New Crime Rating Springfield, MA 40th worst city in the country (Boston: violent crime, live in)

[madeitout]

Using 2008 per-capita statistics http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/City...8_Rank_Rev.pdf
http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/Methodology.pdf

1 New Orleans, LA 441.40
2 Camden, NJ 381.84
3 Detroit, MI 381.24
4 St. Louis, MO 355.01
5 Oakland, CA 328.82
6 Flint, MI 297.59
7 Gary, IN 283.41
8 Birmingham, AL 278.72
9 Richmond, CA 276.76
10 North Charleston, SC 257.88
11 Cleveland, OH 255.80
12 Baltimore, MD 243.12
13 Miami Gardens, FL 239.51
14 Memphis, TN 236.10
15 Youngstown, OH 234.56
16 Atlanta, GA 230.58
17 Compton, CA 229.22
18 Orlando, FL 223.95
19 Little Rock, AR 219.20
20 Minneapolis, MN 200.18
21 Washington, DC 194.33
22 Philadelphia, PA 192.10
23 Jackson, MS 186.15
24 Newark, NJ 177.47
25 Milwaukee, WI 176.65
26 Dayton, OH 171.29
27 Hartford, CT 170.84
28 Cincinnati, OH 168.22
29 Buffalo, NY 167.43
30 Trenton, NJ 161.30
31 Baton Rouge, LA 160.20
32 Rochester, NY 158.95
33 Indianapolis, IN 156.08
34 Dallas, TX 154.69
35 Miami, FL 153.95
36 San Bernardino, CA 153.75
37 Tulsa, OK 151.21 1
38 Macon, GA 146.34 1
39 Tacoma, WA 143.92 1
40 Springfield, MA 141.58

[lrfox]

Interesting, I wonder how some of the people in other cities on the list feel about these rankings. I don't have any problem with Springfield (in fact, I think it gets a worse rap than it deserves) but I'm not surprised to see it on this list. However, places like Tacoma, Macon, San Bernardino, Milwaulkee, Minneapolis, and Richmond CA have never resonated as "dangerous places" in my mind.

I read through the Methodology page in the link and I'm wondering if many of those cities were SUPER high in one particular area (i.e. burglary) and that percentage pushed them far higher than they would have been.

i was also surprised to see Hartford ranked 27th! Many people love to make the claim that Hartford is the safer, more desirable city than Springfield; and while neither are in a wonderful position by even being placed on this list, Springfield is ranked as a safer place.

[CaseyB]

You're right. Springfield is actually moving down on most of the "dangerous cities" lists. I remember when it was considered a lot worse than Hartford. I know that Hartford has been considered to be the most dangerous city in New England for the last 3 years or so.

[lrfox]

^Interesting. I looked at the full list and it's pretty interesting to see where Bay State cities rank. Boston comes in at an even 100, New Bedford at 136, Worcester at 164 (!), Providence RI at 168, Lowell at 174, Cambridge way down at 306, Quincy at 318, and Newton 4 spots from the end of the list at 382. The method page said that they ranked all cities in the US with populations over 74,000 so on that logic, Newton, Cambridge and Quincy would be considered among the safer cities in the US.

Hartford's one of the few New England cities I've never been to, but I want to check it out soon. I've heard horrible things from people (the same ones who continue on to say Springfield is worse), yet I frequently see it ranked high on lists of places to see a live show and other positive rankings.

[HockeyFanMA]

Those rankings are shocking to me as well. I'm aware New Orleans has always had a crime problem, especially after the devistation it encountered with Katrina, but considering it bumped Detroit and St. Louis down a peg (and they have been number one and two for years) is suprising. I agree with your comment regarding these stats mainly focus on certain parts of the cities. I believe that to be the case. I think these statistics were poorly done and probably rushed through. I do not think overall Milwaukee and Minneapolis belong on the list, along with several others, especially being in the top 40. My comments toward Springfield are as follows: I have never been to the city itself I have only driven through it, but it's good to hear that you feel the crime is descending.

[helloLOVE14]

Considering i live in springfield, i was actually expecting it to be higher up on the list. So far this year there have already been 10 murders, most of them drug-related, and prostitution and teen-pregnancy have skyrocketed.also,springfield is practically crawling with gangs.

[Urban Peasant]

I kind of think that Springfield is in the right location in the list. I'd rather put Boston at #80 or so rather than #100, its definitely safer than many other cities but still has a lot of violent crime.

I just visited Hartford recently but only went to the good parts such as West End and Asylum Hill; they seem decent to me for the most part but Hartford locals told me before in the Connecticut Forum that the bad parts of Hartford are complete war zones. Hartford thus is not suprisingly high on the list.

[hartford_renter]

Originally Posted by lrfox

i was also surprised to see Hartford ranked 27th! Many people love to make the claim that Hartford is the safer, more desirable city than Springfield; and while neither are in a wonderful position by even being placed on this list, Springfield is ranked as a safer place.

I live in hartford and it is much more dangerous then springfield. We have 120K people and had 31 murders last year. THis year we already have about 18 homicides. Springfield just seemed more desolate and isolated to me.