Crime is higher than national avg (Jackson, Gulfport: crime rate, living, zip code)

[westcoast22]

I was looking at investment properties in MS and stumbled on a website that rated the following zip code areas as having crime at double and triple the national average: 39507, 39503, 39501. I believe they are in the Orange Grove area. These are not petty crimes. They include murder, rape assault, and property crime. Does anyone know if this area is really that bad?

[cia191630]

Those are the 3 area codes of Gulfport, all of Gulfport, not just the OJ area...I highly doubt they are triple the national avg. I'm from Detroit and feel safer in Gulfport than anywhere else I've been, including other big cities...of course every city has bad areas and I don't go into those areas...I haven't had any issues...

[pirate_lafitte]

It doesn't surprise me that Mississippi has a crime rate higher than the national average. This state has many socioeconomical issues to deal with. What makes Mississippi(and South Carolina for that matter) seem more gentile is its "archetypical southern image", possibly fostered by Gone With The Wind. Not only that, Mississippi is one of the least urbanised states in the USA. The largest city has about 170,000 residents. Many people would further think of Michigan as a high crime state because of Detroit, and Michigan's crime rate is rather high, but Mississippi has a higher crime rate. The difference is a small population, more rural areas, and only one city with a population above 100,000. For those reasons, Mississippi doesn't come off as being Detroit or Newark.

[westcoast22]

Very astute pirate_lafitte. I am actually an engineer by trade and your statement about the population being small in MS definitely makes the data look worse.

[Chicagoland60426]

I agree with pirate_lafitte. Mississippi is rather small and country like living. The largest city in the state is no bigger than Chicago's suburb of Aurora. People rather think of California and Illinois as high crime states because of the gang image and have a major city. But supposedly Mississippi is a high crime state even outside of Jackson

[Scotslass]

Would be interesing to compare the data from Scotland to that of MS. I think the size would be roughly the same?

[jsherman9901]

For all of you doing the hand-wringing over our supposed "higher than the national average" crime rate, I challenge you to produce the stats. Just a couple of months ago, there was a piece circulating in the media about the 20 most dangerous states to live in the U.S., based on crime rates. Mississippi was not among them, even though all our neighboring states (LA, AR, TN, and AL) were on the list. Are we higher than the national average? I don't know, but if we are, it's not by much. If we're not in the top 20, then we're probably somewhere in the middle.

[mccarley]

Originally Posted by jsherman9901

For all of you doing the hand-wringing over our supposed "higher than the national average" crime rate, I challenge you to produce the stats. Just a couple of months ago, there was a piece circulating in the media about the 20 most dangerous states to live in the U.S., based on crime rates. Mississippi was not among them, even though all our neighboring states (LA, AR, TN, and AL) were on the list. Are we higher than the national average? I don't know, but if we are, it's not by much. If we're not in the top 20, then we're probably somewhere in the middle.

US States Crime 2004 -2005 Crimes per 100,000 and Ranking

This table is old data, but Mississippi looks pretty good especially compared to our nations capital. I wouldn't expect much has changed.

[cia191630]

Overall rank of 33 & 37 (out of 50), I think that's pretty damn good

[poptones]

LOL it's obviously a matter of sampling. Look at the numbers for Alaska (another state with low population) - Sarah Palin's domain is top ranked in terms of assault and forcible rape! By the numbers Alaska seems to be a place where men are men and the women are scared.