Is Augusta high in crime? (Atlanta, Columbus: crime rate, transfer, neighborhoods)

[sahm2kaitlyne]

My husband was offered a transfer position in Augusta, GA. We currently live in Raleigh, NC and have for 6 years. I have heard that the Augusta area is bad for crime. Can anyone give me any advice on towns (up to 35 minutes away) that would be safe and have good schools? Thanks!

[whitmans77]

Check out Columbia County(Martinez and Evans) and Aiken County(North Augusta and Aiken)
Overall(I think) the Augusta area as a whole is not too bad as far as crime goes. Yes there are places that you don want to be but there definitely is not a major crime problem going on here.
These 2 places are a good starting point

Columbia County : Home

AikenCountySC.gov ** Official Website of Aiken County Government

Good luck

[VicStone]

Augusta as a whole is not safe. On a scale of 1 to 100 with 100 being the safest, Augusta is a four. There are safe havens in the surrounding area.

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

[SeaSpur]

Lately crime has really been the thing around Augusta...5 murders in the past week or something, that has to be at least 150 over the past 5 years. However, most of these violent crimes are isolated to specific areas or neighborhoods of Augusta.

There is a map somewhere on Augusta Chronicle or another news site that is interactive and you can see all the violent crimes (especially murders) that have happened with details and location of each.

[EastsideDave]

^^^ Uh Oh you guys, You-know-who isn't gonna like this...

But anyway, like others have said, the entire area as a whole isn't unsafe. There are pockets of high crime areas that (in my efforts to avoid an argument with some) I won't list here, PM me if you'd like me to elaborate though.

Generally speaking, Columbia and Aiken Counties are safer/have lower crime rates than Richmond County, but even in Richmond County, the high crime is concentrated to certain areas (again, PM me if you'd like specifics).

You'll likely want to look at Aiken, SC; North Augusta, SC; the Midland Valley area (some nice neighborhoods have developed around Midland Valley High/US Hwy 1, take a look at Lakes & Streams, Horse Creek, Gregg's Mill, and others in that area); and Evans/Martinez, GA.

[nortonguy]

The Augusta area is definitely not high crime... There definitely haven't been 150 murders in the last 5 years.. Unless you're talking about the entire CSRA (700k)... There wasn't 5 murders in the past week either. The(FBI stats) violent crime rate in Augusta is lower than Savannah, Macon, Columbus, and Atlanta. The OP should look at neighborhoods in West Augusta.

[mom2gurls]

I have family that may move to aiken..they are getting ready to retire.they love having things near them. I told them to get into golfing and the like. Would you say that it would be better to live in west augusta instead of aiken? Would aiken be too "boring?".

Also is there a south asian indian scene in augusta (indian restuarants, temples and the like). It would be good for them to have access to the ethnic foods if possible.

[nortonguy]

I think it depends on personal preference. Aiken has a nice and quaint downtown area for it's size. West Augusta does have more shopping, restaurants, etc. I do think overall West Augusta is safer than Aiken. Aiken averages a couple of murders a year.

[EastsideDave]

I doubt they would get bored living in Aiken, they'd also probably rather live in Aiken rather than in West Augusta since the latter is rather congested and the former is more easy going and caters more to the older crowd.

Aiken has a great selection of local and chain stores and restaurants, there's even ethnic food too...they can try the Curry Pot (Indian) on the South Side in the BiLo shopping center.

There's lots of things to do in Aiken, check out the city website for specifics. Aiken is very popular with the retired folks.

Also, I think norton and myself will have to agree to disagree because, in my personal opinion, I find Aiken to seem safer than Augusta. It helps that Aiken has a city police department in addition to the county sheriff's office. Augusta on the other hand only has the sheriff's office that is responsible for the whole county.

[GeorgiaGirl14]

In general there are areas that are not safe, and areas that are safe.

For sure you need to stay the heck away from the zoned area for Butler and Glenn Hills High (if you want to stay in Richmond). South of 520 and west of 520 is pretty good in the county (Look into Wheeler Road, Jackson Road, and Davis Road areas if you chose west of 520, don't have much to recommend for south of 520).

If you want in Columbia County, if you can afford it find housing in the Greenbrier zone and north. This is north of Evans by 5 miles, not sure. Some of the neighborhoods off Washington Rd have nice lakes. Martinez may be good to some, but I was bothered by my dad being mad (up to the point of him cursing) about that area developing FAST, however the problem is he moved to the area when it was still a dirt road and still pretty much country.

Waynesboro, Thomson, Aiken, and North Augusta are good towns that are about 30 mins away. I don't know much about them, but what I know is good. (actually I know more about Jackson then Aiken, kinda sad, Jackson is one of the true hole in the wall towns I've seen on my travels in the low country)