prolific, criminals from other areas will move to the city to make use of those places. Areas where there's a high rate of resident turnover also have higher risk of crime, as people are not around long enough to form bonds with the area and consequently, there is no informal means of control to prevent crime, especially with juveniles. Neighborhoods where lots of people immigrate to can be susceptible to this in particular. When you evaluate crime rates before you move somewhere, be aware of the modifiable areal unit problem. When you aggregate crime incidents into polygons, the shape of the polygon can radically change the rates of crime and be extremely misleading. Look at NeighborhoodScout for your current city, for example. Do the polygons they use for aggregation mix housing type? do they cross rivers, major roads, and mix land density? If the answer is yes, then the data you're looking at is likely very skewed. The data reported to the FBI is also changing from UCR to NIBRS. NIBRS collects much more information and is in general, better (in my opinion). Despite this, adoption of NIBRS is very slow, and somewhat limited, especially among large departments so data you're looking at may be outdated. Spatial distribution and rates have changed in some places since the pandemic, and this is important to keep in mind.
This is exactly the kind of perspective needed on crime rates! But to go further we should probably also think about how walkability impacts those. There's a Rebecca Watson video about how dogs increase safety from crime, not from the dogs themselves (this even works with small dogs no one is afraid of), but from more social neighborhood and more people out walking. Also, when I check the crime rate maps with neighborhood breakdowns for place I've lived, it's not the dense urban core that's got the highest crime typically, it's poor neighborhoods, often even single family home dominated, while the least crime prone neighborhoods are in rich areas (or around college campuses). Which reinforces that crime is heavily driven by poverty. But of course a single anecdote and we're supposed to ignore all of that. Except that I have multiple people I know from traditional, car dependent suburbs (with HOAs no less) who experienced serious violent crime (like armed robberies or drive-bys) and who lived in very cop-friendly (and even right-wing) jurisdictions. And I've never once experienced that living in poorer areas of my city all my life. So if a personal story is supposed to override all data, car dependent suburbs are clearly crime-ridden hell-holes.
I don't know if there's an aspect of urban life that causes more people to shut off critical thinking skills and instead embrace anecdote and prejudice. It's this one issue. It's so maddening. How do you get through to data-resistant people?
Coming from Johannesburg, a high crime city, the idea is that criminals come to wealthy areas to commit crimes. Why risk it stealing a crappy car or a cracked screen phone in your local area when you could steal a BMW and $1k iPhone in the suburbs?
There is crime in all types of neighborhoods, urban, suburban, rural. It's just the nature of the crimes change by location, and the level of accurate reporting and investigation. The data only describes so much. There are situations where all the book knowledge and statistics are not going to help you, that is where a thing called 'street smarts' come in to play. One really has to become familiar with the specific neighborhoods, if one is not well aware of their surroundings, and taking appropriate precautions, they are at greater risk, wherever they are. Some of the scariest neighborhoods I have been in were way out in the middle of nowhere.
Great way to debunk the general rates and the problems with how media covers crime. Remember, most violent crime is inside your social network, so stop being friends with murderers! Ghost them before they make a ghost out of you!
@@AbstractEntityJ Might be worth a career change and relocation, even if that involved a lot of work and other sacrifices. Also, consider a state where having a gun *on you* during an argument is much less likely.
The moment I realised how people perceived urban crime was when I was living in Vermont. I was in Burlington, the largest coty in the state which isn't very large at all, most places would call it a medium sized town. And yet when I talked to people in other parts of the state, they'd talk about Burlington the same way I'd heard people talk about Chicago or Detroit, fully expecting that I was regularly mugged or shot at or burgled. This was on top of a growing skepticism after recently visiting Chicago, where everyone I'd talked to had given me many warnings to be on my toes and expect murderers on every street corner, and It... was lovely and I had a lovley time. Ever since I've been taking urban crime talk with a grain of salt
Can confirm the ridiculous claims of violent crime in Burlington. There was like, 2 shootings and 1 carjacking in Burlington, and it's reported as though the place is completely lawless and going down the tubes.
Thank you for your video! From an ABQ Metro Resident, Albuquerque is an extremely underrated city, with a culturally diverse population. We have reputations, not only from others around the country, but from our own residents and expats that tear apart the communities. I agree with the fact that large cities have a lot of space, are diverse, and everything changes when you are looking at one part compared to others. I look forward to seeing more Albuquerque mentioned in your future videos! - Christian, a long time follower!
Thank you so much for telling the truth on Chicago! I have loved this city all my life, and have always been proud to be a Chicagoan. We get such a bad reputation that we truly haven't earned.
Been here 4 months. Came from florida. Im never leaving. Chicago is beautiful and amazing and no less safe than anywhere in florida. Florida is a real hell hole of hell like heat and god awful boringness with nothing to see
>We get such a bad reputation that we truly haven't earned. I'm sure writing from the far northern part of it. I can guarantee you aren't living by Washington Park.
@@zandercruz3487 Albany Park, but thanks for the assumption. I didn't say there wasn't violent crime, of course there is. And I've had shootings on the corner or in the alley of EVERY apartment I've lived in here. But every politician holds us up as this massive cesspit of violence and we are not.
@@davegonzalez2140 >Albany Park, but thanks for the assumption That.....that's literally at the far north part of the city, dude. Like I said. >And I've had shootings on the corner or in the alley of EVERY apartment I've lived in here. >Also you: It's not massively violent. We have a reputation that isnt fair! Ooooooohkay.
Thank you for making this video, you hit all the points I’ve been telling people about city size vs crime per capita. I live in the suburbs of STL and the city limit is small and historic. Other cities that annex like hell reduce their crime per capita instantly. KC for example is over 400 sq mi. of city limits vs STL’s city limits of 66 sq mi.
I live in the Lou :] I find it very telling that even though K.C. is so much larger geographically than StL, it is still one of the most statistically violent cities in the nation. Springfield and Columbia (the other 2 relatively large cities in MO) have high crime rates now too!. The Missouri state government needs to wake up to how poorly our state is performing!
Yeah, I had an urge to talk about STL more but I feel like I've banged the drum on that in other videos and I wanted to give a city I don't talk about much (ABQ) a chance to "shine" (it's all relative).
St. Louis has not been able annex anything for 80 plus years because they (stupidy) divested themselves from St. Louis county in the 1890s. They are still the same 64 sq miles they have been for almost a century. The leaders at the time thought no one would ever want to live so far out and they didn't want to pay for services that far out. Bad idea!
Suggestion for a halloween video: largest urban graveyards, or the most graveyard-heavy cities. Would like to hear what you think of graveyards as land use.
Ha, I live in Albuquerque’s #4 on that list and work in #5. I hear a lot of “popping” noises day and night, and have long since learned not to ask questions, and just hope I make it to work and home every day
Great video -- the urban experience of crime really is granular in the US, I'm glad to hear you discuss that in such detail. In some cities it's what block you're on or even just who your next door neighbors are. There are also inequality and public policy differences that do make a noticeable difference from state to state. It's my gut feeling from living a lot of different places that places with a better and more accessible social safety net tend to have lower rates of serious crimes. There is also a big difference in gun culture and rural crime from state to state. You're right, that's mostly involving people who know each other and at much lower rates of injury or death than most risk factors to people.
Can you talk about what maybe some US cities are currently doing something to become more walkable. In other words, Is the US becoming more walkable, something like that would be the topic
Good idea. I’d be interested in hearing about the less discussed cities. Everyone knows the steps that cities like Seattle are talking to become more urbanist but I wonder if there are cities that fly under the radar.
Having moved from the very walkable Boston to stroad strewn DC area, I often ponder this. The distances are too far to conveniently bike and astronomically too far to walk. I just don't see how we can bring businesses and people together.
Thank you so much for this. It's how I would explain it if I didn't get so emotional about this issue. Something I have wondered, too: is domestic violence under-reported in the suburbs? If no one can hear you scream, who would call the cops? You can't hide a murder rate, but your "dad advice" spoke to much of that. People watch serial killer shows on TV and teach them "stranger danger". Meanwhile, women and children should rationally fear those closest to them.
Yeah, I didn't want to say it directly because it's triggering, but that's what's in a lot of the data about who commits violent crime and who the victims are, and why the reporting is inconsistent. Thanks for the comment.
"women and children should rationally fear those closest to them" no, not really? Family crime mostly doesn't just happen randomly out of the blue, people in abusive households are usually very aware of their situations but don't know how to escape. People who are in healthy households shouldn't just start fearing for their lives because "well the stats say so". That's the same fallacy that was addressed in the video: using broad data to judge a more specific area.
Where I live, people call the police when they don't hear gun shots (zoned for 1 residence per 5 acres, and surrounded by private and state timberland). It is not uncommon to see a cougar or coyote walking through the neighborhood. There are also occasional bear sightings. So if domestic violence could be under reported in a suburban area, why couldn't the murder rate also be under reported, especially in a rural area? A couple hundred pounds of meat dropped at the back property line would be gone in a day or two. And that doesn't even account for anyone who has a few pigs.
@@NihongoWakannai I don’t think Emiline Bee is saying people in healthy households should randomly start fearing for their lives. Emiline is just saying that if you’re a woman or a child, even in a “safe” suburban setting, you’re statistically most likely to experience violence from someone very close to you, and it might be underreported because of the nature of the suburbs. Those two ideas are not the same, and the latter does not automatically imply the former. It might be only 2% of suburban women who experience violent crime, but A) it’s likely to be intimate partner violence, and B) maybe only a quarter of that 2% gets reported, because of how suburbs work.
@@onepetalleft The point is that you can't frame domestic violence as simply a statistical chance. If 2% of women experience domestic violence, that doesn't mean you have a 2% chance of experiencing it in your household. Just like if there is a 2% chance of experiencing a violent crime in a particular city, doesn't mean you have a 2% chance of experiencing it in your neighbourhood and your social circle. Teaching stranger danger is definitely more important than teaching kids "Be afraid of your father who has been kind to you for your entire life because statistics say so" Wariness of the people around you is a measure taken to prevent random crime. Domestic violence is rarely a random crime, so wariness does not help. Victims of domestic violence are almost never surprised that they were victimised, they just don't know how to escape.
Seems like you're doing pretty well in recovering from COVID, which I'm glad to see! Thanks for tackling this topic, it's definitely a complicated and touchy subject, but it's one that bears discussing.
From that FBI chart along with Arguments, Robbery is another leading factor in violent deaths. So, I guess I have learned NOT to argue with a burglar especially if they are pointing a loaded gun at me. BTW…this exact situation happened to me in my front yard one night. I did not get killed, but he also did not get my wallet. I did have to go to the ER because he pistol whipped me twice. That cost $400. I also missed 2 days of work and was interviewed on local news for holding my ground. My wife said not to act that way again. I agree. We live in a fairly safe neighborhood in inner city Houston, so this event was caused by an individual robber that just randomly showed up and started terrorizing our elderly citizens. Thanks for all your research…and no, we did not move to the suburbs. from David in Urban Houston.
The big reason so many people fear monger over crime (especially in the suburbs) is because the media heavily stigmatizes it. Now of course it is a news stations job to report crime to the public, but then there are articles that explain how dangerous cities are (such as the ones you showed in this video) that cause people to freak out. One thing I have noticed is that people care so much about crime, but then almost completely ignore how many car crashes happen every day. Some other UA-camrs have covered this and show that you are more likely to get into a car accident than being involved in a violent crime. Now for me, that’s a reason to make our cities less car dependent, but for now, this just shows that you should live life to the fullest as bad things are going to happen, but you shouldn’t just shelter up in your home living life in fear.
I've been to many of the cities at the top of the list - it's usually very clear when you've left the relative safety of the city-wide crime median area. Most cities are kind enough to put a few blocks of pawn shops, liquor stores, and boarded up former businesses between the walkable parts of the city and the areas that the city council have written off as lost causes, no longer worth investing in. Even then, people tend to radically misunderstand per capita statistics. If you find yourself in the most questionable part of the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, most shootings happen between 10pm and 2am, and as noted in the video, between people who have some sort of prior relationship. The "random violence" that so many people seem to fear is still measured in two digits per hundred thousand, the vast majority of which are not against strangers nor during daylight hours. If you're not in a gang or into drugs or into picking fights at bars or clubs, violent crime rates in cities are statically insignificant from the rates in suburban and rural areas. Of course, if you pick a fight in a rural biker bar, you can save yourself a trip to the city.
Checking in from ABQ/ central NM and have lived happily in multiple neighborhoods on this list. Thanks for making this @CityNerd! Love your channel even tho I'm actually from a tiny NM town of 250 people. The juxtaposition in this city is irreplaceable; sometimes you can find half million dollar homes a block from some ghetto apartments. For me it was especially true when I lived in a duplex in the Far SE Heights between these two types of dwellings. Nob Hill is literally next to "the war zone" aka SE Primary. That's a really eye opening experience a lot of places don't have. You can probably create a pt. 2 on how our lack of EFFECITVE transport infrastructure & urban sprawl contributes to the insane ammount of DUI related crime there is here. Murders may grab headlines however these are truly the actual type of preventable crime that affects us in this city. They make it hard to get a beer in Nob Hill after 9:30p cause our most functional bus line shuts down after that. Only options left are drive back to the far SE heights or budget more for rideshare fares (not getting a beer is not a feisable option lol). Garbage! For the record when you grow up in some of these areas not joining a street gang is sometimes harder than it sounds. Come visit tho because we make up for trash transit infrastructure with great food, awesome cultural events, wonderful scenery, and did I mention beer? Plus weed is legal and we're also a mile high so take that Denver haha
Not a fan of "dont live in neighborhoods with high murder rates," that's not always within the choice space of people. Big fan of, "don't get in arguments," and "don't flash your wealth around." Crime is a very complex issue because it feeds through human psychology. It is obviously best to pursue education, stay out of trouble, and work hard, but even the combination of all three is not a guarantee of a good life. At least in the USA, there are so many ways to "fall off" and end up in unrecoverable situations. It does help to make housing affordable, and building new housing is a huge part of that, and while we're at it, let's make them as walkable and sustainable as possible, mixed use and transit oriented. A century if shitty sunk costs has put us in a hole, but rotting from the core doesn't have to be a bad thing, just infill with the New Urbanist model, and fix the laws to make that easier.
One of the weirdest side effects of social media is the way it has allowed people to get ultra paranoid about their local area. The frustrating part of it is that when you talk about how good it would be for kids to be able to walk or cycle to school independently, that paranoia results in "I would never let my child out of my sight because they might get abducted/assaulted/mugged!" The fact that crimes against kids in public is incredibly low in my city doesn't persuade them at all. "But I saw that post on here about that kid that got attacked". As you say at the start of your video, when it does happen it is extremely personal, a visceral response. But when it stops people supporting making communities more walkable and bikeable for all ages, that's really sad - and counterproductive. Safety in numbers is a thing, and if there's lots of people out walking and cycling all the time, then walking and cycling is immediately safer. The lone woman or kid walking with nobody else around is much more vulnerable. And I'll add that people driving by doesn't make you safer. Sadly people are not inclined to stop their car and come to someone's aid if they see something going on. If you're walking by you are much more likely to either step in or call for help. And that's before you consider the heightened risk of injury or death where almost everyone drives and that lone walker or cyclist is almost invisible as a result. So we have this weird self fulfilling prophecy where people are paranoid about walking or cycling because nobody's doing it, and so they object to infrastructure to make walking and cycling more appealing, so then they make walking and cycling - and their neighbourhood - less safe.
People dont want to live in an area known for shootings, kidnappings, assaults....how dare they. If you are willing to live someplace that has a known major crime problem because you care more about bike lanes than your kid's life, then go for it. >Safety in numbers is a thing, and if there's lots of people out walking and cycling all the time, then walking and cycling is immediately safer. NYC says hi.
@@zandercruz3487you missed the entire point of the comment. The reason why bike lanes are so deadly in North America is because their is such a lack of it. If we built our cities for people, criminals would have a harder time of robbing people in a large crowd. NYC despite being better than most us cities is still at the end of the day highly car centric.
My city has been experiencing an apparent "uptick" in violent attacks on public transit, which always make the news, and I constantly read comments like "this is why I'll never use public transit". They don't ever think to consider how many attacks occur off public transit though, or anything else... Like how there is also an ongoing homelessness/CoL crisis, drug crisis, and mental health crisis, which is obviously going to contribute to things.
I lived in Chicago for ten years without a car. I walked and took busses and trains all over and I never even witnessed a serious crime. The worst thing I ever happened was feeling threatened by crazy people on public transportation, but that only happened twice. I moved to Lincoln, Nebraska from Chicago, and I was threatened by some psycho on the street within two weeks of arriving.
I live in Albuquerque and it's honestly really nice here. Great food, great people, pretty bikeable (I don't have a car), free college, ect. As long as you aren't an asshole to people, are really careful on the streets- there are unfortunately a LOT of DUIs- and don't live in the war zone, it's pretty safe.
I worked in Chicago at a nonprofit. We'd have white kids come volunteer from colleges around the country. I was shocked to hear some of the things their parents would tell them about the city: "Don't carry more than $5, or you'll get mugged!" "Don't go out past 5 p.m.!" "Watch out for the 'brother' from the wrong side of the tracks!" I wished I were joking, but those are all quotes from my time working in the great city. 😅
I remember when i was moving to San Francisco people was telling me bad things. Never have i every seen anything bad happen to me. I just avoid civic center and im fine. However me and my girlfriend went to go visit some family in Houston and in the downtown she gets slapped by some guy with drugs.
@@uzin0s256 Yeah, San Francisco is great. I lived outside SF years ago. It was a cesspool back then, but now people actually crap in the middle of the street, rarely on the sidewalk. Most of the needles I found were in the park near where the kids play, and its fun watching them pick them up and try to figure out what they're used for. At least there's less traffic now that so many businesses have packed up and left. Yeah, I love San Francisco.
I live in SF, so this really resonated, given the sensationalist media coverage of the city. I used to live in Durham, NC which faced a similar perception problem. Of course one of my first things to look for in a neighborhood is its walkability, then crime, and so on. The only thing I’ll add is that it’s helpful to be aware of common transit routes and which neighborhoods they pass through. I wish sometimes, for example, that Bart were better staffed to handle rowdy or high passengers. Someone was smoking crack behind me yesterday, and I’ve witnessed people on a drug induced psychotic break, where it isn’t crime per se but definitely tense. It isn’t a major issue for me (somewhat due to privilege and quickly moving away from trouble), but I could see someone having a bad experience in a metro area if they are living in a safe area and doing the right thing by using transit, then feeling unsafe on a daily basis while they travel. That being said, I think maybe that’s more a function of how we ensure safety on transit especially when servicing areas with more crime or open issues of drug abuse.
I just found your channel, and love the content. I just moved to Albuquerque about a month ago, so I recognize my sample size is small. However, since it was brought up in this great video, I figured I'd mention it. Before I moved here I was warned that this city would be dangerous to love in. I looked at all the crime stats and avoided the areas that were deemed dangerous. Even when I got here, my landlord, my professors, and other students who are from here told me I had to watch out and be safe. I moved from St. Paul, Minn. In comparison ABQ feels like one big suburb. The city is safe if your smart, and it seems to me that these crime stats, like you and the FBI mention only go to spread fear, and do not paint an accurate picture of life there. Some of the nicest people I've ever met helped me when my car broke down on my very first day in the city. Random strangers willing to help the community when they saw I needed help. Not to say that crime doesn't exist. Of course it does in all cities, people can get rowdy in the night life scene. But also there are security guards, gates, camera in every store and no one has ever acted up. The only issue I've seen in my very limited sample size it drugs, but that in my opinion should be a question of public health, not of crime. Anyways, just a simple opinion. I appreciate all your weekly work, research and videos. From ABQ, Best.
Something else to keep in mind - how does the crime rate compare if deaths and comparable injuries from vehicular accidents (not counted as violent crime despite violent results) are included? I'm more interested in whether I lose my life or sustain permanent/longterm injury to my health & finances than how exactly that occurs. The way it occurs may have slightly different downstream effects on me due to the trauma, but that can occur with both sources so again I really care more about the risk of getting hurt physically or financially, regardless of source.
What you say is quite accurate, but there's a couple more layers to it. My favorite missing one is the economic geography of a dangerous street. There is a certain level of foot traffic, attached to the economic conditions of the people doing the walking, which optimizes for a high crime risk. Higher traffic? Crime is too risky. Not enough traffic? Nobody to mug. This traffic is a matter of what is there to attract people to the area. This means that sometimes, more businesses open help keep the street safe, while other times they don't. We can se this in St Louis. The same park that is very safe at noon is quite dangerous at 8 pm. Other areas are safe no matter what, while others are almost always unsafe. Zoning, and street design have a lot to do with said available amenities, and therefore have a lot to do with crime. The unfortunate part is that it's often easier for city governments to just let an area decay enough that there will be no crime (as there's nobody there), than to spend resources to make it safer by making it more appealing. The Death and Life of Great American Cities gets into this in a few chapters.
I am a trained criminologist and this analysis is spot on. The internet comments about Chicago and other cities is mainly just a dog whistle from reactionaries who are miserable about their suburban lives of quiet desperation.
I remember a guy commenting how miserable the city was because of "diversity". I personally enjoy all the different cultures and food in my city, it's like traveling without having to go anywhere. The only person who seemed miserable was the commenter and I suggested if that's how he feels about people, he should probably just find a nice spot in the middle of the woods. It still confounds me why people like that complain about cities, just turn off the news and you have nothing to complain about. They don't even live here!
There are some people with racist intentions or political axes to grind. There are people on the other end of the political spectrum who are similarly keen on denying the plain facts of urban crime. Trying to suggest that police are a larger problem than criminal activity. Denying the very obvious increase in all kinds of crime that accompanied the pandemic in many large cities. Gaslighting people who complain about it by saying that crime is an inevitable part of urban living. Which it absolutely is not. Polling shows very conclusively that people who live in high crime urban neighborhoods are very concerned about it. Those neighborhoods are emptying out. That's why St Louis and Detroit emptied out over the last 20 years, it's mostly an exodus of working poor people of color leaving dangerous low opportunity neighborhoods. The same is true for parts of Chicago. White flight was mostly a phenomenon of 1950 to 2000, it's black and brown flight now. And there are massive differences between the safest large cities (SF, NYC), and the least safe cities (St Louis, Baltimore, Detroit). People who pretend otherwise are delusional.
I was born in NYC, raised in Lima, lived in DC and Chicago. Statistically I should be dead by now if you listen to people talking about violent crime on those cities. But nothing has happened usually the morons that talk about crime in big cities have no clue what they are talking about. Thanks for bringing your usual data driven approach to this issue BTW Pro tip on going to a place you feel is not safe: go there very early in the morning (bad guys tend to sleep long hours)
Recently some members of my family and I went on a road trip and our route took us through Chicago. From the way my grandmother talked about it, you'd have thought we were going to Sodom. The way that my family members took for granted that Chicago was some kind of lawless hellhole where somehow we should expect to be gunned down while driving in the middle of the highway was... well, it's par for the course with them, but it still baffles me to perceive a place where other people live as though it's some kind of malevolent entity not populated by humanity. Then I happened to see a clip on fox news while my mother had it on wherein they stated that crime was way up in Chicago over the past two years, which they tried to blame on the mayor or whatever even though I'm pretty sure crime has been up just about everywhere the past two years for some obvious reasons. And then they showed a video of an armed robbery or something just to make sure you got the idea that this was literally the only thing that goes on there ever. By that logic I could prove that (insert state here) has the worst drivers by just showing a video of a single car crash. It's purely based on emotional manipulation and political scorekeeping rather than actual analysis of any data that isn't cherry picked out of context or even simple rationality.
"..a clip from fox news..." What else would you expect? Fox News is from Inside Job City (i.e., a town that absolutely seethes with hatred for Chicago).
Fox News makes a load of money by keeping their viewers scared, angry, and paranoid. One of their favorite tropes to get their followers stressed out and hating the “other” is crime. They love hanging it around the necks of Chicago, San Francisco, New York, or any other big “Liberal” city where a lot of “those” people live. It fits perfectly into their narrative of “failed democrat” policies in “woke” cities and blue states. It’s funny how they never focus on the crippling drug addiction, lack of opportunity, and poverty in the “red” areas.
As somebody who lives in the Northeast, I think the issue of nationwide city crime statistics can be misleading because like you highlighted comparing St. Louis to San Antonio, some cities are different than others. However, I don’t think citywide crime stats are entirely irrelevant. A big, spread out city like Jacksonville, Memphis or Atlanta’s crime stats might be misleading because those cities have miles upon miles of neighborhoods that are safe to go along with the violent dangerous areas. Meanwhile, where I live in New Jersey, our cities are very small and compact, so a city like Newark, Paterson or Trenton’s high crime rate is basically indicative of the experience you’ll have living anywhere in that city. Other small to mid-size Northeast cities are relevant in this regard as well, like Hartford, CT, Bridgeport, CT, Newburgh, NY, Wilmington, DE, Camden, NJ… these are small, densely populated cities with a high crime rate, so it is unlikely that you will be able to find a safe, walkable & affordable neighborhood in the city itself. Philadelphia and Baltimore are examples of big cities with a high crime rate. Now, both of these cities have safe, beautiful, walkable neighborhoods with good transit and decent affordability, but outside of these areas the cities also have neighborhoods that look like war-torn third world countries. It is important for quality of life and for safety concerns to stress crime rates to anyone moving into cities like these, because a neighborhood does make a massive difference.
I see what you are saying. But while Camden NJ is its own city, its really just a (shitty) suburb of Philly geographically. Its only a ten minute drive. If we take into account the metroplex of these Northern cities then its really the same as the South. Its just a matter of drawing lines and districts.
another week, another great video from CityNerd! I appreciate this zoomed in, data-driven way of looking at the crime in cities. Really provides a deeper perspective on the issue than I have seen before
I think most of my life I've lived in "high crime" areas. They were "high crime" mostly based on the perception of folks on the outskirts of town or people who didn't live there, because of specific incidents around our few housing projects that made the news.
2 anecdotes about living in my allegedly-crime-ridden city: 1. I've been in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in town at 2 AM on a Saturday. Nobody bothered me, except one guy who wanted to sell me drugs but didn't mind that I said no. 2. A lot of people thought a neighborhood I was living in was "bad" and "crime-ridden", when in fact no violent crime had occurred there in some time. But there was a large non-white population, which I think scared a lot of people off from a great neighborhood with great people living there.
I do want to say, coming at this from a Man vs Woman point of view can change one's outlook a lot. Even being in an area knowing violent crime is unlikely, a man would probably be much more comfortable walking by themselves through areas of a city that may not be perfect. Knowing that they can handle different situations, and would be less likely to be a target in the first place. As opposed to women, who in general, if they are ever walking alone always have to be hyper cognizant of their surroundings and I'm sure almost all women have multiple stories of being harassed / assaulted in the street. Even if they were never really at risk of violent crime, the experience is still one they would like to avoid. Now saying all this, I do think that to your point, a lot of this is also taken into account.. you are going to find creeps everywhere. And I do 100% agree in general that 'crime rates' can lead to sensationalized feelings about a particular area. But, I come at it from a man's point of view, who has never ever really feared for themselves in a situation, even when I've done some dumb things late at night.
I have a friend who is a 6'4" white guy who lives in the downtown area. He says downtown feels safe for him, but I would argue his experience is highly skewed because of his physical size, race, and gender.
Yikes. That kind of thinking is based on lies.. Men are overwhelmingly more likely to be victims of violent crime by strangers. If anything women need to be scared at home since they are far more likely to be killed or assaulted by their spouse than some random thug on the street
Tbh I can't agree with this. The majority of sexual assaults are committed by people the victims know and it's most likely to be an intimate partner. If you are a woman who is worried about being assaulted, everything CityNerd said still applies. The person most likely to assault you is your boyfriend, not a random guy on the street. This is the same point people make about crime in general, it just has a coat of feminist paint on it this time.
@@jodajoda2863this is a naive way of looking at it. This data could be highly underreported and could be heavily skewed as women may generally avoid walking alone in these areas in the first place. To say "you're more likely to be hurt by someone you know" is completely missing the point and disingenuous when it comes to safety for women in public
Lived in Albuquerque while in grad school and while violent crime areas are avoidable, property crime is sky high all over the city and poverty is high too. The city wore me down in the 2 years I was there and my mental health required I leave without finishing my program. Windows smashed on my car 3 times even though I left it empty, constant exposure to unpredictable drug addicts, and the burglary of my home while I was at class. Tons of great people, culture, food and beer though.
What's odd is that Canadian cities have the reverse problem to the one that you mention at the opening -- there's far more problems with per capita violent crime in small places like Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg or Thunder Bay than there is in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver. There's plenty of crime in both types of cities, and there's lots more gun crime in the major ones, but pound for pound the little Prairie cities are the worst. They're poorer, they have a lot of extremely extremely poor segregated Native neighborhoods that have lots of gang activity, and there's an active hatred of urbanism -- that is, these are cities that are run by people who hate living in cities and want to replace all urban street life with acreages and gated communities, inaccessible except by massive pickups, and guarded by as many guns as possible.
I live in Regina in the highest crime area , our mayor dos not hate cites! There are no gated communities, hear at all ! you can not legally get an armed guard ( unless you are a pollitition who the police will give an armed protection detail to ) . We have high crime because 1- substance abuse 2- if you have a criminal record getting any job becomes extremely difficult 3- gangs offer things the rest of society is not offering the kids 4- most guns are illegal and the gangs make a lot of money providing those guns that there is no legal way to get 5- people with nothing left to lose are almost impossible to deter
Would you describe most Canadian rural white people as racist? Do they treat the Natives with hatred, similar to the way white Southerners in the USA treated black people for a long time (and sadly, still do in parts of the South today)?
Been to Memphis a couple of times, ditto Mississippi - didn't feel unsafe in either place. We happen to be going to Albuquerque in a couple of weeks. Like you, I'm not deterred by it's high crime rate. I'm from Chicago but have lived in New York most of my adult life as well as San Jose and Boston. You learn quick where not to go and when not to ride the subway. 2:30 in the afternoon is actually not a good time = when the schools let out. Again, you learn this and adapt.
It is really sad that school kids are a big problem, but that's life. We go too easy on juvenile offenders and that feeds the problem. Maybe we should consider juvenile crime "adult" at age 13 and see if it helps.
Lots of good points. I’m from Houston and we’ve always had a bad rep for crime but people forget we are twice the size of NYC. So Crime happening 20 miles away from me is still Houston. I don’t face any issues and downtown is the safest zip code here. Like most cities you want to avoid certain areas but for the most part, idk anyone that’s had to deal with violent crime. It’s usually in between gang members
I'm in milwaukee. I had a guy shoot up my barbershop while I was in it at like 4pm on a weekday. Guy walked in and emptied a clip and then kept right on walking. I think I took a ricochet or graze wound to the forehead. My barber got hit and a guy in the chair got hit too. Luckily all survived. My family thinks I'm nuts for wanting to stay there, but the urban river paddling, beautiful lake michigan, and my ability to live car free make it totally worth it. On the other hand, i just saw that my hometown of 5.4k people had a hit and run that resulted in a pedestrian fatality. Crime isnt just an urban problem. The key is you can't live your life in fear.
>My family thinks I'm nuts for wanting to stay there, but the urban river paddling, beautiful lake michigan, and my ability to live car free make it totally worth it. OK? You are free to gamble with yourself, but you also need to acknowledge that people that preferer to not play Russian Roulette with themselves or their family because they dont value river paddling and "car free living" more than their lives are being "silly". YOLO all you want but that is a personal lifestyle decision.
@@zandercruz3487 I didn't use the word silly. Where did that quote come from? I made no value judgement on my family. You play Russian Roulette every time you leave your house. Doesn't matter where you live. Lots of peoples lives ended in the ditch of a country road. I knew a few of them personally. A childhood friend of mine was shot by her step dad in a small town. Crime happens everywhere. Danger in cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural areas.
@@travisalbert276 The fact that you fail to understand that "Crime happens everywhere" is not the same as being in a city with a massive crime spike with multiple shootings a day, robberies, and assaults just reinforces the myopic attitude I've seen in the comments.
One very interesting argument I heard from the book Walkable Cities in response to judging inner city livability based on crime rates. Although inner cities usually have higher violent crime rates, if you consider both violent crime and car accidents in tandem, the inner city is actually safer due to how dangerous car dependency is. Inner cities lower the risk of being a victim of physical harm from these two by 10-20% on average. There are a few exceptions of course, such as Houston, which is just a car dependent hellscape the whole way through the city, but just goes to show how misrepresentative judging cities based on a single statistic can be.
> if you consider both violent crime and car accidents in tandem, the inner city is actually safer due to how dangerous car dependency is Dude, please dont. Seriously. This is just cringe.
The problem is that crime and car accidents are way too different to just lump together into a single statistic. For instance, I’m a skinny 5’6” pasty white guy who grew up in a very safe neighborhood and have had basically zero exposure to sketchy situations, but I’m a very defensive driver with fast reaction times and try to avoid driving whenever possible. So for me I’m a lot more worried about crime than driving, but for a 6’5” 300 lb marshal arts instructor who’s bad at driving but grew up in the “hood”, auto accidents would probably be a bigger concern.
This is a great point illustrating that a ranking of “most dangerous cities” is clickbait horseshit. And it truly harms people struggling to maintain city centers, the true economic engines of many cities (like St. Louis).
@@zandercruz3487 Cringe? I mean this video is all about how crime statistics often don't accurately represent a city so it's extremely relevant and an important perspective on safety at a macro level and relates to the core themes of the channel of city design and walkability. Like he mentioned in the video if you or a loved one was the victim of violent crime I'm sorry you had to go through that and the overall data clearly means nothing related to the traumatic experience you had to go through which is understandable and its not meant to be dismissive of your personal experience. It's just about the nature of risk assessment and how perceptions and reality often don't align.
I honestly really appreciate this video more than I know how to express. I'm planning on moving to Chicago later this year and it's arguably the city that people love to hate on the most in respects to crime. I appreciate your nuanced and thoughtful take on the topic, it makes me feel a lot more comfortable about my decision. Keep up the good work!
What’s really sad in ABQ right now is how much ppl blame homeless ppl for the crime rates, but they don’t support building more housing or anything that would be actually helpful
I'm largely sympathetic to most sentiments of @CityNerd. However, I live in a nice part of Oakland (recently touted in a past video). Crime is disturbingly bad here. Like, armed robbery at 1pm on a Saturday 2 blocks from my house levels of bad. Like, elderly people kneecapped with hammers levels of bad. Look up reports from all the nice neighborhoods, Piedmont, Lakeshore, Montclair, and Rockridge, it's equally bad. There are no safe places here, and you'd never know it by just looking around.
There are neighborhoods I lived in as a child because of the gentrification in Milwaukee that I couldn't afford as an adult. Specifically, the Bay View neighborhood City Nerd pointed out in his video on underrated cities. I wish there was some sensitivity to people who can't afford cars being displaced out of neighborhoods where there is fantastic bus service. The people who move into those neighborhoods choose to live a car-light lifestyle, which means they wouldn't be as stranded as the poor people they're pushing out.
THANK YOU for beginning to address this! I always lived in areas people deemed “unsafe” growing up (this happens when you grow up in cities bordering Compton) & I honestly always felt like people felt that way because there were tons of Black and brown people where I grew up and perceived crime. Like yes, the 90s were what they were but it was always very livable and full of families where I lived.
I don't care about race or even know the race demographics, but I would want to avoid places where the stats said there's more crime. I'm not saying there isn't racism. Also, it's can be hard to complain about crime cause some people will blame victims for living in a higher crime area. Or some people assume victims or people voted for policies that let there be increased crime.
Totally get your reluctance tos-eat on this topic and thank you for your sensitivity in addressing it in an open and unfiltered manner. It is very much a breath of fresh air.
wow you are so good....I've been an amateur urban studies 'expert' since the 80's, starting with the must reads like crabgrass frontier....urban crisis, Detroit, Sugrue...AND lived in 'dangerous' Mission District SF, since 86, and was very pleased to find your channel...where you actually research 'per capita rates' and take in so many other variables.....nothing our so called 'journalists' in MSM do.......the 'skyrocketing crime rate' lately....is such a lie....yes murder rates are going up.....but we have nothing going on like the 80's...
This video is an example of why I love your channel - important topic, well researched, excellent presentation on a sensitive and often misunderstood subject spoken by people, as you said, don’t either like cities or live in the city. I’ve lived in big urban areas for the majority of my life. Crime is a reality in every community but it’s not like some say they imagine it to be. Just thank you for this thoughtful video. Glad I follow you.
Here's a topic for a future video: crime rates on public transit. Or maybe the subject of safety and security on public transit. I live in Montreal and we're getting a new city spanning light rail system (the REM). Recently the subject of policing the system came up because Vancouver's SkyTrain has supposedly had to deal with an uptick in crime. Nobody here has actually addressed how to secure the areas around the stations or the trains. And I've seen some of the new stations and I can see how dangerous they could be late at night. Looking forward for your insights.... in your Valley Girl delivery 😉 (just joking, I really enjoy your content 😁)
Great video! Thanks for the continued great content. I just found your channel a few weeks ago and am thoroughly enjoying going through the archive. Crime happens everywhere. I would argue that the potential for horrific crimes are actually higher in rural areas due to the sparse population (less eyes on what you're doing). But I understand that the data shows something different from that. While you can't control the actions of others, I really think being aware of your surroundings, or at least looking the part, is a huge deterrent for opportunistic crime. I really think that no one should be walking around with headphones on. JUST PAY ATTENTION. Save the headphones for a more predictable and secure space.
I've been struggling to communicate this concept for some time. The really crass thought that has continually sprung to mind when rich, white, suburban family and coworkers complain about the crime in my city is, "That crime is not for you!" The crime should be a prompt to sympathy and action to enable those *actually* effected by it, not further isolation. Thank you for encouraging us to visit and spend money in "high crime areas" as we are comfortable. That line about conspicuous consumption, absolutely savage!
No city has suffered more reputational harm than Albuquerque? How about Baltimore with The Wire? I love the show, but it's pretty much trashed Baltimore's reputation permanently (even more so than it already would be).
To be honest, its rep wasn't that great before. I'm not sure that the show changed anything, just brought it to the screen, kind of like Escape from New York did for NYC.
You deliver excellent content to your audience. It's very interesting material. All of your effort put into creating this video is much appreciated. I'm truly grateful for your help!
The Associated Press did a great story on this topic. You can find it by Googling the headline: "Conservatives go to red states and liberals go to blue as the country grows more polarized"
What's always fascinated me is how isolated and random "ghettos" are. You can walk through one block that is dirty and shifty and run down, and the very next street is a new development that stretches for miles, but has one or two "dead spots" in them already. What are the factors that cause these spots to exist when they're separated by lively, healthy areas by so little physical distance? Makes it hard to divide "bad" spots from "good" spots and makes sweeping generalizations about the safety of any given area feel really reductive and useless.
Another thing to note is that lower home prices in the city are also related to perceived school quality not just percieved crime. This could be another video topic as not all "poorly ranked" inner city schools are bad schools. However, they underperform for various reasons that also relate to the somewhat misleading crime data mentioned in this video.
Thank you for bringing this up. This is a huge deal in Maryland, where people will pay top dollar for houses to be in some of the best school districts in the nation, ranking wise. They bitch and moan about how expensive houses are, but you can get houses in the city of Baltimore for the mid 250s easily. my opinion? I think people use test scores as a surrogate for "I don't want my kids to be around pores and minorities. "
This was great, I really enjoyed this one. Highly relevant right now for me, as I’m exploring a couple “undervalued” cities as potential places to move to.
I live in an inner city Philadelphia neighborhood and I love it. I agree with the safety rules presented, but also, meet and know your neighbors and get a dog! I feel safe every day despite knowing crime has and will happen close by.
Video idea building off this one: With climate change likely to cause migration from rapidly growing areas in the sunbelt... What small Midwest, Northeast, and Rust Belt cities are well poised and prepared to absorb additional population?
We have some neighborhoods adjacent to gentrifying neighborhoods with empty lots (due to arson) in Milwaukee. We have no anxiety about access to ample fresh water, are cheaper to live in, is easier to use either a car or buses than Chicago, and white flight took tens of thousands of people out of the city, meaning we have room for people. The lots are empty, cheap plots, so the horrible modern urban single family homes where you live upstairs from your garage would probably slot right in there. I'm specifically talking about the Harambe neighborhood, which as you might guess is probably going to attract mostly white gentrifiers that will displace the historic population. The near west side is also ripe for gentrification, but lacks the empty, cheap lots for development. There are, however, literally mansions there, that would be expensive to fix up, but still... mansions from the age of the brewer barons. And the access to downtown if you're not too far from Wisconsin avenue (basically our main street through downtown) is I think 15 minutes by frequently running bus. There's also Bluemound Heights which is getting a dedicated bus only lane to downtown. I think the out of state gentrifiers (it's already getting gentrified from in state people) would be happy to live in that neighborhood, even if they considered the small houses tear downs so they could have parking because there's no alleys in that neighborhood, which is unusual for most of the city. tl;dr Milwaukee is a cheaper, smaller Chicago with the same access to fresh water that is easy for both car transit and busses, but you're a lunatic to risk biking in most of it because we've got a recent and horrible speeding problem.
@@MilwaukeeWoman I share many of the same sentiments about Pittsburgh. Fairly stable climate, access to fresh water, tons of housing stock that can be renovated to accommodate additional population.
Thank you helping to set people straight in how they evaluate where to live. Whenever people ask about where to move, I remind people asking about the "high crime" of certain areas to take a closer look at what kinds of crimes are happening. A lot of the time, crime heat maps make areas look undesirable. But closer inspection shows that one of the flaws is the lack of distinction between crimes. A shopping center for example is going to look terrible because of all the petty theft. Heavily trafficked with lots of opportunity means no surprises there; Theft is a crime of opportunity, after all. The threat in such a context is mostly to businesses not residents. When I look at crime maps overlaid on areas I'm looking to move to, I'm looking for signs of things that put me and my overall well-being at risk: A combination of domestic violence calls, ADW's, burglaries, vehicle theft, and vandalism would of course be a red flag. A combination of petty theft and assault would make me check to see if there are shops, tourist attraction(s), nightlife (alcohol service, entertainment venues) -signs that the area may be walkable.
i studied cities a lot in college and grad school, and i'll have to admit that i was still a bit hesitant when i first moved out to the west coast to Oakland, from just the sheer sensationalist coverage of Oakland as a crime-ridden hellhole. now when i'm wandering around and visiting different parts of the city with its many different neighborhoods and incredible parks, it's mind boggling how far off the sensationalist coverage maps on to the actual experience of most of the city, or that i was ever worried. yeah, there are some rough parts like any bigger city, but you could also just like... not join a street gang and go to those parts making trouble. (inb4 the inevitable replies of like ActUaLlY OakLanD SuCKs)
They just evicted there homless. Im proud of Oakland and yeah. the bay area is always being told as those places where you will be shot and killed when in reality its the opposite of that.
I lived on a "rough street" in West O for a few years. There was a greater sense of community than I have found anywhere else. I didn't feel threatened living there. Outside of my car window getting smashed once, I pretty much encountered zero crime issues there personally and the pros far outweighed the cons
Thank you for a very data driven analysis of crime statistics and how they are so often misunderstood. City neighborhoods are often great but get lumped into really bad nearby areas where crime often happens past midnight or later due to drugs. City size statistically makes a huge difference in the stats like you mentioned. I'm sure you will get many rough comments but thanks for being brave to explain and share your opinion!
Very anecdotal: Milwaukee is often listed as “dangerous” but when I visited last month, I never felt safer walking around a major city, even alone after dark. It was remarkable.
If he was in certain neighborhoods he probably was pretty safe. I've lived in Milwaukee for 36 out of 46 years of my life, born here came back, and most of the crime is mostly concentrated to areas where people who have discrimination in job seeking and lack of ability to access suburban jobs (much lower car ownership) have a life of struggle and the presence of street gangs. Basically, and I hate this, if you visit the city and avoid the Latino and Black parts of the city you will probably be fine. This is the disgusting shame of the city that I love and I wish we could attract more employers that had decent jobs that you could get with a GED or high school diploma. I live in a fairly diverse neighborhood, which is rare, there's only a very few, and it's pretty safe, but I won't walk my dogs after sunset. They do have a whole back yard, so they're alright. I grew up very poor, so in my youth I have lived in the inexpensive Latino and Black neighborhoods, and I know what happens to those people is unfair, and I know it was easier for me to get a good paying suburban job and escape that with only a high school diploma because I'm white and have owned a car since I was 30. But I do know what it's like to access better paying jobs for people with high school diplomas only from the rough neighborhoods. (I have gone on to have some college, my ego wants me to point that out.)
Last week I biked from University district in Milwaukee to the site of George Floyd's murder on Chicago Street and 38th. People throughout the city were awesome!!!
I live in Baltimore and, to me, one silver lining of the bad reputation is I assume it may slow gentrification (not sure if this is true though). On that note, I'd love to see a video where you go into progress without gentrification. IMHO it's all about the pace of changes, and developments that are meant to uplift members of the community and not invite outsiders or push community members out.
As a fellow Baltimoron I think you might be on to something. I live in a neighborhood that has dramatically improved itself over the past few decades through initiatives like the dollar house program. There are only two new/gentrified developments so the neighborhood still retains its livability and historic charm. Baltimore stands in stark contrast to its neighbor down the road, Washington. I'm not sure there are many cities that scream 'gentrification' more than DC, and even if I could afford to live there I'm not sure I would enjoy it as much as where I am now. It would be interesting to compare resurgent cities (DC, Boston, etc.) to declining or stagnant ones to see if gentrification really makes them more livable.
I don't get why race matters so much to you. So what if whoever moves in? Some people said they don't want people to view Africans like that, so why do you do that same to other races?
@@user-gu9yq5sj7c lol I wasn't talking about race at all dude. the idea of gentrification has to do with a community that lives in a particular place, not a racial community. probably should check yourself if that's what you assume I meant.
Thank you for the Baltimore shout out. Interestingly enough I've been here about 20 years and I've never been a victim of any crime at all. But - I did have my rental car broken into and all my stuff removed, in Las Vegas lol. Ironic that CityNerd lives in Las Vegas
Crime is hyperlocal, housing prices are much more regional. You can avoid crime in a high crime city fairly easily, but avoiding high housing or transportation costs in an expensive or sprawling city is extremely difficult.
Crime basically ruins US cities and why we will never in our life times get the kind of cityscapes common in Europe. Neighborhoods will get a bad reputation and then decay into urban blight. If it gets bad enough then the whole city's reputation will get ruined. Crime is the main cause of urban food deserts. Shoplifters will literally drive every store in the neighborhood out of business. Then what good is walkability if there is no place to walk to and all the stores and shops are boarded up. There is a potential top ten list for you: The top ten urban food deserts.
Thank you for sticking up for Albuquerque. I live in the south valley of the city, while there are some colorful characters, I think this area is relatively safe. Hopefully I don't get mugged tomorrow, now that I say that.
I live in The Tenderloin in San Francisco. High crime with high walking scores and numerous transit lines. I have amazing city views and no problems with crime here. Mostly it’s homeless who are their own worst enemies. It is block to block here and my street is pretty good, relatively speaking. There is a major transit line that goes through here and nearby hotels so The City won’t let it get too bad. I don’t make any sudden moves around mentally ill people and usually don’t go out at night when it can get crazy. Overall it’s a good experience here with my quiet apartment several stories above the street
You give data from the FBI that admits that cities are prone to have higher crime rates, but does this hold up in all cities or just American? I would hypothesize that much of the high crime in cities all goes back to the post WW2 era of suburbanization, urban renewal, and white flight that decimated cities as well made many metro areas highly segregated by race and class. Poverty breads crime and there’s places where the only people making money are the slumlords and the drug dealers and then we wonder why young people join gangs. Not to say the reasons given in the report you mentioned are necessarily wrong, just America’s relationships with cities is different. Great video as always, love the channel!
Crime is higher in cities because inequality is greater and more in your face in big cities. Nothing feels more unjust than struggling to survive as some rich person drives past you in their luxury vehicle. When you’re poor in a rural area and everyone else around you is poor, you just view it as living a simple life. If you’re poor in a city you’re treated like a loser or a failure. Solve inequality and you will solve crime as well.
Small cities have rich people and in my experience it can be more of a problem because they tend to control an even larger portion of the town either through being one of the few employers or by local government or both.
"Dont be in a street gang"
"Don't hang out with idiots"
Quality advice right here.
As I've heard "Don't be with stupid people in stupid places at stupid times".
@@danielkelly2210 ...or listen to stupid advice 🙂
It'a not always that easy. A former friend of mine was murdered outside his apartment. According to onlookers, a man was beating a prostitite bloody outside my friend's apartment. My friend rushed out to protect her, and the man stabbed him in the stomach. I heard nobody ever identified the murdered. Would you stand by while a woman is beaten to a pulp outside your home? ... Another guy I knew was murdered at a fake Craigslist pickup. Both of these were in central Houston, Texas. I don't think either person was choosing to live that dangerously. If you are around that crap it may be hard to always avoid it. Mostly.. not always...
@@petromondo1332 In Portland OR three men had their throats slashed for defending two black muslim high school girls from a crazy racist guy on the train (two men died but the youngest survived, the attacker fled up the stairs onto the overpass and into a nearby neighborhood but was chased down by people from the train after it was stopped, local racist gangs showed up to his trial to brag about how he did nothing wrong and it was all self defense all while they wore black docs with red laces) sometimes being the better person gets you killed but rest assured that society does not accept that as a correct answer, most people want nothing bad to happen and the more of us who act to prevent bad things from happening, the better. People stepped in between the victims of harassment and became victims of assault/murder, if people had accepted that then he would’ve gotten away with it but people intervened and he was held accountable in a court of law. I’m glad that car was packed with people and I’m glad they didn’t act like it was normal behavior and ignore it to not make a fuss. I think the city didn’t make the killer, he would’ve killed anyone in any small town who offended him by stopping his harassment, he only got stopped because he was in the city in broad daylight IMHO (speaking as someone who missed being on that car by a matter of hours, I had to take the bus and questioned why so many police were at that station)
Actual quality advice: ABNR.
As someone who lives in the suburbs of St. Louis, this video is a godsend. I can't tell you how many times I hear my fellow suburbanites either bad mouthing downtown, or bad mouthing another American downtown, while rarely, if ever, visiting either. Resulting in a warped perspective which wrongfully keeps people and investment from flowing to the central core.
I'm happy to report however that downtown St. Louis is seeing a lot of development and attention right now. Especially on the city's north side, which has been historically disinvested in for decades. I like to think that this change is partly because of videos like this which show people the importance of not judging a book by it's cover, especially when it comes to a whole city.
Thanks for the awesome content and keep up the good work!
I have a friend who lives in the St. Louis suburbs and I looked at a couple homes for her. I took a glance at some of the housing downtown and was loving what you can get compared to even the cheaper NY metro area suburbs.
Honestly, some of the people from the suburbs think that the Central West End is a death trap. If that's their definition of dangerous urban area, then there's a lot of work that needs to be done to change someone's mind.
Yeah, exactly. I'm from Buffalo, and I've noticed that there's a big overlap in the Venn diagram between people people who are the most melodramatically scared of the city and people who haven't actually been to the city more than a handful of times in the last 30 years.
The downtowns tend to be fine. It's the areas just outside the downtown (not the suburbs but the area between the city and the suburbs) that tend to be trashy. East St Louis being a perfect example of such a place
@@AdamSmith-gs2dv that's a gross oversimplification. You're probably right for the most part but I'm sure there are some nice neighborhoods in St Louis outside of downtown. And there's also some suburbs that you might consider "trashy."
Many people shun Mexico City because of the country’s general reputation and the aversion to big and dense places, but any visitor could tell you that safety really depends on the neighborhood and even the streets within neighborhoods. Cities are complex and generalizing can prevent us from seeing the bigger picture. Great video.
And my god it’s Mexico City! One of the great metropolises! To act as if it’s a war zone is just blinkered prejudice against cities (and maybe brown folks as well).
I visited some very obviously "safe" areas of CDMX, but I also went to a lot of areas of town that were warned against in the research I did beforehand. Not to minimize it because maybe I was fortunate, but I could never figure out where the "dangerous" part was. There are too many people around all the time who are just busy living their lives. It's like NY that way.
@@CityNerd I have not had the pleasure but that is also what I have heard.
I kept hearing about big, bad Mexico City so finally went to check it out for myself...by myself. It's just like any other big city.
@An Angeleno041 Bogotá is my favorite megacity in the entire world. You were lucky to live there for that long.
Please citynerd, I live in NYC and people that don't live here think NYC is a high crime city when on a per capita basis its one of the safest cities in the country. I would rather that they think NYC is a high crime city, its hard enough getting theatre tickets as it is.
People's perception of NY as a high crime city hasn't seemed to stop the tourists though.
@@bellairefondren7389 Not at all, 50 million a year, and that's not a typo, 50 million. And they all want to go to the theatre.
haha, point taken
@@johnottr They're all at Times Square Applebees / Olive Garden / Red Lobster
As if the current data weren't flawed enough, people are basing their opinions on how things were 30-40 yrs ago. Lol.
Superb video as always. I visited Chicago for the first time a few months ago and was blown away by how clean, relatively safe, and beautiful most of the city is.
Shhhh! Don't tell anyone!
As a native Chicagoan, thank you! It's a beautiful, clean and affordable city with so much to do. The media tends to only show you the gang warfare that happens in and unfortunately controls about 10% of the city's neighborhoods. The rest of the city is spectacular, with each neighborhood having its own feel and distinctions from the others. Not to mention (since it's CityNerd's channel), it's incredibly cheap and easy to get almost anywhere in the city via L train, bus, bike or by walking.
@@NickWojcicki I visited for six days just to check it out for myself. I enjoyed exploring the various neighborhoods, music and culture immensely. The weather in March was sunny and mild, while it was raining every day in Seattle where I'm from. And a 7 day L pass for $20 is unreal. Chicago is totally underrated in my opinion.
@@jazzcatjohn The funny thing is having grown up in Chicago all I heard about was how expensive everything was, high taxes, corrupt politicians, high crime etc. I agree after living all over the country it is pretty nice compared to most other cities.
I live here. Moved here 4 months ago. Chicago is beautiful clean and safe. It is NOTHING like the media portrays it not even close. Living here is fucming amazing and I came from a real hell hole.... florida. Never moving back
This is such a well presented and important episode. You'll get flak from the haters, but your data-driven analysis of this important issue is very enlightening. Also, great tips at the end.. "Don't be in a street gang." Excellent advice.
Many people do not know the one weird trick of not being in a street gang
@CityNerd Police officers HATE this one WEIRD trick!
A lot of "data-driven" analysis (think data driven policing) is what he's arguing against in this video. This is looking at the data, asking if it holds a certain meaning, and deciding it doesn't.
My friends from high school who were in street gangs we're easily making upwards of 120K a year selling mysterious powders and stinky flowers. I make 35k a year in my late 30s. They also got a lot more women than I ever did. Of course half of them are dead but hey not everyone is satisfied with being alive are they?
@@sparklesparklesparkle6318 Being dead is just an alternative lifestyle choice!
As a. victim of a stranger violent crime in a city neighborhood with low violent crime, I appreciate this video so much.! It wasn’t the city’s fault for the crime but I think it resulted in better crime prevention and victim care than my rural town upbringing would have provided. It’s been hard to connect the dots and vocalize this. I hope we as a society can look at all of this at a deeper level than “city crime stats.”
Let me tell you how nice it is, as someone who lives in the larger St. Louis metro area, that an urbanist regularly mentions my community and not only mentions its problems but also the really great things about this city. Keep up the great work like seriously. This video put into words feelings I sort of felt for a long time but couldn't articulate clearly myself.
Love St. Louis City
I lived in downtown Chicago for a year after college. My family was terrified and texted me weekly about news they heard and constantly feared for my safety. It was literally the best year of my life. Chicago is amazing
"Chicago is amazing."
SHHH! You'll stir up the haters; they're amazingly ubiquitous. Also, some of them are incredibly powerful (e.g., A.B.C., N.B.C., C.B.S., Fox News, C.N.N., Hollywood, etc.). Writing that "Chicago is amazing" makes them absolutely boil with a seething, insatiable hatred!
"My family was terrified...and constantly feared for my safety."
Does your family live in an auto-dominated area (like 95% of the U.S.)? If so, perhaps we should be afraid for them.
Estimated Number of Auto-Crash Deaths (2021): 42,915.
ya I thought Chicago was cool until l got jumped. Context matters though it was late at night and it was along the riverwalk which wasn't illuminated greatly. But I can't really look at the city the same way ever again 😂.
Great point on granularity in crime data. I purchased my starter home in an urban neighborhood with some elevated crime statistics. I just so happened to purchase this home next to a mismanaged apartment complex, and there was a lot of seedy foot traffic outside my home, including open drug deals, fights, people on substances, and sex workers. Plus there were a couple times people died next door from gun shots. My car was broken into once. I lived in this home for a dozen years because I liked the neighborhood/neighbors with the exception of a few pretty bad tenants in this apartment complex. Despite many unsavory types who lived there, many of the residents of the apartments were good people. After my second child, my family needed more space, and we moved less than a mile away in the same neighborhood. The difference in safety was substantial. Most foot traffic is either children playing in the street, or people going on nice walks. There's a tangible difference in my stress levels when I'm in front of my house because I'm no longer worried about witnessing something bad.
It's absolutely stunning how localized crime can be, and I'm glad you brought up the issue. Even one apartment complex can drag down the safety statistics of an entire neighborhood. Move over one block, and it's an entirely different feel.
Changing topics, I'm about to throw you an idea for a video. I wonder which areas have increased their walkability score. Whether it's a neighborhood, city, or metro area, what sort of steps were implemented to increase that score, an what are some consequences of those changes? Maybe find areas with the biggest delta in walkability score over a 5-year period?
Thanks for all the amazing videos!
Starter home... This term is fucked up beyond belief
Totally can relate to you in many ways! Not long ago I spent a period homeless, and while there were unsavory types at the shelter where I stayed, interestingly enough I was pretty much treated like a son lol! (A lot of individuals were older than me). In other words they looked out for me and would generally jump to my defense if anything happened. That doesn’t mean I was reckless. But it certainly opened my eyes a little and made me think twice about judging an area (or individuals) based on reputation. If that make sense?
It's definitely like that in my city as well. One block can look trashed, and a few streets away is amazing. People often don't realize how different neighborhoods can be block to block, but then again that's what keeps the best spots for the locals.
In Toronto the perennial Worst Neighbourhood is just a couple blocks in almost any direction from some of the busiest and best places to visit. A
exactly. When we use more granularity on statistical data it shows cities aren't dangerous per se, just the areas with lots of brown people. Gun ownership isn't dangerous per se, just when lots of brown people have them.
CITY NERD FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGES ALBUQUERQUE! My day has been made. We talk about the subject of this video all the time in my house. That high crime area you identified is known to locals as “The War Zone”. The city has attempted to rebrand it as “The International District”. It might be a high crime area, but it does have bomb Vietnamese food.
You mean the place with the emissions testing attached with the pickled lemonade?
Day made for sure!!!
The episode where City Nerd finally says the 13/51 FBI crime stats lol
Idk dude the ABQ is responsible for Heisenberg and his famous sky blue.
Another Burqueño here to say that violent crime is not the problem many think it is! The areas highlighted have some places that are not especially dangerous, but for the most part people only go there if they need something. Downtown and the War Zone both also have large homeless populations with high drug use, which seems to contribute to the violent crime. If you stay on the major thoroughfares and avoid the encampments (like the ones near the railroad tracks), you're unlikely to encounter any violent crime.
Park in maintained garages. Spend a little extra time walking on major streets instead of taking the most direct route. Don't go to the area late at night. And, as much as it pains me to say it, avoid public transit outside of peak hours.
STL resident of a streetcar suburb and I have been telling people for years that STL has had a biased crime ranking because we don't get to include any of the suburbs in our population. Due to the great divorce of the city and the county in 1876 the city limits have never changed and this causes 90% of the population to not included in that FBI crime report 100k to the very high end. It was really cool to see you compare our city area to another though. Love your videos!
I still have the screenshot my english friend sent me when I moved to Glasgow saying "Glasgow is the murder capital of Western Europe" and I've lived here for 3 years now, neither me nor any of my friends have been murdered, assaulted with weapons, harmed or threatened criminally in any way.
"Haven't been murdered" is probably a lower bar than I would use to determine safety, but congratulations on your continued survival in the St. Louis of western Europe!
yep, I've lived in various cities in 3rd world asian countries and have only been mugged once. It just comes down to avoiding certain areas, and taking precautions if you do need to go to the wonderful bars and restos in those 'ghetto' areas.
@@CityNerdreminds me of when my friend said that the local fair was safe, all the rides are safe nothings happened to me yet!
One of the best ways to stay safe in your city is to learn it. Crime generators are places where there is a high volume of people moving through it, such as stadiums, malls, and city centers, while crime attractors are places where there's opportunity to commit crime. Places where there's lots of drug use or street prostitution are examples, as are problematic bars or strip clubs. If a crime attractor becomes prolific, criminals from other areas will move to the city to make use of those places. Areas where there's a high rate of resident turnover also have higher risk of crime, as people are not around long enough to form bonds with the area and consequently, there is no informal means of control to prevent crime, especially with juveniles. Neighborhoods where lots of people immigrate to can be susceptible to this in particular.
When you evaluate crime rates before you move somewhere, be aware of the modifiable areal unit problem. When you aggregate crime incidents into polygons, the shape of the polygon can radically change the rates of crime and be extremely misleading. Look at NeighborhoodScout for your current city, for example. Do the polygons they use for aggregation mix housing type? do they cross rivers, major roads, and mix land density? If the answer is yes, then the data you're looking at is likely very skewed.
The data reported to the FBI is also changing from UCR to NIBRS. NIBRS collects much more information and is in general, better (in my opinion). Despite this, adoption of NIBRS is very slow, and somewhat limited, especially among large departments so data you're looking at may be outdated. Spatial distribution and rates have changed in some places since the pandemic, and this is important to keep in mind.
Thank you for this really detailed insight!
This is exactly the kind of perspective needed on crime rates! But to go further we should probably also think about how walkability impacts those. There's a Rebecca Watson video about how dogs increase safety from crime, not from the dogs themselves (this even works with small dogs no one is afraid of), but from more social neighborhood and more people out walking.
Also, when I check the crime rate maps with neighborhood breakdowns for place I've lived, it's not the dense urban core that's got the highest crime typically, it's poor neighborhoods, often even single family home dominated, while the least crime prone neighborhoods are in rich areas (or around college campuses). Which reinforces that crime is heavily driven by poverty.
But of course a single anecdote and we're supposed to ignore all of that. Except that I have multiple people I know from traditional, car dependent suburbs (with HOAs no less) who experienced serious violent crime (like armed robberies or drive-bys) and who lived in very cop-friendly (and even right-wing) jurisdictions. And I've never once experienced that living in poorer areas of my city all my life. So if a personal story is supposed to override all data, car dependent suburbs are clearly crime-ridden hell-holes.
people in my are bought into this - turns out a constantly baking dog dos not deter crime it in fact hides the sound of a crime being committed
I don't know if there's an aspect of urban life that causes more people to shut off critical thinking skills and instead embrace anecdote and prejudice. It's this one issue. It's so maddening. How do you get through to data-resistant people?
@@CityNerd in single family detached homes built in car-dependant suburbs with zero sidewalks... nobody can hear you scream
Coming from Johannesburg, a high crime city, the idea is that criminals come to wealthy areas to commit crimes. Why risk it stealing a crappy car or a cracked screen phone in your local area when you could steal a BMW and $1k iPhone in the suburbs?
There is crime in all types of neighborhoods, urban, suburban, rural. It's just the nature of the crimes change by location, and the level of accurate reporting and investigation. The data only describes so much.
There are situations where all the book knowledge and statistics are not going to help you, that is where a thing called 'street smarts' come in to play.
One really has to become familiar with the specific neighborhoods, if one is not well aware of their surroundings, and taking appropriate precautions, they are at greater risk, wherever they are. Some of the scariest neighborhoods I have been in were way out in the middle of nowhere.
Great way to debunk the general rates and the problems with how media covers crime. Remember, most violent crime is inside your social network, so stop being friends with murderers! Ghost them before they make a ghost out of you!
I wasn't expecting that last part, made me laugh, kudos.
"Ghost serial murders" is ironclad advice
That's why I have no friends
It's kind of hard to control that if you go to school or work with these people though.
@@AbstractEntityJ Might be worth a career change and relocation, even if that involved a lot of work and other sacrifices.
Also, consider a state where having a gun *on you* during an argument is much less likely.
The moment I realised how people perceived urban crime was when I was living in Vermont. I was in Burlington, the largest coty in the state which isn't very large at all, most places would call it a medium sized town. And yet when I talked to people in other parts of the state, they'd talk about Burlington the same way I'd heard people talk about Chicago or Detroit, fully expecting that I was regularly mugged or shot at or burgled. This was on top of a growing skepticism after recently visiting Chicago, where everyone I'd talked to had given me many warnings to be on my toes and expect murderers on every street corner, and It... was lovely and I had a lovley time. Ever since I've been taking urban crime talk with a grain of salt
Can confirm the ridiculous claims of violent crime in Burlington. There was like, 2 shootings and 1 carjacking in Burlington, and it's reported as though the place is completely lawless and going down the tubes.
Thank you for your video! From an ABQ Metro Resident, Albuquerque is an extremely underrated city, with a culturally diverse population. We have reputations, not only from others around the country, but from our own residents and expats that tear apart the communities. I agree with the fact that large cities have a lot of space, are diverse, and everything changes when you are looking at one part compared to others. I look forward to seeing more Albuquerque mentioned in your future videos!
- Christian, a long time follower!
Thank you so much for telling the truth on Chicago! I have loved this city all my life, and have always been proud to be a Chicagoan. We get such a bad reputation that we truly haven't earned.
True that!
Been here 4 months. Came from florida. Im never leaving. Chicago is beautiful and amazing and no less safe than anywhere in florida. Florida is a real hell hole of hell like heat and god awful boringness with nothing to see
>We get such a bad reputation that we truly haven't earned.
I'm sure writing from the far northern part of it. I can guarantee you aren't living by Washington Park.
@@zandercruz3487 Albany Park, but thanks for the assumption. I didn't say there wasn't violent crime, of course there is. And I've had shootings on the corner or in the alley of EVERY apartment I've lived in here. But every politician holds us up as this massive cesspit of violence and we are not.
@@davegonzalez2140
>Albany Park, but thanks for the assumption
That.....that's literally at the far north part of the city, dude. Like I said.
>And I've had shootings on the corner or in the alley of EVERY apartment I've lived in here.
>Also you: It's not massively violent. We have a reputation that isnt fair!
Ooooooohkay.
Thank you for making this video, you hit all the points I’ve been telling people about city size vs crime per capita. I live in the suburbs of STL and the city limit is small and historic. Other cities that annex like hell reduce their crime per capita instantly. KC for example is over 400 sq mi. of city limits vs STL’s city limits of 66 sq mi.
STL has also mostly annexed troubled areas that needed help
I live in the Lou :] I find it very telling that even though K.C. is so much larger geographically than StL, it is still one of the most statistically violent cities in the nation. Springfield and Columbia (the other 2 relatively large cities in MO) have high crime rates now too!. The Missouri state government needs to wake up to how poorly our state is performing!
Yeah, I had an urge to talk about STL more but I feel like I've banged the drum on that in other videos and I wanted to give a city I don't talk about much (ABQ) a chance to "shine" (it's all relative).
St. Louis has not been able annex anything for 80 plus years because they (stupidy) divested themselves from St. Louis county in the 1890s. They are still the same 64 sq miles they have been for almost a century. The leaders at the time thought no one would ever want to live so far out and they didn't want to pay for services that far out. Bad idea!
@@jeffwebb2966 yo dude, 1970 was like 50 years ago.. the city and county have been divorced for almost 150 years not 80! - divided in 1875!
Suggestion for a halloween video: largest urban graveyards, or the most graveyard-heavy cities. Would like to hear what you think of graveyards as land use.
Ha, I live in Albuquerque’s #4 on that list and work in #5. I hear a lot of “popping” noises day and night, and have long since learned not to ask questions, and just hope I make it to work and home every day
I’ve had the best times in St Louis. I never felt in danger. I grew up in Milwaukee. I love going back and never feel afraid.
Great video -- the urban experience of crime really is granular in the US, I'm glad to hear you discuss that in such detail. In some cities it's what block you're on or even just who your next door neighbors are. There are also inequality and public policy differences that do make a noticeable difference from state to state. It's my gut feeling from living a lot of different places that places with a better and more accessible social safety net tend to have lower rates of serious crimes.
There is also a big difference in gun culture and rural crime from state to state. You're right, that's mostly involving people who know each other and at much lower rates of injury or death than most risk factors to people.
In addition, the media tells you not to go to places while developers are investing in them for a low price.
Can you talk about what maybe some US cities are currently doing something to become more walkable. In other words, Is the US becoming more walkable, something like that would be the topic
I'll give it some thought!
Yes! Would love to hear about a few cities that are making strides in not being so car-centric!
Good idea. I’d be interested in hearing about the less discussed cities. Everyone knows the steps that cities like Seattle are talking to become more urbanist but I wonder if there are cities that fly under the radar.
@@isawrooka4 Raleigh being one as well
Having moved from the very walkable Boston to stroad strewn DC area, I often ponder this. The distances are too far to conveniently bike and astronomically too far to walk. I just don't see how we can bring businesses and people together.
I enjoyed the fatherly advice at the end.
Gotta wear the dad hat sometimes
Thank you so much for this. It's how I would explain it if I didn't get so emotional about this issue. Something I have wondered, too: is domestic violence under-reported in the suburbs? If no one can hear you scream, who would call the cops? You can't hide a murder rate, but your "dad advice" spoke to much of that. People watch serial killer shows on TV and teach them "stranger danger". Meanwhile, women and children should rationally fear those closest to them.
Yeah, I didn't want to say it directly because it's triggering, but that's what's in a lot of the data about who commits violent crime and who the victims are, and why the reporting is inconsistent. Thanks for the comment.
"women and children should rationally fear those closest to them"
no, not really? Family crime mostly doesn't just happen randomly out of the blue, people in abusive households are usually very aware of their situations but don't know how to escape.
People who are in healthy households shouldn't just start fearing for their lives because "well the stats say so". That's the same fallacy that was addressed in the video: using broad data to judge a more specific area.
Where I live, people call the police when they don't hear gun shots (zoned for 1 residence per 5 acres, and surrounded by private and state timberland). It is not uncommon to see a cougar or coyote walking through the neighborhood. There are also occasional bear sightings.
So if domestic violence could be under reported in a suburban area, why couldn't the murder rate also be under reported, especially in a rural area? A couple hundred pounds of meat dropped at the back property line would be gone in a day or two. And that doesn't even account for anyone who has a few pigs.
@@NihongoWakannai I don’t think Emiline Bee is saying people in healthy households should randomly start fearing for their lives. Emiline is just saying that if you’re a woman or a child, even in a “safe” suburban setting, you’re statistically most likely to experience violence from someone very close to you, and it might be underreported because of the nature of the suburbs.
Those two ideas are not the same, and the latter does not automatically imply the former. It might be only 2% of suburban women who experience violent crime, but A) it’s likely to be intimate partner violence, and B) maybe only a quarter of that 2% gets reported, because of how suburbs work.
@@onepetalleft The point is that you can't frame domestic violence as simply a statistical chance.
If 2% of women experience domestic violence, that doesn't mean you have a 2% chance of experiencing it in your household.
Just like if there is a 2% chance of experiencing a violent crime in a particular city, doesn't mean you have a 2% chance of experiencing it in your neighbourhood and your social circle.
Teaching stranger danger is definitely more important than teaching kids "Be afraid of your father who has been kind to you for your entire life because statistics say so"
Wariness of the people around you is a measure taken to prevent random crime. Domestic violence is rarely a random crime, so wariness does not help. Victims of domestic violence are almost never surprised that they were victimised, they just don't know how to escape.
Seems like you're doing pretty well in recovering from COVID, which I'm glad to see! Thanks for tackling this topic, it's definitely a complicated and touchy subject, but it's one that bears discussing.
Jane Jacobs, 'eyes on the street' is a key insight re: crime and cities.
From that FBI chart along with Arguments, Robbery is another leading factor in violent deaths. So, I guess I have learned NOT to argue with a burglar especially if they are pointing a loaded gun at me. BTW…this exact situation happened to me in my front yard one night. I did not get killed, but he also did not get my wallet. I did have to go to the ER because he pistol whipped me twice. That cost $400. I also missed 2 days of work and was interviewed on local news for holding my ground. My wife said not to act that way again. I agree. We live in a fairly safe neighborhood in inner city Houston, so this event was caused by an individual robber that just randomly showed up and started terrorizing our elderly citizens. Thanks for all your research…and no, we did not move to the suburbs. from David in Urban Houston.
The big reason so many people fear monger over crime (especially in the suburbs) is because the media heavily stigmatizes it. Now of course it is a news stations job to report crime to the public, but then there are articles that explain how dangerous cities are (such as the ones you showed in this video) that cause people to freak out. One thing I have noticed is that people care so much about crime, but then almost completely ignore how many car crashes happen every day. Some other UA-camrs have covered this and show that you are more likely to get into a car accident than being involved in a violent crime. Now for me, that’s a reason to make our cities less car dependent, but for now, this just shows that you should live life to the fullest as bad things are going to happen, but you shouldn’t just shelter up in your home living life in fear.
I've been to many of the cities at the top of the list - it's usually very clear when you've left the relative safety of the city-wide crime median area. Most cities are kind enough to put a few blocks of pawn shops, liquor stores, and boarded up former businesses between the walkable parts of the city and the areas that the city council have written off as lost causes, no longer worth investing in. Even then, people tend to radically misunderstand per capita statistics. If you find yourself in the most questionable part of the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, most shootings happen between 10pm and 2am, and as noted in the video, between people who have some sort of prior relationship. The "random violence" that so many people seem to fear is still measured in two digits per hundred thousand, the vast majority of which are not against strangers nor during daylight hours. If you're not in a gang or into drugs or into picking fights at bars or clubs, violent crime rates in cities are statically insignificant from the rates in suburban and rural areas. Of course, if you pick a fight in a rural biker bar, you can save yourself a trip to the city.
Checking in from ABQ/ central NM and have lived happily in multiple neighborhoods on this list. Thanks for making this @CityNerd! Love your channel even tho I'm actually from a tiny NM town of 250 people.
The juxtaposition in this city is irreplaceable; sometimes you can find half million dollar homes a block from some ghetto apartments. For me it was especially true when I lived in a duplex in the Far SE Heights between these two types of dwellings. Nob Hill is literally next to "the war zone" aka SE Primary. That's a really eye opening experience a lot of places don't have.
You can probably create a pt. 2 on how our lack of EFFECITVE transport infrastructure & urban sprawl contributes to the insane ammount of DUI related crime there is here. Murders may grab headlines however these are truly the actual type of preventable crime that affects us in this city. They make it hard to get a beer in Nob Hill after 9:30p cause our most functional bus line shuts down after that. Only options left are drive back to the far SE heights or budget more for rideshare fares (not getting a beer is not a feisable option lol). Garbage!
For the record when you grow up in some of these areas not joining a street gang is sometimes harder than it sounds. Come visit tho because we make up for trash transit infrastructure with great food, awesome cultural events, wonderful scenery, and did I mention beer? Plus weed is legal and we're also a mile high so take that Denver haha
Not a fan of "dont live in neighborhoods with high murder rates," that's not always within the choice space of people. Big fan of, "don't get in arguments," and "don't flash your wealth around." Crime is a very complex issue because it feeds through human psychology. It is obviously best to pursue education, stay out of trouble, and work hard, but even the combination of all three is not a guarantee of a good life. At least in the USA, there are so many ways to "fall off" and end up in unrecoverable situations. It does help to make housing affordable, and building new housing is a huge part of that, and while we're at it, let's make them as walkable and sustainable as possible, mixed use and transit oriented.
A century if shitty sunk costs has put us in a hole, but rotting from the core doesn't have to be a bad thing, just infill with the New Urbanist model, and fix the laws to make that easier.
One of the weirdest side effects of social media is the way it has allowed people to get ultra paranoid about their local area. The frustrating part of it is that when you talk about how good it would be for kids to be able to walk or cycle to school independently, that paranoia results in "I would never let my child out of my sight because they might get abducted/assaulted/mugged!"
The fact that crimes against kids in public is incredibly low in my city doesn't persuade them at all. "But I saw that post on here about that kid that got attacked". As you say at the start of your video, when it does happen it is extremely personal, a visceral response. But when it stops people supporting making communities more walkable and bikeable for all ages, that's really sad - and counterproductive. Safety in numbers is a thing, and if there's lots of people out walking and cycling all the time, then walking and cycling is immediately safer. The lone woman or kid walking with nobody else around is much more vulnerable. And I'll add that people driving by doesn't make you safer. Sadly people are not inclined to stop their car and come to someone's aid if they see something going on. If you're walking by you are much more likely to either step in or call for help.
And that's before you consider the heightened risk of injury or death where almost everyone drives and that lone walker or cyclist is almost invisible as a result.
So we have this weird self fulfilling prophecy where people are paranoid about walking or cycling because nobody's doing it, and so they object to infrastructure to make walking and cycling more appealing, so then they make walking and cycling - and their neighbourhood - less safe.
People dont want to live in an area known for shootings, kidnappings, assaults....how dare they.
If you are willing to live someplace that has a known major crime problem because you care more about bike lanes than your kid's life, then go for it.
>Safety in numbers is a thing, and if there's lots of people out walking and cycling all the time, then walking and cycling is immediately safer.
NYC says hi.
@@zandercruz3487you missed the entire point of the comment. The reason why bike lanes are so deadly in North America is because their is such a lack of it. If we built our cities for people, criminals would have a harder time of robbing people in a large crowd. NYC despite being better than most us cities is still at the end of the day highly car centric.
My city has been experiencing an apparent "uptick" in violent attacks on public transit, which always make the news, and I constantly read comments like "this is why I'll never use public transit". They don't ever think to consider how many attacks occur off public transit though, or anything else... Like how there is also an ongoing homelessness/CoL crisis, drug crisis, and mental health crisis, which is obviously going to contribute to things.
I lived in Chicago for ten years without a car. I walked and took busses and trains all over and I never even witnessed a serious crime. The worst thing I ever happened was feeling threatened by crazy people on public transportation, but that only happened twice. I moved to Lincoln, Nebraska from Chicago, and I was threatened by some psycho on the street within two weeks of arriving.
I live in Albuquerque and it's honestly really nice here. Great food, great people, pretty bikeable (I don't have a car), free college, ect. As long as you aren't an asshole to people, are really careful on the streets- there are unfortunately a LOT of DUIs- and don't live in the war zone, it's pretty safe.
Love the confirmation
I worked in Chicago at a nonprofit. We'd have white kids come volunteer from colleges around the country. I was shocked to hear some of the things their parents would tell them about the city:
"Don't carry more than $5, or you'll get mugged!"
"Don't go out past 5 p.m.!"
"Watch out for the 'brother' from the wrong side of the tracks!"
I wished I were joking, but those are all quotes from my time working in the great city. 😅
I remember when i was moving to San Francisco people was telling me bad things. Never have i every seen anything bad happen to me. I just avoid civic center and im fine. However me and my girlfriend went to go visit some family in Houston and in the downtown she gets slapped by some guy with drugs.
@@uzin0s256 Yeah, San Francisco is great. I lived outside SF years ago. It was a cesspool back then, but now people actually crap in the middle of the street, rarely on the sidewalk. Most of the needles I found were in the park near where the kids play, and its fun watching them pick them up and try to figure out what they're used for. At least there's less traffic now that so many businesses have packed up and left. Yeah, I love San Francisco.
I live in SF, so this really resonated, given the sensationalist media coverage of the city. I used to live in Durham, NC which faced a similar perception problem. Of course one of my first things to look for in a neighborhood is its walkability, then crime, and so on. The only thing I’ll add is that it’s helpful to be aware of common transit routes and which neighborhoods they pass through. I wish sometimes, for example, that Bart were better staffed to handle rowdy or high passengers. Someone was smoking crack behind me yesterday, and I’ve witnessed people on a drug induced psychotic break, where it isn’t crime per se but definitely tense. It isn’t a major issue for me (somewhat due to privilege and quickly moving away from trouble), but I could see someone having a bad experience in a metro area if they are living in a safe area and doing the right thing by using transit, then feeling unsafe on a daily basis while they travel. That being said, I think maybe that’s more a function of how we ensure safety on transit especially when servicing areas with more crime or open issues of drug abuse.
I just found your channel, and love the content.
I just moved to Albuquerque about a month ago, so I recognize my sample size is small. However, since it was brought up in this great video, I figured I'd mention it.
Before I moved here I was warned that this city would be dangerous to love in. I looked at all the crime stats and avoided the areas that were deemed dangerous. Even when I got here, my landlord, my professors, and other students who are from here told me I had to watch out and be safe.
I moved from St. Paul, Minn. In comparison ABQ feels like one big suburb. The city is safe if your smart, and it seems to me that these crime stats, like you and the FBI mention only go to spread fear, and do not paint an accurate picture of life there.
Some of the nicest people I've ever met helped me when my car broke down on my very first day in the city. Random strangers willing to help the community when they saw I needed help. Not to say that crime doesn't exist. Of course it does in all cities, people can get rowdy in the night life scene. But also there are security guards, gates, camera in every store and no one has ever acted up.
The only issue I've seen in my very limited sample size it drugs, but that in my opinion should be a question of public health, not of crime.
Anyways, just a simple opinion.
I appreciate all your weekly work, research and videos.
From ABQ,
Best.
Something else to keep in mind - how does the crime rate compare if deaths and comparable injuries from vehicular accidents (not counted as violent crime despite violent results) are included?
I'm more interested in whether I lose my life or sustain permanent/longterm injury to my health & finances than how exactly that occurs. The way it occurs may have slightly different downstream effects on me due to the trauma, but that can occur with both sources so again I really care more about the risk of getting hurt physically or financially, regardless of source.
What you say is quite accurate, but there's a couple more layers to it. My favorite missing one is the economic geography of a dangerous street. There is a certain level of foot traffic, attached to the economic conditions of the people doing the walking, which optimizes for a high crime risk. Higher traffic? Crime is too risky. Not enough traffic? Nobody to mug. This traffic is a matter of what is there to attract people to the area. This means that sometimes, more businesses open help keep the street safe, while other times they don't.
We can se this in St Louis. The same park that is very safe at noon is quite dangerous at 8 pm. Other areas are safe no matter what, while others are almost always unsafe. Zoning, and street design have a lot to do with said available amenities, and therefore have a lot to do with crime. The unfortunate part is that it's often easier for city governments to just let an area decay enough that there will be no crime (as there's nobody there), than to spend resources to make it safer by making it more appealing.
The Death and Life of Great American Cities gets into this in a few chapters.
Just saw that the ebook version of that book happens to be on sale for $2 right now at Kobo and Amazon.
I am a trained criminologist and this analysis is spot on. The internet comments about Chicago and other cities is mainly just a dog whistle from reactionaries who are miserable about their suburban lives of quiet desperation.
Yes, they don't have good material analysis and social analysis
I remember a guy commenting how miserable the city was because of "diversity". I personally enjoy all the different cultures and food in my city, it's like traveling without having to go anywhere. The only person who seemed miserable was the commenter and I suggested if that's how he feels about people, he should probably just find a nice spot in the middle of the woods.
It still confounds me why people like that complain about cities, just turn off the news and you have nothing to complain about. They don't even live here!
There are some people with racist intentions or political axes to grind.
There are people on the other end of the political spectrum who are similarly keen on denying the plain facts of urban crime. Trying to suggest that police are a larger problem than criminal activity. Denying the very obvious increase in all kinds of crime that accompanied the pandemic in many large cities. Gaslighting people who complain about it by saying that crime is an inevitable part of urban living. Which it absolutely is not.
Polling shows very conclusively that people who live in high crime urban neighborhoods are very concerned about it. Those neighborhoods are emptying out. That's why St Louis and Detroit emptied out over the last 20 years, it's mostly an exodus of working poor people of color leaving dangerous low opportunity neighborhoods. The same is true for parts of Chicago. White flight was mostly a phenomenon of 1950 to 2000, it's black and brown flight now.
And there are massive differences between the safest large cities (SF, NYC), and the least safe cities (St Louis, Baltimore, Detroit). People who pretend otherwise are delusional.
"Don't be in a street gang" 🤣 City Nerd keepin it real!
Gangsta
I was born in NYC, raised in Lima, lived in DC and Chicago. Statistically I should be dead by now if you listen to people talking about violent crime on those cities. But nothing has happened usually the morons that talk about crime in big cities have no clue what they are talking about. Thanks for bringing your usual data driven approach to this issue
BTW Pro tip on going to a place you feel is not safe: go there very early in the morning (bad guys tend to sleep long hours)
That is true. Criminals tend to be night people, not morning people.
Unless high on drugs, that tends to skew the need to sleep
Recently some members of my family and I went on a road trip and our route took us through Chicago. From the way my grandmother talked about it, you'd have thought we were going to Sodom. The way that my family members took for granted that Chicago was some kind of lawless hellhole where somehow we should expect to be gunned down while driving in the middle of the highway was... well, it's par for the course with them, but it still baffles me to perceive a place where other people live as though it's some kind of malevolent entity not populated by humanity.
Then I happened to see a clip on fox news while my mother had it on wherein they stated that crime was way up in Chicago over the past two years, which they tried to blame on the mayor or whatever even though I'm pretty sure crime has been up just about everywhere the past two years for some obvious reasons. And then they showed a video of an armed robbery or something just to make sure you got the idea that this was literally the only thing that goes on there ever. By that logic I could prove that (insert state here) has the worst drivers by just showing a video of a single car crash. It's purely based on emotional manipulation and political scorekeeping rather than actual analysis of any data that isn't cherry picked out of context or even simple rationality.
they have to turn fox news off...
"..a clip from fox news..."
What else would you expect? Fox News is from Inside Job City (i.e., a town that absolutely seethes with hatred for Chicago).
Fox News makes a load of money by keeping their viewers scared, angry, and paranoid.
One of their favorite tropes to get their followers stressed out and hating the “other” is crime. They love hanging it around the necks of Chicago, San Francisco, New York, or any other big “Liberal” city where a lot of “those” people live.
It fits perfectly into their narrative of “failed democrat” policies in “woke” cities and blue states.
It’s funny how they never focus on the crippling drug addiction, lack of opportunity, and poverty in the “red” areas.
As somebody who lives in the Northeast, I think the issue of nationwide city crime statistics can be misleading because like you highlighted comparing St. Louis to San Antonio, some cities are different than others. However, I don’t think citywide crime stats are entirely irrelevant. A big, spread out city like Jacksonville, Memphis or Atlanta’s crime stats might be misleading because those cities have miles upon miles of neighborhoods that are safe to go along with the violent dangerous areas. Meanwhile, where I live in New Jersey, our cities are very small and compact, so a city like Newark, Paterson or Trenton’s high crime rate is basically indicative of the experience you’ll have living anywhere in that city. Other small to mid-size Northeast cities are relevant in this regard as well, like Hartford, CT, Bridgeport, CT, Newburgh, NY, Wilmington, DE, Camden, NJ… these are small, densely populated cities with a high crime rate, so it is unlikely that you will be able to find a safe, walkable & affordable neighborhood in the city itself. Philadelphia and Baltimore are examples of big cities with a high crime rate. Now, both of these cities have safe, beautiful, walkable neighborhoods with good transit and decent affordability, but outside of these areas the cities also have neighborhoods that look like war-torn third world countries. It is important for quality of life and for safety concerns to stress crime rates to anyone moving into cities like these, because a neighborhood does make a massive difference.
I see what you are saying. But while Camden NJ is its own city, its really just a (shitty) suburb of Philly geographically. Its only a ten minute drive. If we take into account the metroplex of these Northern cities then its really the same as the South. Its just a matter of drawing lines and districts.
another week, another great video from CityNerd! I appreciate this zoomed in, data-driven way of looking at the crime in cities. Really provides a deeper perspective on the issue than I have seen before
I think most of my life I've lived in "high crime" areas.
They were "high crime" mostly based on the perception of folks on the outskirts of town or people who didn't live there, because of specific incidents around our few housing projects that made the news.
Very true. Suburbanites spend so little time in the city that their main perspective on it comes from the local news.
Great context! Love the deadpan humor and even the dad advice at the end.
2 anecdotes about living in my allegedly-crime-ridden city:
1. I've been in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in town at 2 AM on a Saturday. Nobody bothered me, except one guy who wanted to sell me drugs but didn't mind that I said no.
2. A lot of people thought a neighborhood I was living in was "bad" and "crime-ridden", when in fact no violent crime had occurred there in some time. But there was a large non-white population, which I think scared a lot of people off from a great neighborhood with great people living there.
I think people who are afraid of crime in cities are the type to look for problems.
I do want to say, coming at this from a Man vs Woman point of view can change one's outlook a lot. Even being in an area knowing violent crime is unlikely, a man would probably be much more comfortable walking by themselves through areas of a city that may not be perfect. Knowing that they can handle different situations, and would be less likely to be a target in the first place. As opposed to women, who in general, if they are ever walking alone always have to be hyper cognizant of their surroundings and I'm sure almost all women have multiple stories of being harassed / assaulted in the street. Even if they were never really at risk of violent crime, the experience is still one they would like to avoid.
Now saying all this, I do think that to your point, a lot of this is also taken into account.. you are going to find creeps everywhere. And I do 100% agree in general that 'crime rates' can lead to sensationalized feelings about a particular area. But, I come at it from a man's point of view, who has never ever really feared for themselves in a situation, even when I've done some dumb things late at night.
keep your women at home
I have a friend who is a 6'4" white guy who lives in the downtown area. He says downtown feels safe for him, but I would argue his experience is highly skewed because of his physical size, race, and gender.
Yikes. That kind of thinking is based on lies.. Men are overwhelmingly more likely to be victims of violent crime by strangers. If anything women need to be scared at home since they are far more likely to be killed or assaulted by their spouse than some random thug on the street
Tbh I can't agree with this. The majority of sexual assaults are committed by people the victims know and it's most likely to be an intimate partner. If you are a woman who is worried about being assaulted, everything CityNerd said still applies. The person most likely to assault you is your boyfriend, not a random guy on the street. This is the same point people make about crime in general, it just has a coat of feminist paint on it this time.
@@jodajoda2863this is a naive way of looking at it. This data could be highly underreported and could be heavily skewed as women may generally avoid walking alone in these areas in the first place. To say "you're more likely to be hurt by someone you know" is completely missing the point and disingenuous when it comes to safety for women in public
Lived in Albuquerque while in grad school and while violent crime areas are avoidable, property crime is sky high all over the city and poverty is high too. The city wore me down in the 2 years I was there and my mental health required I leave without finishing my program. Windows smashed on my car 3 times even though I left it empty, constant exposure to unpredictable drug addicts, and the burglary of my home while I was at class. Tons of great people, culture, food and beer though.
What's odd is that Canadian cities have the reverse problem to the one that you mention at the opening -- there's far more problems with per capita violent crime in small places like Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg or Thunder Bay than there is in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver. There's plenty of crime in both types of cities, and there's lots more gun crime in the major ones, but pound for pound the little Prairie cities are the worst. They're poorer, they have a lot of extremely extremely poor segregated Native neighborhoods that have lots of gang activity, and there's an active hatred of urbanism -- that is, these are cities that are run by people who hate living in cities and want to replace all urban street life with acreages and gated communities, inaccessible except by massive pickups, and guarded by as many guns as possible.
The States are full of those too.
Poverty and isolation really does increase the likelihood of violent crime.
I live in Regina in the highest crime area , our mayor dos not hate cites! There are no gated communities, hear at all ! you can not legally get an armed guard ( unless you are a pollitition who the police will give an armed protection detail to ) .
We have high crime because
1- substance abuse
2- if you have a criminal record getting any job becomes extremely difficult
3- gangs offer things the rest of society is not offering the kids
4- most guns are illegal and the gangs make a lot of money providing those guns that there is no legal way to get
5- people with nothing left to lose are almost impossible to deter
Would you describe most Canadian rural white people as racist? Do they treat the Natives with hatred, similar to the way white Southerners in the USA treated black people for a long time (and sadly, still do in parts of the South today)?
@@trentpettit6336 I mean all the people around me are first nation , I gave one groceries today
Been to Memphis a couple of times, ditto Mississippi - didn't feel unsafe in either place. We happen to be going to Albuquerque in a couple of weeks. Like you, I'm not deterred by it's high crime rate. I'm from Chicago but have lived in New York most of my adult life as well as San Jose and Boston. You learn quick where not to go and when not to ride the subway. 2:30 in the afternoon is actually not a good time = when the schools let out. Again, you learn this and adapt.
It is really sad that school kids are a big problem, but that's life. We go too easy on juvenile offenders and that feeds the problem. Maybe we should consider juvenile crime "adult" at age 13 and see if it helps.
Lots of good points. I’m from Houston and we’ve always had a bad rep for crime but people forget we are twice the size of NYC. So Crime happening 20 miles away from me is still Houston. I don’t face any issues and downtown is the safest zip code here. Like most cities you want to avoid certain areas but for the most part, idk anyone that’s had to deal with violent crime. It’s usually in between gang members
Bro the intro i swear this channel gets better by the day
13:43 "Knob Hill a bit more pricey, but not outlandish." Dude, these are $400,000 to $750,000 homes.
That's not outlandish to those of us who live in the largest metros.
@@tomfields3682 Right. Cities are expensive to live in. What do you think you proved by backing me up on this?
@@laserwolf65Well, looks like I inadvertently proved that you didn't compose a coherent post.
@@tomfields3682 I can't help it of you lack reading comprehension.
I'm in milwaukee. I had a guy shoot up my barbershop while I was in it at like 4pm on a weekday. Guy walked in and emptied a clip and then kept right on walking. I think I took a ricochet or graze wound to the forehead. My barber got hit and a guy in the chair got hit too. Luckily all survived. My family thinks I'm nuts for wanting to stay there, but the urban river paddling, beautiful lake michigan, and my ability to live car free make it totally worth it. On the other hand, i just saw that my hometown of 5.4k people had a hit and run that resulted in a pedestrian fatality. Crime isnt just an urban problem. The key is you can't live your life in fear.
>My family thinks I'm nuts for wanting to stay there, but the urban river paddling, beautiful lake michigan, and my ability to live car free make it totally worth it.
OK? You are free to gamble with yourself, but you also need to acknowledge that people that preferer to not play Russian Roulette with themselves or their family because they dont value river paddling and "car free living" more than their lives are being "silly".
YOLO all you want but that is a personal lifestyle decision.
@@zandercruz3487 I didn't use the word silly. Where did that quote come from? I made no value judgement on my family.
You play Russian Roulette every time you leave your house. Doesn't matter where you live. Lots of peoples lives ended in the ditch of a country road. I knew a few of them personally. A childhood friend of mine was shot by her step dad in a small town. Crime happens everywhere. Danger in cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural areas.
@@travisalbert276 The fact that you fail to understand that "Crime happens everywhere" is not the same as being in a city with a massive crime spike with multiple shootings a day, robberies, and assaults just reinforces the myopic attitude I've seen in the comments.
One very interesting argument I heard from the book Walkable Cities in response to judging inner city livability based on crime rates. Although inner cities usually have higher violent crime rates, if you consider both violent crime and car accidents in tandem, the inner city is actually safer due to how dangerous car dependency is. Inner cities lower the risk of being a victim of physical harm from these two by 10-20% on average. There are a few exceptions of course, such as Houston, which is just a car dependent hellscape the whole way through the city, but just goes to show how misrepresentative judging cities based on a single statistic can be.
> if you consider both violent crime and car accidents in tandem, the inner city is actually safer due to how dangerous car dependency is
Dude, please dont. Seriously. This is just cringe.
@@zandercruz3487 It's a good point though.
The problem is that crime and car accidents are way too different to just lump together into a single statistic. For instance, I’m a skinny 5’6” pasty white guy who grew up in a very safe neighborhood and have had basically zero exposure to sketchy situations, but I’m a very defensive driver with fast reaction times and try to avoid driving whenever possible. So for me I’m a lot more worried about crime than driving, but for a 6’5” 300 lb marshal arts instructor who’s bad at driving but grew up in the “hood”, auto accidents would probably be a bigger concern.
This is a great point illustrating that a ranking of “most dangerous cities” is clickbait horseshit. And it truly harms people struggling to maintain city centers, the true economic engines of many cities (like St. Louis).
@@zandercruz3487 Cringe? I mean this video is all about how crime statistics often don't accurately represent a city so it's extremely relevant and an important perspective on safety at a macro level and relates to the core themes of the channel of city design and walkability. Like he mentioned in the video if you or a loved one was the victim of violent crime I'm sorry you had to go through that and the overall data clearly means nothing related to the traumatic experience you had to go through which is understandable and its not meant to be dismissive of your personal experience. It's just about the nature of risk assessment and how perceptions and reality often don't align.
I honestly really appreciate this video more than I know how to express. I'm planning on moving to Chicago later this year and it's arguably the city that people love to hate on the most in respects to crime. I appreciate your nuanced and thoughtful take on the topic, it makes me feel a lot more comfortable about my decision. Keep up the good work!
What’s really sad in ABQ right now is how much ppl blame homeless ppl for the crime rates, but they don’t support building more housing or anything that would be actually helpful
Ross McDonald wrote great "crime" novels. I'm off topic again, but your videos are so darn good, there's not much to criticize.
I'm largely sympathetic to most sentiments of @CityNerd. However, I live in a nice part of Oakland (recently touted in a past video). Crime is disturbingly bad here. Like, armed robbery at 1pm on a Saturday 2 blocks from my house levels of bad. Like, elderly people kneecapped with hammers levels of bad. Look up reports from all the nice neighborhoods, Piedmont, Lakeshore, Montclair, and Rockridge, it's equally bad. There are no safe places here, and you'd never know it by just looking around.
Thank you for some common sense!
This was great! I'd adore more videos like this, maybe focusing on a city with a bad reputation and looking at the undervalued areas within.
Yeah, I don't feel like I can really do it without visiting and living it, though. Streetviews and statistics only get you so far!
There are neighborhoods I lived in as a child because of the gentrification in Milwaukee that I couldn't afford as an adult. Specifically, the Bay View neighborhood City Nerd pointed out in his video on underrated cities. I wish there was some sensitivity to people who can't afford cars being displaced out of neighborhoods where there is fantastic bus service. The people who move into those neighborhoods choose to live a car-light lifestyle, which means they wouldn't be as stranded as the poor people they're pushing out.
@@CityNerd that makes a lot of sense!
12:10 "Wikipedia, the FBI said you're not supposed to be doing this"
13:06 "This is City Nerd, not Hinterlands Nerd"
You have THE best quotes! 😁
THANK YOU for beginning to address this! I always lived in areas people deemed “unsafe” growing up (this happens when you grow up in cities bordering Compton) & I honestly always felt like people felt that way because there were tons of Black and brown people where I grew up and perceived crime. Like yes, the 90s were what they were but it was always very livable and full of families where I lived.
I don't care about race or even know the race demographics, but I would want to avoid places where the stats said there's more crime. I'm not saying there isn't racism. Also, it's can be hard to complain about crime cause some people will blame victims for living in a higher crime area. Or some people assume victims or people voted for policies that let there be increased crime.
Totally get your reluctance tos-eat on this topic and thank you for your sensitivity in addressing it in an open and unfiltered manner. It is very much a breath of fresh air.
wow you are so good....I've been an amateur urban studies 'expert' since the 80's, starting with the must reads like crabgrass frontier....urban crisis, Detroit, Sugrue...AND lived in 'dangerous' Mission District SF, since 86, and was very pleased to find your channel...where you actually research 'per capita rates' and take in so many other variables.....nothing our so called 'journalists' in MSM do.......the 'skyrocketing crime rate' lately....is such a lie....yes murder rates are going up.....but we have nothing going on like the 80's...
So articulate and acknowledging viewer sensibilities, while treating us as adults.
This video is an example of why I love your channel - important topic, well researched, excellent presentation on a sensitive and often misunderstood subject spoken by people, as you said, don’t either like cities or live in the city. I’ve lived in big urban areas for the majority of my life. Crime is a reality in every community but it’s not like some say they imagine it to be. Just thank you for this thoughtful video. Glad I follow you.
My first comment: two seconds in and I already love the video with this intro. Man! I love this channel!
Here's a topic for a future video: crime rates on public transit. Or maybe the subject of safety and security on public transit. I live in Montreal and we're getting a new city spanning light rail system (the REM). Recently the subject of policing the system came up because Vancouver's SkyTrain has supposedly had to deal with an uptick in crime. Nobody here has actually addressed how to secure the areas around the stations or the trains. And I've seen some of the new stations and I can see how dangerous they could be late at night. Looking forward for your insights.... in your Valley Girl delivery 😉 (just joking, I really enjoy your content 😁)
Great video! Thanks for the continued great content. I just found your channel a few weeks ago and am thoroughly enjoying going through the archive.
Crime happens everywhere. I would argue that the potential for horrific crimes are actually higher in rural areas due to the sparse population (less eyes on what you're doing). But I understand that the data shows something different from that. While you can't control the actions of others, I really think being aware of your surroundings, or at least looking the part, is a huge deterrent for opportunistic crime. I really think that no one should be walking around with headphones on. JUST PAY ATTENTION. Save the headphones for a more predictable and secure space.
I love cities but might also be tempted to subscribe to HinterlandsNerd.
I will be your first Patreon
I've been struggling to communicate this concept for some time. The really crass thought that has continually sprung to mind when rich, white, suburban family and coworkers complain about the crime in my city is, "That crime is not for you!" The crime should be a prompt to sympathy and action to enable those *actually* effected by it, not further isolation. Thank you for encouraging us to visit and spend money in "high crime areas" as we are comfortable. That line about conspicuous consumption, absolutely savage!
No city has suffered more reputational harm than Albuquerque? How about Baltimore with The Wire? I love the show, but it's pretty much trashed Baltimore's reputation permanently (even more so than it already would be).
To be honest, its rep wasn't that great before. I'm not sure that the show changed anything, just brought it to the screen, kind of like Escape from New York did for NYC.
Oooohhhh that's a good point. Homicide: Life On the Street, too! And Diner gives me the heebie-jeebies.
And the original Serial podcast! Aahhhhh
The Baltimore Riots didn’t help either
Nina Simone - Baltimore (1978) the songlyrics confronts the problems
You deliver excellent content to your audience. It's very interesting material. All of your effort put into creating this video is much appreciated. I'm truly grateful for your help!
Hi Ray, I would love to see you do a video on how political affiliations impact peoples descisions to live in urban areas (red vs blue areas)
The Associated Press did a great story on this topic. You can find it by Googling the headline:
"Conservatives go to red states and liberals go to blue as the country grows more polarized"
What's always fascinated me is how isolated and random "ghettos" are. You can walk through one block that is dirty and shifty and run down, and the very next street is a new development that stretches for miles, but has one or two "dead spots" in them already. What are the factors that cause these spots to exist when they're separated by lively, healthy areas by so little physical distance? Makes it hard to divide "bad" spots from "good" spots and makes sweeping generalizations about the safety of any given area feel really reductive and useless.
Another thing to note is that lower home prices in the city are also related to perceived school quality not just percieved crime. This could be another video topic as not all "poorly ranked" inner city schools are bad schools. However, they underperform for various reasons that also relate to the somewhat misleading crime data mentioned in this video.
Thank you for bringing this up. This is a huge deal in Maryland, where people will pay top dollar for houses to be in some of the best school districts in the nation, ranking wise. They bitch and moan about how expensive houses are, but you can get houses in the city of Baltimore for the mid 250s easily.
my opinion? I think people use test scores as a surrogate for "I don't want my kids to be around pores and minorities. "
This was great, I really enjoyed this one. Highly relevant right now for me, as I’m exploring a couple “undervalued” cities as potential places to move to.
Which ones are you thinking about. I've been to all of the cities in the lower 48. Most undervalued are usually in the Midwest.
I live in an inner city Philadelphia neighborhood and I love it. I agree with the safety rules presented, but also, meet and know your neighbors and get a dog! I feel safe every day despite knowing crime has and will happen close by.
Sigo siendo tu fan. Gracias por el excelente contenido, y la manera de presentarlo.
Video idea building off this one:
With climate change likely to cause migration from rapidly growing areas in the sunbelt... What small Midwest, Northeast, and Rust Belt cities are well poised and prepared to absorb additional population?
We have some neighborhoods adjacent to gentrifying neighborhoods with empty lots (due to arson) in Milwaukee. We have no anxiety about access to ample fresh water, are cheaper to live in, is easier to use either a car or buses than Chicago, and white flight took tens of thousands of people out of the city, meaning we have room for people. The lots are empty, cheap plots, so the horrible modern urban single family homes where you live upstairs from your garage would probably slot right in there. I'm specifically talking about the Harambe neighborhood, which as you might guess is probably going to attract mostly white gentrifiers that will displace the historic population. The near west side is also ripe for gentrification, but lacks the empty, cheap lots for development. There are, however, literally mansions there, that would be expensive to fix up, but still... mansions from the age of the brewer barons. And the access to downtown if you're not too far from Wisconsin avenue (basically our main street through downtown) is I think 15 minutes by frequently running bus. There's also Bluemound Heights which is getting a dedicated bus only lane to downtown. I think the out of state gentrifiers (it's already getting gentrified from in state people) would be happy to live in that neighborhood, even if they considered the small houses tear downs so they could have parking because there's no alleys in that neighborhood, which is unusual for most of the city.
tl;dr Milwaukee is a cheaper, smaller Chicago with the same access to fresh water that is easy for both car transit and busses, but you're a lunatic to risk biking in most of it because we've got a recent and horrible speeding problem.
@@MilwaukeeWoman I share many of the same sentiments about Pittsburgh. Fairly stable climate, access to fresh water, tons of housing stock that can be renovated to accommodate additional population.
Thank you helping to set people straight in how they evaluate where to live.
Whenever people ask about where to move, I remind people asking about the "high crime" of certain areas to take a closer look at what kinds of crimes are happening. A lot of the time, crime heat maps make areas look undesirable. But closer inspection shows that one of the flaws is the lack of distinction between crimes. A shopping center for example is going to look terrible because of all the petty theft. Heavily trafficked with lots of opportunity means no surprises there; Theft is a crime of opportunity, after all. The threat in such a context is mostly to businesses not residents. When I look at crime maps overlaid on areas I'm looking to move to, I'm looking for signs of things that put me and my overall well-being at risk: A combination of domestic violence calls, ADW's, burglaries, vehicle theft, and vandalism would of course be a red flag. A combination of petty theft and assault would make me check to see if there are shops, tourist attraction(s), nightlife (alcohol service, entertainment venues) -signs that the area may be walkable.
i studied cities a lot in college and grad school, and i'll have to admit that i was still a bit hesitant when i first moved out to the west coast to Oakland, from just the sheer sensationalist coverage of Oakland as a crime-ridden hellhole. now when i'm wandering around and visiting different parts of the city with its many different neighborhoods and incredible parks, it's mind boggling how far off the sensationalist coverage maps on to the actual experience of most of the city, or that i was ever worried. yeah, there are some rough parts like any bigger city, but you could also just like... not join a street gang and go to those parts making trouble. (inb4 the inevitable replies of like ActUaLlY OakLanD SuCKs)
They just evicted there homless. Im proud of Oakland and yeah. the bay area is always being told as those places where you will be shot and killed when in reality its the opposite of that.
I lived on a "rough street" in West O for a few years. There was a greater sense of community than I have found anywhere else. I didn't feel threatened living there. Outside of my car window getting smashed once, I pretty much encountered zero crime issues there personally and the pros far outweighed the cons
Thank you for a very data driven analysis of crime statistics and how they are so often misunderstood. City neighborhoods are often great but get lumped into really bad
nearby areas where crime often happens past midnight or later due to drugs. City size statistically makes a huge difference in the stats like you mentioned. I'm sure you will get many rough comments but thanks for being brave to explain and share your opinion!
I do think Canadian, Asian and European cities ( especially in Switzerland, Singapore, Japan, Monaco) are far more safer than US cities
You think correctly and the stats back you up!
Very anecdotal: Milwaukee is often listed as “dangerous” but when I visited last month, I never felt safer walking around a major city, even alone after dark. It was remarkable.
Your 'feelings' are not a reliable source of data.
@@arrgghh1555 yeah that’s why I said very anecdotal
If he was in certain neighborhoods he probably was pretty safe. I've lived in Milwaukee for 36 out of 46 years of my life, born here came back, and most of the crime is mostly concentrated to areas where people who have discrimination in job seeking and lack of ability to access suburban jobs (much lower car ownership) have a life of struggle and the presence of street gangs. Basically, and I hate this, if you visit the city and avoid the Latino and Black parts of the city you will probably be fine. This is the disgusting shame of the city that I love and I wish we could attract more employers that had decent jobs that you could get with a GED or high school diploma. I live in a fairly diverse neighborhood, which is rare, there's only a very few, and it's pretty safe, but I won't walk my dogs after sunset. They do have a whole back yard, so they're alright.
I grew up very poor, so in my youth I have lived in the inexpensive Latino and Black neighborhoods, and I know what happens to those people is unfair, and I know it was easier for me to get a good paying suburban job and escape that with only a high school diploma because I'm white and have owned a car since I was 30. But I do know what it's like to access better paying jobs for people with high school diplomas only from the rough neighborhoods. (I have gone on to have some college, my ego wants me to point that out.)
Last week I biked from University district in Milwaukee to the site of George Floyd's murder on Chicago Street and 38th. People throughout the city were awesome!!!
@@jonmathison3491 That was in Minneapolis.
I live in Baltimore and, to me, one silver lining of the bad reputation is I assume it may slow gentrification (not sure if this is true though). On that note, I'd love to see a video where you go into progress without gentrification. IMHO it's all about the pace of changes, and developments that are meant to uplift members of the community and not invite outsiders or push community members out.
As a fellow Baltimoron I think you might be on to something.
I live in a neighborhood that has dramatically improved itself over the past few decades through initiatives like the dollar house program. There are only two new/gentrified developments so the neighborhood still retains its livability and historic charm.
Baltimore stands in stark contrast to its neighbor down the road, Washington. I'm not sure there are many cities that scream 'gentrification' more than DC, and even if I could afford to live there I'm not sure I would enjoy it as much as where I am now. It would be interesting to compare resurgent cities (DC, Boston, etc.) to declining or stagnant ones to see if gentrification really makes them more livable.
Gentrification is a good thing though.
I don't get why race matters so much to you. So what if whoever moves in? Some people said they don't want people to view Africans like that, so why do you do that same to other races?
@@user-gu9yq5sj7c lol I wasn't talking about race at all dude. the idea of gentrification has to do with a community that lives in a particular place, not a racial community. probably should check yourself if that's what you assume I meant.
Thank you for the Baltimore shout out. Interestingly enough I've been here about 20 years and I've never been a victim of any crime at all. But - I did have my rental car broken into and all my stuff removed, in Las Vegas lol. Ironic that CityNerd lives in Las Vegas
Crime is hyperlocal, housing prices are much more regional. You can avoid crime in a high crime city fairly easily, but avoiding high housing or transportation costs in an expensive or sprawling city is extremely difficult.
Crime basically ruins US cities and why we will never in our life times get the kind of cityscapes common in Europe. Neighborhoods will get a bad reputation and then decay into urban blight. If it gets bad enough then the whole city's reputation will get ruined. Crime is the main cause of urban food deserts. Shoplifters will literally drive every store in the neighborhood out of business. Then what good is walkability if there is no place to walk to and all the stores and shops are boarded up.
There is a potential top ten list for you:
The top ten urban food deserts.
Thank you for sticking up for Albuquerque. I live in the south valley of the city, while there are some colorful characters, I think this area is relatively safe. Hopefully I don't get mugged tomorrow, now that I say that.
I live in The Tenderloin in San Francisco. High crime with high walking scores and numerous transit lines. I have amazing city views and no problems with crime here. Mostly it’s homeless who are their own worst enemies. It is block to block here and my street is pretty good, relatively speaking. There is a major transit line that goes through here and nearby hotels so The City won’t let it get too bad. I don’t make any sudden moves around mentally ill people and usually don’t go out at night when it can get crazy. Overall it’s a good experience here with my quiet apartment several stories above the street
lol you just described so many precaution you have to take to feel safe. "no problems" sure
@@slickvik4508 LOL! Everyone takes precautions everywhere. Even small towns
You give data from the FBI that admits that cities are prone to have higher crime rates, but does this hold up in all cities or just American? I would hypothesize that much of the high crime in cities all goes back to the post WW2 era of suburbanization, urban renewal, and white flight that decimated cities as well made many metro areas highly segregated by race and class. Poverty breads crime and there’s places where the only people making money are the slumlords and the drug dealers and then we wonder why young people join gangs. Not to say the reasons given in the report you mentioned are necessarily wrong, just America’s relationships with cities is different. Great video as always, love the channel!
Crime is higher in cities because inequality is greater and more in your face in big cities. Nothing feels more unjust than struggling to survive as some rich person drives past you in their luxury vehicle. When you’re poor in a rural area and everyone else around you is poor, you just view it as living a simple life. If you’re poor in a city you’re treated like a loser or a failure. Solve inequality and you will solve crime as well.
La inequidad genera más resentimiento que la pobreza. No recuerdo quién lo dijo.
Small cities have rich people and in my experience it can be more of a problem because they tend to control an even larger portion of the town either through being one of the few employers or by local government or both.