Brookland and surrounding areas for family with young kids (Hyattsville: rent, chapel)

[pineywoods12]

Hello everyone,

I will be moving to the DC area for a job in June. I am married with four young kids (oldest is 11 and youngest is 4) but they are home-schooled. For a variety of reasons, I need to be in Brookland or close to it. I will be renting since I cannot afford to buy right now. My budget is $2000 to $2500. I would like to not exceed $2500 if I can help it. I am looking for advice regarding which part of that area will be safer. I know that asking a question about safety always creates a debate. I am hoping to avoid that here. My idea of safety is NOT zero crime. Rather, I am okay living in an area where there are occasional car break-ins. While I would like to avoid gangs and drugs for sure, just the sight of a person from a certain ethnicity does not make me feel unsafe.

I am considering the following but feel free to suggest others:
Brookland
North Michigan Park
Michigan Park
Avondale
Avondale Terrace
Mt. Rainier
Hyattsville
Cottage City
Colmar Manor
Queens Chapel
Queens Chapel Manor
Some of the above are perhaps a bit too far from Brookland for my liking but if they are way safer and/or nicer, then I will consider it.

Notice I did not put anything south of Brookland such as Brentwood or Langdon. I heard that the closer you get to Rhode Island Ave NE, the more unsafe it is. I may be totally wrong. So please do correct me if I am wrong. Going west toward CUA seems like the rent shoots up fast.

I have driven around Brookland a couple of times but definitely not enough to get a solid idea. I will be coming to DC prior to June for a more thorough check. But I am hoping to get the locals' advice prior to doing so.

[DoughLow805]

All of those places are fairly safe given your explanation...Of the places you listed I'm partial to Hyattsville, Brookland, and Michigan Park. Car break-ins in the middle of the night are going to be a problem to some degree in any of those areas. Rhode Island is a long major street, I wouldn't associate anything negative with it as a whole...but neighborhoods along the south side of Rhode Island NE like Eckington (DC) and Brentwood (DC) are still probably a little rougher than I'd be comfortable recommending.