Where are the bad parts (Austin, Cameron: fit in, crime rate, houses)

[sweetvelocity]

I am sure that like all large cities there are bad areas of Austin. What areas should I stay away from when I move there?

[jobert]

north central, NE, east, SE. It's a loaded question that isn't easy to answer. There are no horrible parts of town, but NE Austin comes closest. The crime is not bad here, but whenever there is a shooting, hit and run, drug bust, etc. 3-out-of-4 times it's in NE Austin.

[jobert]

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

note: North Austin is actually N/NE of downtown, and SE Austin is actually S/SE of downtown because of the skewed highway system having warped everyone's internal compass

ex: the area between 35 and 183 is known as "SE Austin" even though it's pretty much due south of downtown. The areas west of Mopac are NW Austin, even though they are almost due north of downtown, etc. This will help you when people refer to geographic areas by direction.

[passionatearts]

Austin is a pretty safe city, so violent crime is not that common. Property crime, however, is high in some areas. In general, most of the bad areas of town are east of I-35. This is not to say that ALL areas east of I-35 are bad, though.

The worst areas are in southeast Austin (especially the areas along E Riverside Dr, Stassney Ln, and William Cannon Dr) and northeast Austin (especially the areas along E St John's Ave, Cameron Rd, and Rundberg Ln).

[TexasHorseLady]

Depends on what you mean by "north central". There are some very nice neighborhoods that I would say fall into that category, including, among others, Allandale and Crestview.

But, truly, it depends on what you mean by "bad parts", and that's a very subjective term, dependent entirely on the person doing the asking and what they're used to (some folks coming from other areas would look at what some people here call "bad parts" and laugh themselves silly). Do you mean places where the average income is lower, or do you mean high crime areas (not necessarily the same thing)? Do you mean places where the houses were built before 2000 and might not have all the bells and whistles? We have some areas where houses that fit into that category are some of the pricier ones in town.

In other words, define your terms!

[jobert]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Depends on what you mean by "north central"... Do you mean places where the average income is lower, or do you mean high crime areas..

In other words, define your terms!

I mean parts of town where people are kinda "hanging out" sometimes with shopping carts filled with "non-grocery" items.. .



by "north central" I meant anywhere along N. Lamar north of 183.

to the OP: take a map of Austin and rotate it so that 35 runs directly North/South, and the geographic areas of town will be accurate. Make sense?

[TexasHorseLady]

I was wondering what the OP meant, so that we could give them a good answer.

Oh, and if you do that with the map, you might end up a bit confused as folks don't really talk about Austin that way.

[centralaustinite]

Number one: we are not that large of a city, we aren't even in the top three in Texas, never mind the US.

Number two: the violent crime rate is low. Property crimes are reported at high rates because people generally trust the police and do not hesitate to involve them.

There is no part of Austin -- not north east, not south east, not east Austin -- where I feel unsafe walking during the daytime. (I do volunteer work that takes me all over these areas regularly, I do walk in all of these areas, often in very poor neighborhoods, and some places that can barely be called neighborhoods -- collection of trailers on unpaved roads. I occasionally worry about being attacked by a dog but by a person, never! There are places I would hesitate to go at night. But not many.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by sweetvelocity

I am sure that like all large cities there are bad areas of Austin. What areas should I stay away from when I move there?

There are some gentrifying areas that arent super safe. Last week a friend had their door kicked in and robbed by three teenagers (who were caught and arrested) in SE austin by the airport.

Our friends who live in central (35th street and oakmont) have said there have been 2 cases that they know of where people were robbed in their home at gunpoint.

Another friend who lives in the area (45th st) say that someone went through her front door while she was in the backyard and took her purse. She said periodically people knock and then say they have the wrong house. She thinks they are possibly looking for houses where no one is home.

So the area is getting better, but still isnt that safe.

As you get into suburbia it gets a lot safer, cul de sacs etc without a lot of people driving through and without a lot of cars parked on the road, make it more obvious when there is someone who doesnt belong there vs more urban areas with a lot of random people driving through.

[jobert]

Let's not forget that the area just west of UT called "West Campus" on the north side of downtown was the 2nd worst neighborhood in the state for property crime. Statistically, you have a 50% chance of getting robbed in any given year .