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If you believe the University of Chicago, 1 in 5 youths killed in shootings are innocent bystanders. I wouldn't call that a very small number. That doesn't include injuries, or adults killed or injured.
I don't question their numbers, but I think the definition of "innocent" is open to interpretation. Much of what they call "innocent" is more accurately described as "not the intended target". If a girl is dating a known gang member and hanging out with him on a stoop I would consider her to be "innocent", but she's also making some really dumb choices that are putting her in much higher danger than the average person (which is what I assume the OP is). Look at the example they give in the article you linked to - a 6 month old who was killed when gang members shot at her father. The vast, vast, VAST majority of violence in Chicago is not random.
If you want to have a big discussion on what "innocent" is - go nuts. But the OP asked a specific question about safety and my answer was directed at that question - not at some theoretical discussion.
So Chicago seems to remain at the top of the list of cities I want to move to, but these two things are holding me back, the crime more so than the weather. I've lived in NYC and the weather didn't bother me at all, but I know Chicago's weather is worse. The crime in NYC definitely bothered me. I was mugged twice and I think at least five random strangers picked fights with me while I was there. It'd definitely bother me if Chicago was worse in that area.
So what do you guys think?
Weather - Winter weather is definitely horrible, and I say that as someone that loves Chicago and has lived here for my entire life. Spring is also underwhelming here (not necessarily horrible, but it's wildly unpredictable). Summer and fall weather are consistently great, though, which often gets lost in the mix when talking about "Chicago weather".
Crime - absolutely nowhere in the vicinity as bad as what seems to be the national perception IF you're living on the North Side or the neighborhoods adjacent to downtown (along with a few South Side pockets like Hyde Park and Beverly), which is where virtually every professional lives. That side of Chicago ("Global Chicago") is literally as safe as Toronto, Canada. It's the other side of Chicago ("Left Behind Chicago") where virtually all of the violent crime that you see in the news occurs. For better or worse, you can live your entire life without ever setting foot in "Left Behind Chicago" because there are pretty clear lines of demarcation. With only a few exceptions, Chicago isn't a place where you walk one block and you suddenly go from a nice neighborhood to a bad neighborhood. (This is much different than, say, Miami or LA.) So, there's a huge swath of Chicago that contains more people than Boston and San Francisco that's as safe as any urban area in America, and then there's another huge swath of Chicago that is one of the worst crime areas in the country. If you're in the Global Chicago swath, you barely worry about crime at all.
I don't question their numbers, but I think the definition of "innocent" is open to interpretation. Much of what they call "innocent" is more accurately described as "not the intended target". If a girl is dating a known gang member and hanging out with him on a stoop I would consider her to be "innocent", but she's also making some really dumb choices that are putting her in much higher danger than the average person (which is what I assume the OP is). Look at the example they give in the article you linked to - a 6 month old who was killed when gang members shot at her father. The vast, vast, VAST majority of violence in Chicago is not random.
If you want to have a big discussion on what "innocent" is - go nuts. But the OP asked a specific question about safety and my answer was directed at that question - not at some theoretical discussion.
I think it's also worth mentioning: It seems to me that when these kids get shot at a park, it's usually at some ungodly hour of the night. One has to wonder, especially in some of the worst neighborhoods, what the parents are thinking being out in a park in the middle of gangland with little kids at midnight or the wee hours of whatever. The blame, as always, lies squarely on the shooters, but when little kids are out at the worst hours, the parents aren't making very wise choices. If the parents aren't looking out for those poor children, who the eff will?
To the OP: It's also important to note that these kinds of problems are for the most part, limited to very specific areas, and not representative of Chicago as a whole. My personal opinion is that Chicago is a fantastic place to live. Every city has good and bad neighborhoods. I'd recommend using resources like this forum to determine the best neighborhood for you.
Weather yes however I think crime is overhyped by the media. Sure there's crime here but the media makes it seem like it's the most dangerous city in the country.
The weather part is relative. It's cold, but overrated for how cold it is. Imagine about 7-9 degrees colder than NYC in the winter on average. Most of the year, the temps are very similar between NYC and Chicago. Winter is colder in Chicago, but it's not a drastic difference as if you were coming from a year-round warm climate or anything. Chicago gets about a foot more snow per year than NYC, but less than places like Boston and definitely less than ones like Buffalo, Cleveland, etc.
Crime - as long as you are not running with gangs, or in the drug trade you'll be fine. A large, large percentage of the homicide that occurs does so in areas where about 30% of the population lives. There are many areas outside of this which are very safe. There's 2.7+ million people in the city of Chicago, and there's many people who could afford to live almost anywhere in the US, let alone the world, and choose to stay in Chicago.
I've been working 5 days/week in NYC for the last few months and I don't feel any safer in NYC than I do in Chicago FWIW.
What I learned in geography class in college is that both chicago and nyc are in the same climate area. So both cities experience nearly the same weather just that chicago is bit more windy and wind can make any place cold during the winter.
I would say in crime it's both the same imo just that nyc has lower muder rate but still have shootings, gangs, and innocent victims all in the bad areas. Brownsville can easily be compared to englewood etc...
What I learned in geography class in college is that both chicago and nyc are in the same climate area. So both cities experience nearly the same weather just that chicago is bit more windy and wind can make any place cold during the winter.
I would say in crime it's both the same imo just that nyc has lower muder rate but still have shootings, gangs, and innocent victims all in the bad areas. Brownsville can easily be compared to englewood etc...
I don't think New Yorkers can claim they're living in the tropics compared to Chicago whenever I see exclamations from them about how cold it is here, but there are some material differences. Chicago does get a fair amount more snow, our snow is much icier and hard-packed, and it's generally constant throughout the winter (whereas New York and a lot of the rest of the East Coast has extreme but more infrequent blizzards). January and February generally are terrible in both Chicago and NYC. However, we definitely get colder sooner in November and December and it takes a little longer for us for temps to rise in the spring in March and April. Also, we seem to have a lot more extreme variations in temperature - our monthly averages might look comparable to NYC on paper, but there are a lot more deviations from those averages. So, when you put it all together, our cold temperatures are drawn out over a longer period with more unpredictability.
What I also think makes our winters worse is that we aren't in a geographic area where you can take much advantage of outdoor winter activities. People on the East Coast, in the Rocky Mountain region, and even the Upper Midwest areas like Minnesota have relatively short trips to mountains or naturally scenic areas where they can ski or engage in other outdoor winter activities like ice fishing, whereas we generally have to bunker down inside for the winter. Colorado and Utah welcome more snow in order to create more powder for their ski areas. That upside doesn't exist in Chicago - snow is just a PITA here.
I love the Chicago area, but I'd gladly become a snowbird for the winter months once the kids are moved out of the house (which is awhile down the road for me). I've learned to tolerate the winters here, but I'd never romanticize them or suggest that "they're not that bad" unless I'm talking to someone from Minnesota or northern Wisconsin.
Once again, though, I agree that crime in Chicago is waaaay overstated or, maybe more appropriately, isn't ever put into context by the national media. If San Francisco had to annex Oakland and become one city, the crime and murder rates for San Francisco would look a LOT worse. In the context here, "Global Chicago" is San Francisco and "Left Behind Chicago" is Oakland with very little overlap. They are effectively two separate cities with little crime in the former and a ton of crime in the latter (which can very easily be avoided, unlike the block-by-block changes in places like Miami).
I grew up in West Englewood and own a home in West Pullman near the Salvation Army Kroc center. I've always kept my nose clean and never experienced any real danger here. My neighbors are awfully nice and keep their property pretty well maintained.
I knew a few bad eggs growing up and they are either in jail or dead. I know nothing of that life but that's the route they chose for themselves. Their families never seemed upwardly mobile and relied on public assistance a lot. To be honest it wasn't hard figuring out who would make it.
I don't think New Yorkers can claim they're living in the tropics compared to Chicago whenever I see exclamations from them about how cold it is here, but there are some material differences. Chicago does get a fair amount more snow, our snow is much icier and hard-packed, and it's generally constant throughout the winter (whereas New York and a lot of the rest of the East Coast has extreme but more infrequent blizzards). January and February generally are terrible in both Chicago and NYC. However, we definitely get colder sooner in November and December and it takes a little longer for us for temps to rise in the spring in March and April. Also, we seem to have a lot more extreme variations in temperature - our monthly averages might look comparable to NYC on paper, but there are a lot more deviations from those averages. So, when you put it all together, our cold temperatures are drawn out over a longer period with more unpredictability.
What I also think makes our winters worse is that we aren't in a geographic area where you can take much advantage of outdoor winter activities. People on the East Coast, in the Rocky Mountain region, and even the Upper Midwest areas like Minnesota have relatively short trips to mountains or naturally scenic areas where they can ski or engage in other outdoor winter activities like ice fishing, whereas we generally have to bunker down inside for the winter. Colorado and Utah welcome more snow in order to create more powder for their ski areas. That upside doesn't exist in Chicago - snow is just a PITA here.
I love the Chicago area, but I'd gladly become a snowbird for the winter months once the kids are moved out of the house (which is awhile down the road for me). I've learned to tolerate the winters here, but I'd never romanticize them or suggest that "they're not that bad" unless I'm talking to someone from Minnesota or northern Wisconsin.
Once again, though, I agree that crime in Chicago is waaaay overstated or, maybe more appropriately, isn't ever put into context by the national media. If San Francisco had to annex Oakland and become one city, the crime and murder rates for San Francisco would look a LOT worse. In the context here, "Global Chicago" is San Francisco and "Left Behind Chicago" is Oakland with very little overlap. They are effectively two separate cities with little crime in the former and a ton of crime in the latter (which can very easily be avoided, unlike the block-by-block changes in places like Miami).
How is Minneapolis compared to Chicago in the winter?
How is Minneapolis compared to Chicago in the winter?
As someone who grew up near Minneapolis ... Minneapolis is usually noticeably colder and gets at least a foot, if not two, more snow per year than Chicago. Below 0 temperatures are nowhere near out of the ordinary whether it's a high or low. Next time you hear of the midwest in the middle of a cold spell, compare the temperatures. If it's 10 degrees in Chicago, it will be -10 in most of Minnesota. I remember around Christmas time last year taking off from Chicago when it was 5 degrees and when I landed in Minnesota, it was -15 at 10am there.
I kind of got spoiled in a way with winters in that Chicago winters are not that bad in my mind compared to what I had to grow up with. If you didn't grow up in parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Dakotas, Montana, Alaska, parts of Iowa, or Canada though, then Chicago winters are no walk in the park.
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