What Are The Bad Sections of Chicago? (Oak Park, Riverdale: middle-class, crime)

[some dude]

I have two questions.

1. What would you say is the worst neighborhood in Southside Chicago?

2. What do you think about St. Ignatius School?

[NSH]

Originally Posted by some dude

I have two questions.

1. What would you say is the worst neighborhood in Southside Chicago?

2. What do you think about St. Ignatius School?

worst neighborhoods (do not drive through day or night)
Riverdale, Roseland, and West Pullman.
bad neighborhoods (ok to drive through during the day but at night forget it)
Englewood, Eastern Morgan Park, Marquette Park, Pullman, East Chicago, Brainerd, Gresham
Good Neighborhoods (crime rate comparable to north side neighborhoods)
Garfield Ridge, Clearing, Scottsdale, Chatham, Auburn, Bronzeville, McKinley Park, Western Morgan Park, Mt Greenwood, Washington Heights, Hegewisch.
Destination Neighborhoods (top tier neighborhoods that are consistently rated with the best in the city)
Hyde Park, South Loop, Bridgeport, Beverly.
St Ignatius is in the very popular University Village Neighborhood in the South Loop and is consistently rated as one of the top private schools in Chicago. Tests to get in are tough.

[cdrobert]

ive walked at night through: hyde park, scottsdale, all of pullman, and riverdale and never had a problem

[NSH]

Originally Posted by cdrobert

ive walked at night through: hyde park, scottsdale, all of pullman, and riverdale and never had a problem

You misinterpreted my comment, Hyde Park, Pullman and Scottsdale are the good neighborhoods
Riverdale... well your on your own with that one

[marcin25]

Just try to stay away from the southside because this is the worst area of the town you can get it into. It's pretty much a ghetto there. Also on the northside there's the worst ghetto in the town. It's on Laramie/Lake. Stay as far away from that place as you can. Places like Maywood and Cicero are BAD neighborhoods also. Berwyn is a good place to live on the southside - it's close to town but surrounded by not so good neighborhoods.
You can tell whre a black or just very bad neighborhood is by looking at Chicago from Google Earth. There's many unused spaces or "holes" in residential areas. Normally, there'd be 20 houses in one block, but there's only 10. You can use www.ersys.com that website shows you an Ethnic Map of every bigger city.

[marcin25]

Does anyone know if there is crime in the northwest suburbs. Such as: Des planes, Mt. prospect, Rolling Meadows, ect. (Is it a good place to raise your kids?). Or should I go to different suburbs?

I LIVE IN PARK RIDGE, ALMOST BY DES PLAINES AND IT'S AWESOME HERE. PRETTY MUCH ALL THE NORTHWESTERN SUBURBS ARE VERY GOOD TO LIVE AND THEY GROW RAPIDLY.

[MarquettePark]

That school tops all high schools, in the USA, as far as I am concerned, If you can get your kid in there, and afford the tuition,

The dumbest kid, in St Ignacius, is still more intelligent than the smartest kid, in any Chicago Public High School,

I attended Quigley South, which was all boys, so when our North Central Evaluation came out we were 2nd to St Ignacius, I dont remember which schools were 3rd 4th etc, no public school ranked higher than 15,

I would have loved to attend St. Iggy, but couldnt afford it, and like many other excellent Chicago Catholic Schools, the neighborhoods, that surround them are absoloutely unliveable,

The southside for the most part is a Demilitarized Zone, No Mans Land, the only decent areas of it are in the 60629 60655 60643 60632, zipcodes, plus the area west south and north of midway airport, and the NARROWS located in the south east side of the city, Avenue G, H, K, L, O

[SAI126]

Originally Posted by chitownguy

The northside is the best. Avoid the southside - lots of bad areas.

Are you really a chitownguy? Have you been to the south side lately, or do you think it's all ghettos, gang bangers and folks like the Ligues who jump on umpires at US Cellular? I've got news for you, gentrification has come to the south side in a big way. Not only that, it's just in its infancy. Get out of your cocoon and check out what's happening in Bridgeport, Chinatown, Armour Square and Bronzeville. It all started in the South Loop way back in the early 80s, and it's gradually moving south. Your attitude is retro to say the least.

[j33]

The southside is really where all the interesting up and coming neighborhoods really seem to be these days. I live in the firmly gentrified East Village/West Town part of the city (my reasons for living here are my own and have little to do with being hip, which I am not). However, a good portion of my friends, looking for cheaper housing are moving south. Being a former south-suburbanite myself and a regular at the south-side irish parade since I was a child, I may be joining them someday when I get sick of my neighborhood (or priced out), at least down there I won't be given so much crap about liking the White Sox

Yes, there are bad areas of the south-side, but they are easy to avoid, and that certainly doesn't describe the entire south-side of the city.

What has happened in the South LOOP is amazing, I remember parts of the south LOOP that you wouldn't want to walk around in back in in 1990 or so that are impeccable and unaffordable now.

[Drover]

I tried to move to Bridgeport but I could not persuade my wife to transfer from her Schaumburg office to her employer's downtown office. So here I am up on the Northwest side so that her commute won't be murder. Oh well, at least I ended up in a Bridgeport-esque neighborhood. I just wish I was paying Bridgeport-esque rent (though it's still not bad for the space I have).