Any bad areas in Chico? (apartments, rental, crime rates)

[alexbaldi74]

Hi,
Me and my wife (38 and 29 y.o.) are moving to Chico this summer because she will start attending Butte College.
I would like to know if there are any really bad areas that we should avoid to look for an apartment to rent.
Is the area east of the Esplanade (and north of Cohasset Rd) really that bad? From the neighborhood scout crime statistics (Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed), it looks like there is a lot of crime over there respect to other areas of the town.

Thanks for your feedback

[Ceece]

My daughter always said to avoid the Ave's north of the campus.

[Gyva]

Yes! stay off of Rancheria Drive. Last year we just made the move to Chico for the first time and I rented an apartment on this road at around 8am in the morning. Next day after awaking in a motel I only had a car full of stuff and was moved in by 9am. All was good, then, they started waking up around noon. My peaceful little neighborhood was now a full force front yard 40oz drinking festival, with cars stopping in the middle of the road with other guys running out to the cars and doing the swapity swap swap drug deals. Their was a group walking up and down the road with a guy carrying a 2x4 peering into every car they past by, mine no exception. There was arguing and yelling, and thumping music so load my windows shook. Its now 1pm lol, no Sh*t... I packed my car up as fast as I could and I was back in the motel by 2pm. I was lucky the landlord gave me a full refund. I love Chico, I love it love it love it, but I will never walk down that street again when I move back this year. A few streets in each direction are pretty much the same. The motel manager told me this is where all the folks who get free housing live. Lesson learned, check the next rental at all hours throughout the day before agreeing to live there. I believe I was in the heart of Chico's ghetto lol..... GL on your move its a wonderful town except that area.

[alexbaldi74]

Thanks to both of you for your feedback. If we thought that we should avoid the area just north of CSU, your story definitely sealed the deal!

[WesternPilgrim]

Originally Posted by alexbaldi74

From the neighborhood scout crime statistics (Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed), it looks like there is a lot of crime over there respect to other areas of the town.

Thanks for your feedback

I never thought of that area as particularly high crime, but maybe it's changed over the years. Chapmantown used to be the place to avoid but it doesn't seem too bad to me.

Chico had another rape last week. The victim was a a girl walking home at 5:10am in the student housing grid south of the campus. There were two similar incidents last September if I remember correctly, also early morning hours in the same neighborhood.

[shelterguru1]

alexbaldi74, if you're looking for a great resource to help you find a place in Chico, you should check out livinginchico.com/blog/?p=264. It doesn't give crime rates of certain sites, but you can check out the condition of apartments and judge for yourself whether it's a good area or not. For the most part, if you're looking for a safer place in Chico, stay away from the downtown college areas.

Hope this helps...

[BeauCharles]

The original post was from last May - they've probably figured it out by now.