top 5 worst and best Miami neighborhoods (Tampa, Fort Lauderdale: crime, upper-class, moving)

[PBCboy]

Originally Posted by atl4thward2k6

Miami-Dade is the most dangerous county in Florida and the #11 most dangerous county in the United States. Opa-Locka itself statistically has a higher crime rate than Palm Beach and/ or any other area in Florida and is statistically higher than most areas in the US period.

Very interesting facts... too bad you didn't provide any sort of source.

Opa-Locka is a city whose population is a mere 15,673. Unless you were born there or live there you really don't have much of an excuse to dwell in that area.

Now if you wanted to compare the two largest cities on a county by county basis, you can see that the city of Miami, the one everyone is complaining about (one member here even said it is "the only city in Florida they would never live in") has lower crime rates than West Palm Beach.

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City Crime Rankings by Population Group

West Palm Beach is #14 on the list, Miami is not even on the list anymore (though I believe it was in 2002, which means, guess what? The crime rates have actually gone down!).

Whether you're in Broward County, Miami-Dade, or Palm Beach there are areas that are safe to be in and areas to avoid. But if you're going to say that Miami-Dade is the most dangerous county and Miami is the most dangerous city then please consider the facts.

[blackklight]

opa-locka has about the same population as any unincorporated area. i somewhat feel as if though you simply tried disregarding it as if it doesn't exist when opa-locka is a fair stretch of land. source: wikipedia. check this out.

Crime Opa Locka National Average
Homocide 51 6.9
Forcible Rape 25.52 32.2
Robbery 1123 195.4
Aggrivated Assault 1046.4 340.4
Burglary 4485.4 814.5
Larceny Theft 3994.1 2734.7
Vehicle Theft 1276.1 526.5

the murder, robbery, and aggrivated assault are all 2-5x higher than the national average. although the wikipedia page does not have the sources for other notorious areas (overtown, liberty city, carol city, allpattah, ect) i'm willing they are all on par with opa-locka if not higher.

there is no point to not dwell in any dangerous area unless you live there regardless of population so i don't see where you're going with that.

the city of opa-locka ALONE has higher crime rates than the entire west palm beach and this is most likely the case for all of the other "bad" areas of miami-dade county. there is no comparison. here is the source: Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed

i have just noticed that for some reason all of the crime sites only have data from 2005, what's the deal with that?

[PBCboy]

Originally Posted by blackklight

opa-locka has about the same population as any unincorporated area. i somewhat feel as if though you simply tried disregarding it as if it doesn't exist when opa-locka is a fair stretch of land. source: wikipedia. check this out.



the murder, robbery, and aggrivated assault are all 2-5x higher than the national average. although the wikipedia page does not have the sources for other notorious areas (overtown, liberty city, carol city, allpattah, ect) i'm willing they are all on par with opa-locka if not higher.

there is no point to not dwell in any dangerous area unless you live there regardless of population so i don't see where you're going with that.

the city of opa-locka ALONE has higher crime rates than the entire west palm beach and this is most likely the case for all of the other "bad" areas of miami-dade county. there is no comparison. here is the source: Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed

I believe most of Opa-Locka was incorporated into the city of Miami Gardens. For example, many old Opa-Locka addresses now use Miami Gardens addresses.

The point I was trying to make is, what person honestly spends their afternoons in Opa-Locka who does not live there? There are no attractions (besides the stadium, but that is now considered Miami Gardens). There's no reason to be there unless you live there.

As for "no city in Palm Beach County or any area of Florida having crime rates that compare to Opa Locka" (at least that's what I think you're getting at), look at the rates of Riviera Beach. They are neck-and-neck with Opa Locka's crime rates, even beating Opa-Locka in many categories such as rape, assault, theft, and auto theft.
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Bell Glade, another city in Palm Beach County, also has rates very similar to Opa-Locka. Like I said again though, who would knowingly go into these areas?

The reason I said Opa-Locka is small is because it is. It is not a large city at all. It does not cover a huge area of land, and does not represent the entire South Florida region. The unincorporated areas now use Miami Gardens addresses.

Now, if you were to compare a larger city like Miami Gardens to West Palm Beach it would be fair because they are similar in population size.

Also, I don't have a source for this, but I read in the paper earlier this year that crime rates went down in Miami-Dade and Broward but increased in Palm Beach and Orange (Orlando) counties.

Again, this is not something to be happy about, and the 2006 data is not released until later this year I believe.

[Musclehead]

Originally Posted by PBCboy

Very interesting facts... too bad you didn't provide any sort of source.

Opa-Locka is a city whose population is a mere 15,673. Unless you were born there or live there you really don't have much of an excuse to dwell in that area.

Now if you wanted to compare the two largest cities on a county by county basis, you can see that the city of Miami, the one everyone is complaining about (one member here even said it is "the only city in Florida they would never live in") has lower crime rates than West Palm Beach.
Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed

City Crime Rankings by Population Group

West Palm Beach is #14 on the list, Miami is not even on the list anymore (though I believe it was in 2002, which means, guess what? The crime rates have actually gone down!).

Whether you're in Broward County, Miami-Dade, or Palm Beach there are areas that are safe to be in and areas to avoid. But if you're going to say that Miami-Dade is the most dangerous county and Miami is the most dangerous city then please consider the facts.

Why are we even posting about Opa-locka ... who the hell even goes there ?

That is like a thread on Los Angeles and wasting time discussing the crime rate in Compton or Inglewood .

There are a slew of things that I do not like about Miami , third world ghetto and reggaeton culture being at the top of my list .... but all of Miami Dade County is not like that and although I would not live there , I do not feel like I am in danger or unsafe unless I am "cruising " Little Havana , Overtown or Liberty City at night ... none of which I have any desire to hang out in .

[blackklight]

yeah it beats it in a few categories but also keep in mind it has 2x it's population. do not mistake me, i'm not trying to take that angle of this area is superior to that in crime as it's nothing to be proud of - but for the population opa-locka has it is a highly concentrated war zone; and the thing is it's not even the worse area. there are no crime indexes for liberty city or any of those other areas (due to their population i believe) but for the above poster, i have walked around in liberty city at night and did not feel in danger.

this is what i'm getting at - online crime rates aren't always good indicators of how safe a given area is, it's simply a rough idea given on the reported crime.

one thing we can all agree is that the entire south florida is progressively rotting; i could care less what statistics say that miami-dade is improving as i still do not see a drop of improvement in my neighborhood.

[PBCboy]

Originally Posted by blackklight

yeah it beats it in a few categories but also keep in mind it has 2x it's population. do not mistake me, i'm not trying to take that angle of this area is superior to that in crime as it's nothing to be proud of - but for the population opa-locka has it is a highly concentrated war zone; and the thing is it's not even the worse area. there are no crime indexes for liberty city or any of those other areas (due to their population i believe) but for the above poster, i have walked around in liberty city at night and did not feel in danger.

this is what i'm getting at - online crime rates aren't always good indicators of how safe a given area is, it's simply a rough idea given on the reported crime.

one thing we can all agree is that the entire south florida is progressively rotting; i could care less what statistics say that miami-dade is improving as i still do not see a drop of improvement in my neighborhood.

Liberty City uses Miami addresses, it would be lumped into the Miami crime rates.

And to me it seems like in my area the crime started going up in 2004... when I first lived here the area was nothing, lots of woods and natural lands... the times have changed

[blackklight]

supposedly in houston (i believe?) after people from new orleans migrated there the crime raised by something ridiculous, like 300 or 400%. i don't think many of them came to south florida, however, as i only knew one girl that came from there.

as for my area it's always been the same i guess; won't matter much as i plan on moving out of state once i graduate.

[Musclehead]

Originally Posted by blackklight

supposedly in houston (i believe?) after people from new orleans migrated there the crime raised by something ridiculous, like 300 or 400%. i don't think many of them came to south florida, however, as i only knew one girl that came from there.

as for my area it's always been the same i guess; won't matter much as i plan on moving out of state once i graduate.

Houston had high crime even before the Katrina evacuees ... truth be told unless you plan on moving to Montana , Utah , or the Dakotas the entire country is becoming more dangerous and society is becoming more and more "twisted" ... yes some areas are worse than others ... but major cities like Miami , Houston , Chicago , NYC , Boston , Dallas , Phoenix , Atlanta , anywhere in New Jersey and not to mention St.Louis , Baltimore or Detroit are going down the drain and our elected officials are doing nothing about it ... the vile garbage you see in the movies and on television , not to mention the hip hop gangsta culture , illegal immigration , the MTV generation and excessive political correctness are ruining America ... IMO

I had a neighbor here in Boca Raton ... who used to rave all day about Charlotte , NC , moved there to work for Wachovia Bank and after a little over a year he is looking to move back ... he has been mugged near downtown Charlotte in broad daylight and he says the combination of ghetto gangsta wannabes and red necks are making him miserable ... cost of living is nearly as high as in South Florida , in short he is very down on his move to NC and he claims the only up side is the fresh air and mountains ... locals do not like Floridians as they claim "they" are ruining the Carolinas .... in summary the "grass is always greener " on the other side and our great country is going through a crisis with morals from coast to coast .

Sorry for the sermon , but my job takes me to many cities and everywhere you go people are concerned for the future of their kids , crime , cost of living , and in general a down turn in civility in our great country .

[Lauderdale954]

first off..miami beach is ranked one the most dangerous cities in the country..moving on..

miami IS NOT like any other metro area..if you walk thru overtown, you will literally feel like you have just entered another country..the poverty, drugs in the open, fearlessness of police, and murders in broad daylight are unbelievable..I can honestly say, if you are not from overtown and you go thru there unprepared, you are in grave danger.

Liberty city is very bad too. recently i read a story, where a man got lost in liberty city going to his kids birthday party..when he stopped to ask a man for directions, the man pulled out a gun, shot him point blank in the head, robbed him, and left him for dead..not that is not unusual in miami..yes, there is crime in other areas..but the overall living in nothing compared to how bad miami really is

[blackklight]

musclehead, i do not think blaming the hip hop culture is the appropriate form of addressing crime. truth of the matter is most of the people who are into it (of course you have fakes, like any other "culture") is because they came up tough and relate a lot to the music produced. i have not been to overtown but i've been to a few of the notorious areas and have not felt like i was in harms way, live here long enough and you too will develop this skill. it's called the skill of "i could care less"