[Rlemega]

Originally Posted by hartford_renter

Hartford has a very high crime rate. It is not well below seattle in fact the murder rate is much higher. Hartford has a population of around 120K, and had 31 murders in 2007 (this year there are already 11 murders). Seattle has 585K and had only 4 murders.

United States cities by crime rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For its size hartford has one of the highest murder rates in the country. The warnings you got about safetly are probably justified, but there are plenty of apartments in hartford that would be fine. Just check that your apartment has its own parking and security, then there would be no problem.

Its not like random people are killed though, these are mostly gang/drug related murders in the North End. If you live in the east side of West Hartford you are not going to be murdered, I can't remember any crime around there other than some drug related offenses and property damage which can happen anywhere. Christ, this is West Hartford, there is no way the town/population would ever let an area get out of control.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by hartford_renter

For its size hartford has one of the highest murder rates in the country.

And how big is that? I'll tell you. Only 17 square miles. Very very small land area between borders.

It's long known that the numbers get skewed due to abnormally small city boundaries. If you were to factor in West Hartford, East Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor to make the city boundaries the size and population of most other cities, the "ranking" would fall very low.

As others have already pointed out, these are not random crimes. If you're not out at the West Indian Social club "gettin it on" with someone's girl and/or slinging dope on someone's established corner, there is a very slim chance you'll be shot.

Good grief...

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by JViello

And how big is that? I'll tell you. Only 17 square miles. Very very small land area between borders.

It's long known that the numbers get skewed due to abnormally small city boundaries. If you were to factor in West Hartford, East Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor to make the city boundaries the size and population of most other cities, the "ranking" would fall very low.

As others have already pointed out, these are not random crimes. If you're not out at the West Indian Social club "gettin it on" with someone's girl and/or slinging dope on someone's established corner, there is a very slim chance you'll be shot.

Good grief...

Both you and the previous poster have good posts. To some extent, what you say even holds true in the Bronx (most of the murders not random).

As an outsider about to temporarily become more familiar with the Hartford area, my impression visiting a couple of times recently was that parts of Hartford city itself looked kind of seedy, but I've seen places that look worse at initial glance (parts of the Bronx, definitely many NJ cities like Newark, Elizabeth, and Paterson, but even some sections of Bridgeport for that matter). But for the most part, though some parts of Hartford city looked a little dicey to live in day in and day out, eastern W. Hartford looked like the kind of place that if you mind your own business you'd be OK.