Somerville safety (Boston: rent, crime, to buy)

[grez]

Hi, I am moving to Boston to study in MIT soon, looking for appartment.
I've heard some areas in Somerville are not so safe. Can someone
list those areas??

[|Incognito|]

In general...

western part of somerville where it borders arlington or cambridge (south/south west) are OK
eastern part of somerville where it borders everett, malden and so forth not so good

[Urban Peasant]

Somerville is traditionally blue collar working class but in recent years has become very gentrified. There are tons of graduate and undergraduate students renting on the west side (Teele Square, Davis Square, Ball Square, etc) and around Tufts University but parts of the east side like Union Square is also coming up very quickly.

Like all places, always lock your door when you go out and be alert at night. Somerville isn't the most dangerous of places but there is the occasional robbery, assault, or break-in. I think it's because of the difference in income between the students and young professionals on one end and lower income working class residents on the other.

[DobermanBoston]

Like anywhere else most of the petty crime here is driven by drug addicts; thankfully there aren't a whole lot of them. There is some Latino gang activity in the Sullivan Square/East Somerville area but that
isn't likely to affect outsiders and hasn't spread to any other parts of Somerville so far. Overall I'd classify Somerville's crime situation as "mild to moderate".

As the previous poster said if you follow some common sense precautions you should be fine.

[armanian111]

my wife and my alitle son are going to move to boston, just i m wondering if somervile is safe enouph to live? i ll apperciate if you can recomend me any good location to buy or rent house.

[professeurpablo]

The standard viewpoint seems to suggest that there is an east-west divide in Somerville in terms of crime. While there has been, as some have mentioned, some gang activity in the eastern reaches of the city, particularly in the Foss Park area, it has been fairly quiet of late. I know a few people who live out that way and like it for its convenience to the orange line. On the other hand, the large young / student population on the western end of Somerville seems to lead to occasional street robbery and assault patterns targeting mostly unaware people wearing headphones or talking on cell phones late at night. Although this is undoubtedly the "nicer" part of town, packed with restaurants and bars and near a few red line stops, it has its sketchy spots, particularly around the Foodmaster past Teale Square. Use caution like you would anywhere, and Somerville, east or west, will be a safe, fun and convenient place to live. That said, definitely rent before you buy. Especially for those coming from other parts of the country, the density of a city like Somerville (over 18,000/square mile) might take some getting used to. Good luck!