Areas to avoid in Dayton? (Trotwood, Salem: neighborhoods, college, median income)

[Zeenatnissa]

Hi. I got a job offer in Miamisburg, OHIO. What is the safe place my husband and I can rent. I would higly appreciate your kind suggestions. Thanks

[joe from dayton]

We need a little more information than that. Do you want to live in Miamisburg? Budget? What type of property? Does the school system matter? etc., etc.

[weatherphotographer]

Five Oaks, N Main, Huffman, etc. The list goes on and on. May I suggest you use a crime map to find the areas you want to avoid? Would be easier to figure out

[hensleya1]

Originally Posted by weatherphotographer

Five Oaks, N Main, Huffman, etc. The list goes on and on. May I suggest you use a crime map to find the areas you want to avoid? Would be easier to figure out

I second all of these but need more information to truly find out where would be a good place to locate.

[robertbrianbush]

Originally Posted by VideoEngineerAJS

Just because Chicago is worse doesn't mean that you can't get hurt in Dayton. I live in St. Louis so it's worse here than it is in Dayton, however that doesn't mean that things can't happen everywhere.

You don't have to be buying drugs to get killed. Why do people always make that stupid argument? You wouldn't believe how many stray bullets have killed people this year in East St. Louis, IL and in North St. Louis. And all except for a few of them were DURING THE DAY.

The point was simply that you don't want to just hang out in west Dayton just like you wouldn't want to just hang out in north St. Louis or East St. Louis, IL because the longer you hang around an area that's bad, the higher the chance of something happening.

There have been very few if any incidents in the last few years of people getting killed by stray bullets in Dayton. The Dayton Daily News used to have a map on their website showing the location of each homicide in the city in any given year and a blurb with a few details about that homicide. The overwhelming majority were on the west side and the vast, vast, vast majority involved the drug trade and people who knew one another. Your chances of getting murdered if you avoid that activity are infintismally small, especially if you avoid the worst areas of the west side.

Dayton went from 1974 to 2002 without a single homicide in it's Central Business District.
I can't help you in terms of where to rent since I don't know your criteria. But since you are knew to town I will give you a few heads up on where to head for a little fun in the city proper, especially with an eye toward safety.

The Dayton Dragons minor league baseball team has been in operation since 2000, has sold out every single game at it's 8,000 seat stadium (where it has played since the team was founded) breaking the Portland Trail Blazers consecutive sellout record for a professional sports team in the US (over eight hundred games)...and there has never been a serious violent crime perpetrated against a fan either at the stadium or walking to or from it! (other than a regrettable and very bizarre incident a number of years ago when a pitcher for the opposing team intentionally fired the ball into the stands striking and injuring a fan. He was arrested for it and received a lifetime ban from baseball). Don't let the above described incident scare you...it was a complete and utter anomaly and the Dragons provide an exceptional family atmosphere and experience...hence the exceptional attendance figures.

The only homicides in the Oregon District or nearby Webster Station in relatively recent years involved a double homicide of bar managers by the manager of another bar who knew their end of day cash handling procedures in an after closing time robbery way back in 1993. Homicides are also very rare in the South Park/University of Dayton area south of downtown.

The area around the aforementioned baseball stadium is called Webster Station and is the home of a number of craft breweries, loft apartment/townhouse/luxury apartment developments, an excellent indoor public market, the city's new (planned opening in June of 2017) eighty-seven million dollar main library, and a black box theater.

The Webster Station/Oregon District/ University of Dayton/South Park/Brown Street area is currently riding a major wave of investment in new businesses and higher end apartments and townhouses.

In addition to restaurants and night spots the Oregon District is also home to several art galleries.

If you happen to be in the city in March the University of Dayton Arena (which has hosted more NCAA Tournament games than any other active arena) is where the NCAA Tournament begins with the First Four games. This is a big event in Dayton, which has kicked off the NCAA Tournament since 2000, with various things going on around town. These games are well attended...Dayton is one of the best college basketball towns in the country. Fans often wear T-shirts of one or the other of the teams (which often are from far away and thus have few fans in the stands) and root passionately for that team in order to give the players a better NCAA Tournament experience!

St Patrick's Day is also a very big deal in Dayton, especially in the university section and in the Oregon District, where streets are closed and there is a huge street festival.

These are basically the only areas of the city that contain activities or fun places for outsiders to visit....with the exceptions of the Air Force Museum (plan to spend a whole day if you go there) and the casino/horse track area. Those areas are safe as well...if the casino/horse track is your cup of tea use common sense on Dixie near the casino if you go there-you don't have to go there just to visit tge casino) but that is not a common area for homicides either..just a lot of strip clubs and vice along that street. It isn't an area with a lot of random violence. Can't remember anybody getting killed on North Dixie in the last decade or so though other than a couple of drug deals gone bad at a certain apartment complex and a couple of bar fights gone bad. And you can easily access the casino/ horse track from I-75 without going to North Dixie and the area i just described and have virtually nothing at all to worry about in terms of violent behavior...you would only wind up on Dixie if you decided to make a side trip there while in the neighborhood. And I am in all of these neighborhoods all of the time, grew up in the area, and am and always have been a news junkie.

If it is your cup of tea Dayton also has an art museum..the Dayton Art Institute...that is one of the best in the country for a city it's size. Well worth the trip. Plan to spend a day if you go there.

The Pine Club on Brown Street near the University of Dayton-south of downtown-was recently honored as one of the top steakhouses in the country.

Basically avoid the west side (west of I-75) and the areas around north main and enjoy your time in the Gem City!

[Amandarthegreat]

Originally Posted by robertbrianbush

Basically avoid the west side (west of I-75) and the areas around north main and enjoy your time in the Gem City!

Yeah, the vast majority of the 'west side' is fine. I wish people would stop perpetrating this myth that it becomes 'Mad Max' once you cross the river, it's ignorant and offensive.

[Ed Ferris]

Drove in from Richmond to look at a house for sale cheap on Amherst Place. Does University Row qualify as a bad neighborhood? Grafton Hill? Old Dayton View? On the Spotcrime.com map the whole city looks very peaceful -- but so did Detroit, until you noticed they were only listing the homicides. Who lives in those big old houses?

[Amandarthegreat]

Originally Posted by Ed Ferris

Drove in from Richmond to look at a house for sale cheap on Amherst Place. Does University Row qualify as a bad neighborhood? Grafton Hill? Old Dayton View? On the Spotcrime.com map the whole city looks very peaceful -- but so did Detroit, until you noticed they were only listing the homicides. Who lives in those big old houses?

::waves:: Hi! I live in one with my husband. The main danger in Five Oaks--where I live--is speeders. We've had a lot of problems with people who cut through the neighborhood because they don't want to get stuck at the stoplights on Main/Salem. These neighborhoods you mentioned (with the exception of Grafton Hill) went through some issues in the 1980s-1990s; however, lots of younger, educated people like myself are moving in and renovating these old houses. What keeps these areas depressed are two things: zombie properties and shady landlords. The REAP program is helping a lot, but there's such a backlog.

[Amandarthegreat]

Originally Posted by Ed Ferris

Drove in from Richmond to look at a house for sale cheap on Amherst Place. Does University Row qualify as a bad neighborhood? Grafton Hill? Old Dayton View? On the Spotcrime.com map the whole city looks very peaceful -- but so did Detroit, until you noticed they were only listing the homicides. Who lives in those big old houses?

Oh, and I forgot to mention. University Row has an awesome neighborhood association. Cool people and a kickin' community wide rummage sale every summer.

[Magicalmoe]

Originally Posted by robertbrianbush

Basically avoid the west side (west of I-75) and the areas around north main and enjoy your time in the Gem City!

I would generally agree with this statement. Especially avoid anything around 5 points, W 3rd St and Salem Ave. I've seen some things just in the local gas stations that looked like scenes straight out of the wire. Neighborhoods seem run down and impoverished. IMHO.