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I hate rankings of city propers. Most of us don't compare city propers when we talk about amenities, culture, etc so why crime? If you plan on moving into the city itself it's best to check the specific neighborhood (the overall average will be worthless to you).
If we were to rank by metros, you'll find that most American cities are more similar than we'd like to believe.
Have to wait until 2012 ends I suppose! The Forbes lists are so useless.
The Forbes list doesn't necessarily go by the FBI numbers. I remember a few years ago there was a ranking (I think by Forbes, but I don't remember) that put Atlanta as #2 most dangerous city behind Memphis.
Quote:
Originally Posted by testa50
The reason that Atlanta's violent crime rates and household incomes are both high is largely the same: the city covers a relatively small portion of the metro area. The 420,000 people who live in the City of Atlanta are hardly typical of metro Atlanta: you've got some very crime-ridden and depressed areas, you've got some ultra-elite residential districts, and a ton of younger singles and couples.
If you were to add everything within 10-15 miles of downtown Atlanta, you'd end up capturing a whole lot more middle-class suburban families. Lower median incomes, with lower crime rates.
That's not to say Atlanta's crime rate isn't highish...it definitely is. Other cities have similar city limit/metro area ratios and don't find themselves on the list. But if you have ~40% of your metro area in the core city, it will be a whole lot easier to avoid lists like this, since your city limits will probably contain a lot of middle class residential areas that tend to be very low in crime.
That's a good point, and I've mentioned that on this forum before. If you look at the crime rates of the entire metro areas, than Metro Atlanta of over 5 million is closer to the middle of the ranking, though its still slightly higher than the national average.
Another problem that Atlanta city proper had is that its population of 420,000 is way lower than the estimated population of well over 500,000 before the 2010 census was finalized, so that may have made the crime rate per capita numbers higher.
Why are folks surprised about Atlanta? I know that it's THE premier city for Affluent Blacks, and it's Black Hollywood, Black Beverly Hills, and is a generally well-kept and nice-looking city. But last time I checked, I still recall neighborhoods like Bankhead, and SWATS, and Hollywood Courts, and Zone 6, Zone 4 and all the Zones, and East Point, and College Park, I still recall these neighborhoods and districts to still be in existence and I recall they are still high-crime areas. Among the worst in the nation. I know ATL's made strides by demolishing the older dangerous housing projects like Techwood and others similar to that, but there's still plenty of dangerous neighborhoods, even in a city as progressive towards affluent and middle-class Blacks as ATL is.
Here are the 10 Safest Cities and 10 Most Dangerous Cities(both lists from Forbes) compared by average family income, high end real estate units and educational attainment
10 Safest Cities 1 Plano, TX 2 Henderson, NV 3 Honolulu, HI 4 Santa Ana, CA 5 Lincoln, NE 6 San Jose, CA 7 Mesa, AZ 8 Colorado Springs, CO 9 Aurora, CO 10 New York, NY
10 Most Dangerous Cities 1 Detroit, MI 2 St Louis, MO 3 Oakland, CA 4 Memphis, TN 5 Birmingham, AL 6 Atlanta, GA 7 Baltimore, MD 8 Stockton, CA 9 Cleveland, OH 10 Buffalo, NY
Average Family Income, 2 workers, Husband & Wife 2011 Census Estimate Atlanta, GA $157,070 San Jose, CA $154,028 New York, NY $143,594 Plano, TX $142,651 Oakland, CA $139,474 Baltimore, MD $108,881 Colorado Springs, CO $105,226 Henderson, NV $103,235 Honolulu, HI $101,395 Memphis, TN $96,924 Lincoln, NE $96,264 St Louis, MO $96,200 Aurora, CO $95,616 Mesa, AZ $93,326 Buffalo, NY $90,912 Stockton, CA $89,376 Birmingham, AL $88,750 Detroit, MI $77,261 Cleveland, OH $76,238 Santa Ana, CA $75,110
Housing Units valued at $1,000,000+, 2011 Census Estimate New York, NY 105,255 San Jose, CA 10,847 Honolulu, HI 5,981 Oakland, CA 4,662 Atlanta, GA 3,847 Colorado Springs, CO 899 Baltimore, MD 747 Stockton, CA 637 Memphis, TN 587 Detroit, MI 514 Mesa, AZ 465 Stockton, CA 424 Henderson, NV 389 St Louis, MO 371 Plano, TX 319 Lincoln, NE 282 Birmingham, AL 253 Aurora, CO 133 Cleveland, OH 125 Buffalo, NY 30
Adults with a Bachelor Degree or higher, 2011 Census Estimate Plano, TX 52.9% Atlanta, GA 47.2% Oakland, CA 38.0% Lincoln, NE 37.9% Colorado Springs, CO 37.4% San Jose, CA 36.6% New York, NY 34.1% Honolulu, HI 33.0% Henderson, NV 32.0% St Louis, MO 28.2% Baltimore, MD 27.5% Aurora, CO 24.6% Memphis, TN 24.5% Buffalo, NY 23.5% Mesa, AZ 23.1% Birmingham, AL 21.6% Stockton, CA 16.1% Cleveland, OH 14.7% Detroit, MI 13.0% Santa Ana, CA 11.9%
Ok, so there are some folks with money amongst the murderers out there in Oakland. Great!
Ok, so there are some folks with money amongst the murderers out there in Oakland. Great!
Yes, it is great.
And coming from Chicago, you of all people refrain from acting like you dont know what Im talking about.
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