Crime Rate

[db108108]

Originally Posted by Ray_Velcoro

Op,

This person is in Asheville and seems to have a chip on their shoulder in regards to Columbus. Not sure why

But he's not being unfair in this case. Although we pale in comparison to most of our big city mid-western peers (and even small cities like Dayton and Youngstown), crime is relatively high in Columbus.

It is isolated to pockets, but good neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods sometimes do sit right beside each other. Crossing Parsons Ave is like stepping into another world, while Weinland Park abuts the booming (and safe) Short North and Italian Village. This can really skew certain zip codes. 43206 for many years was one of the most murderous in the entire city (up until 2012, I believe), but it also includes the historical gem German Village (one of the wealthiest neighborhoods within the city with some homes valued in the millions) and my penthouse apartment over here in Brewery District.

OTOH, there are other neighborhoods that are very far removed from crime. I would google certain real estate websites (don't know if I can mention them here) where they provide color coded crime maps. That will give you a better idea.

[jbcmh81]

Originally Posted by Port Pitt Ash

Because the crime rate is high. Although it's mostly just in certain pockets. The average person won't experience much outside of:

a. Seeing drunken fights on high street.
b. Possibly getting your car window smashed & the contents within stolen.

Although Columbus does have a checkerboard pattern of good areas being right beside undesirable areas as well.

Except it's not high. It's just factually not. Some neighborhoods are worse than others, but overall, it's low.

Let's take a look at 2014 crime rates for its peers, shall we?

Violent Crime per 100K People

Milwaukee: 1433.7
Cleveland: 1333.2
Indianapolis: 1255
Nashville: 1121.9
Cincinnati: 904.4
Orlando: 900
Las Vegas: 841
Pittsburgh: 797.1
Kansas City: 711.4
Sacramento, CA: 614.5
Charlotte, NC: 589.7
Columbus: 549.1
San Antonio, TX: 539.5
Providence, RI: 517.9
Portland, OR: 472.6
Austin: 396.1
San Jose, CA: 321
Virginia Beach, VA: 146.3

So Columbus is in the bottom half of violent crime even within its own peer group, let alone cities nationally. The only one that seems exceptionally low is Virginia Beach, and that's probably because of the heavy military presence there.

Property Crime Rate per 100K People

Orlando: 6351.9
Cincinnati: 5556
Cleveland: 5429.6
San Antonio, TX: 5419.6
Portland, OR: 5232
Kansas City: 4910.1
Indianapolis: 4824.5
Milwaukee: 4583.2
Columbus: 4252
Austin: 4142
Providence, RI: 3814
Nashville: 3628.9
Charlotte, NC: 3566.5
Pittsburgh: 3208.8
Sacramento, CA: 3121.7
Las Vegas: 2923.2
San Jose, CA: 2433.4
Virginia Beach, VA: 2175.4

Now, Columbus does have higher property crime, making it barely into the top half of peers. Younger population and lots of college students will do that. It still isn't anywhere near the top nationally.

Here are the rate changes since 2010.

Violent Crime Change 2010-2014.

Sacramento: -27.8%
Cincinnati: -25.4%
Providence: -23.8%
Virginia Beach: -20.6%
Columbus: -16.6%
Pittsburgh: -12.6%
Orlando: -9.1%
San Antonio: -8.7%
Cleveland: -6.2%
Austin: -5.5%
Portland: -4.6%
San Jose: +0.8%
Las Vegas: +1.8%
Charlotte: +3.3%
Nashville: +6.9%
Indianapolis: +11.6%
Kansas City: +28.8%
Milwaukee: +39.9%

Property Crime Change 2010-2014

Columbus: -29.8%
Virginia Beach: -26.4%
Sacramento: -25.4%
Nashville: -22.2%
Cincinnati: -19.6%
Austin: -18.3%
Providence: -17.3%
Milwaukee: -13.4%
Pittsburgh: -12.4%
San Antonio: -12.4%
Charlotte: -11.9%
Cleveland: -10.2%
Indianapolis: -9.9%
Kansas City: -5.4%
Las Vegas: +3.6%
Orlando: +6.1%
San Jose: +11.3%
Portland: +13.5%

Columbus has top 5 drops in both categories since 2010, so crime is dropping faster there than most of its peers.

So overall, I guess I don't see a strong argument for saying the city has high crime, especially in the kind most people worry about- violent. And even if you think it's still high, it seems to be plummeting overall.