Atlanta suburban city crime rate? (Boston, Buckhead: neighborhood, schools, to live in)

[johnatl]

No, I don't. I know exactly what the FBI stats mean, how the rankings work and the implications they project for people that are not aware of the true situation or don't understand statistics.

The "top 10" crime cities list that comes out every year are just that - CITY crime statistics. We are talking about a single jurisdiction of about 485,000 people vs. a Metropolitan Area made up of 20 counties with a population of about 5.3 milllion people. Get it? The original post was about suburban crime in Atlanta, but these lists you all refer to do NOT include any stats outside of the City of Atlanta. It is not a fair comparison and the repeated posts that indicate things are any more out of control in our suburbs vs. any other American suburbs is alarmist, reckless and irresponsible.

[mg83]

Actually there are plenty of sites that break crime down by MSA. Atlanta's MSA includes Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton counties... garnering a total population of 5 million people.

Even with that, the adjusted murder rate hovers around 7.5-8.0, rape around 22, robbery at 210, and assault at 290.

Not the worst place in America by far... but definitely not the safe haven so many Atlantans think it is.

[Noc]

Originally Posted by johnatl

No, I don't. I know exactly what the FBI stats mean, how the rankings work and the implications they project for people that are not aware of the true situation or don't understand statistics.

The "top 10" crime cities list that comes out every year are just that - CITY crime statistics. We are talking about a single jurisdiction of about 485,000 people vs. a Metropolitan Area made up of 20 counties with a population of about 5.3 milllion people. Get it? The original post was about suburban crime in Atlanta, but these lists you all refer to do NOT include any stats outside of the City of Atlanta. It is not a fair comparison and the repeated posts that indicate things are any more out of control in our suburbs vs. any other American suburbs is alarmist, reckless and irresponsible.

I don't think it even matters at this point. Crime in and around Atlanta is out of control PERIOD. No need to try to be politically correct. This may be the opportunity to control the huge influx of people with crime being the deterrent. Atlanta has a number of negative that I was overlooking b/c I would be able to live with them but crime taking the #1 spot is not something I can live with. It's not even me I'm worried about it would be my wife and child . These headlines are what we are getting here in NY. Living here all this time I'm almost immune to it. This is one reason to want to leave NY but not to go to a place where the crime rate is on par or worse than where I'd be coming from.

Big disappointment! Atlanta is a beautiful city and has a lot of new buildings and projects on the horizon. Atlanta Construction Thread IV This is almost 300 pages and it's the 4th Thread about the construction in Atlanta.

[johnatl]

Okay, I went ahead and spent a little too much time on this, but here is what I found.

As far as the "Most Dangerous U.S. Cities" list for 2007 (City of Atlanta only) we rank #22. Link: Safest and Most Dangerous U.S. Cities, 2007 — Infoplease.com

The most recent year that Metro statistics are available is for 2006. Guess what folks? The 9th largest Metro is ranked #100! There's the real deal. Memphis is the most dangerous Metro, but quite a few places are way ahead of Atlanta that puts this garbage to rest.

I'm talking nice places like Metro Orlando, Tampa, Nashville, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Tallahassee, Albuquerque, Houston, Tulsa, Sarasota, Greenville/Spartanburg, San Francisco, Sacramento, Pensacola, Chattanooga, Tucson, Kansas City, Fort Myers, Lakeland, Colorado Springs, Indianapolis, Dallas, etc., etc., etc. Again, these are Metro rankings for all the places listed, not just inner city.

Link: 2006 Metro Area Violent Crime Rates

I am probably one of the least politically correct people out there Noc, so that argument won't work on me. I like facts. I have presented facts. Crime is bad, but we certainly are in no way in the dire straights that are being portrayed here. There is plenty of room in places like Wyoming and Montana for people that are so terrified to live in a metropolitan area. If this perception keeps people off the trains due to unwarrented fear, or avoiding Downtown, or spending time trying to paint this place as something it's not to feed your own fears, I say it's time to move.

[johnatl]

Oh, and Noc - If you live in the City of New York, you live in THE safest big city in America.

[mg83]

Originally Posted by mg83

Actually there are plenty of sites that break crime down by MSA. Atlanta's MSA includes Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton counties... garnering a total population of 5 million people.

Even with that, the adjusted murder rate hovers around 7.5-8.0, rape around 22, robbery at 210, and assault at 290.

Not the worst place in America by far... but definitely not the safe haven so many Atlantans think it is.

I'd say this is probably more accurate. Table 6 - Crime in the United States 2006

Do your own research.

The Atlanta MSA includes the actual city of Atlanta. Which, as we all know, APD has such a wonderful reputation for accuracy in their reporting.

Crime here wouldn't keep me from going downtown. The lack of things to do would. Nobody is painting Atlanta to be anything but what is actually is. The United States has the distinct honor of being one of the more violent, civilized countries. This we all understand. Within the US, the south is the more impoverished, crime-ridden part (as a whole), this is a fact. Given those circumstances, Atlanta is still placed with a crime index WELL ABOVE the US average.

Like with anyplace, there are parts of town that I just would never go to or live in. There seem to be many "parts of those towns" here in and around Atlanta.

[Northman]

Originally Posted by johnatl

The most recent year that Metro statistics are available is for 2006. Guess what folks? The 9th largest Metro is ranked #100! There's the real deal. Memphis is the most dangerous Metro, but quite a few places are way ahead of Atlanta that puts this garbage to rest.

I'm talking nice places like Metro Orlando, Tampa, Nashville, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Tallahassee, Albuquerque, Houston, Tulsa, Sarasota, Greenville/Spartanburg, San Francisco, Sacramento, Pensacola, Chattanooga, Tucson, Kansas City, Fort Myers, Lakeland, Colorado Springs, Indianapolis, Dallas

Ha ha.......John, it's time you woke up and realized that stats like these are about as accurate as an arrow with no tail.

The metro Atlanta area is #ONE HUNDRED in the country for most dangerous??? Are you kidding me?

I lived in Houston for 8 years. I LIVED THERE, John! Suburban Houston doesn't have half the insanity going on that suburban Atlanta does.

Same with Boston. Not even close.

Detroit is bad, but I can't remember anywhere near the amount of suburban crime happening there that goes on in Atlanta. Detroits suburbs are actually very nice in comparison to the city.

Stats are a load of crap, dude. Government spin, nothing more. If there's 100 places in this country more ridden with crime than metro Atlanta then we're in BIG TROUBLE!

[OhioNative]

I'm not sure what the final number was, but we did have a record number of murders in Gwinnett last year (somewhere around 50 - maybe someone could provide the exact number). This is very high for a suburban county, IMO.

[applejuice]

Originally Posted by johnatl

Nor am I Bob. The tragic fate of the beautiful hiker could - and DOES happen everywhere now. Her killer is accused of murders in an arc ranging from Tallahasse to Asheville. How is this representative of Atlanta? How about the poor girl kidnapped from her friends couch in Reno two weeks ago? Or the recent sickening case outside Orlando where the guy robbed and then set afire a pregnant girl and her cousin at an Insurance Agency? There are sick and twisted individuals everywhere, but they are still outnumbered by decent people - including in Metro Atlanta.

Bottom line - this is not by any stretch of the imagination the dangerous hellhole some of you are making it out to be. Again, this is the 9th largest Metro now. We have more people here than many STATES do. Consider the numbers folks.

You know maybe we should let some of the posters continue to scare the living s***t out of potential future residents of Atlanta. This can only help our traffice problem

[kwr]

Originally Posted by applejuice

You know maybe we should let some of the posters continue to scare the living s***t out of potential future residents of Atlanta. This can only help our traffice problem

I agree. Don't move to Atlanta because it is the MOST dangerous metro area in the US.