Is crime in Ft. Myers decreasing? Considering a move from San Diego. (Miami: renting, violent crime)
Fort Myers - Cape Coral areaLee County
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Wow, is there really THAT much crime in Ft Myers? Like, will I be risking my life going to McDonalds alone, late at night?
I'm asking because I will be relocating to Fort Myers in a month for work, from Montreal, Canada. Montreal is super-safe, we only get a couple murders in a year.
I'll follow this thread and see what the locals have to say about this
Its made the list of Americas most dangerous cities. More than once.. Last year it made #5 most dangerous city in Florida with crime rate twice as high as the rest of the state. The 12 Most Dangerous Cities In Florida In 2016
It averages several murders a week, at one point it was daily.
Its made the list of Americas most dangerous cities. More than once.. Last year it made #5 most dangerous city in Florida with crime rate twice as high as the rest of the state. The 12 Most Dangerous Cities In Florida In 2016
It averages several murders a week, at one point it was daily.
I don't know where you get your information, but there were 13 murders in ft myers in 2015 and 14 in 2014
Its made the list of Americas most dangerous cities. More than once.. Last year it made #5 most dangerous city in Florida with crime rate twice as high as the rest of the state. The 12 Most Dangerous Cities In Florida In 2016
It averages several murders a week, at one point it was daily.
And most of those murders are in the same "bad area" of town. Like a previous poster mentioned these statistics are usually based on the actual city limits, not all the surrounding areas outside of those limits. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, my family and I have lived here since 1960 and not one of us has been the victim of a crime.
you can spin Ft. Myers any way you want but we all know its in the news every day for shootings, violent crimes, assaults etc. People move to Estero/Bonita/Naples long before they're moving to Ft. Myers. Doesn't matter if "most" happen in the bad areas because it all filters out into other areas. They've had to install video cameras downtown to help curb and identify crime offenders and made a new task force working with the FBI and police to help. On top of it they brought in a new police chief.
Sorry, but non of the other surrounding SWFL areas had to do that. Ft. Myers is drastically higher in crime/murder that its surrounding towns. A simple google search will show that. I love the people defending it as if its some magical paradise where all the crime 100% stays within a certain city block area.
Fort Myers, Florida, violent crime, on a scale from 1 (low crime) to 100, is 91. Violent crime is composed of four offenses: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. The US average is 31.1.
Moderator cut: Link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Specifically regarding violent crimes in Fort Myers, FL, the rate is 120% higher than compared to the Florida average, and 173% higher than when paralleled to the national average
Moderator cut: Link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
I'll repeat - I have lived here on and off since 1960. My family never left after moving here in the 60's and nobody in my family, friends included has ever been the victim of a crime. The few murders that aren't in the cone of crime are crimes of passion in most cases. You make it sound like we can't leave our houses for fear of being murdered, raped or robbed.
You can post all the statistics you want. As was mentioned numerous times the actual city limits of Fort Myers is much smaller than unincorporated Fort Myers. Think there's a lot of crime in Gateway? Fiddlesticks? How about Cross Creek?
The big "crime week" we had was gangbangers shooting each other in the Dunbar area. No big loss except when innocent people get hit in the crossfire.
But I see you live in Naples and you probably live in the good areas, not the high crime areas that us Lee County people see on the news all the time.
you can spin Ft. Myers any way you want but we all know its in the news every day for shootings, violent crimes, assaults etc. People move to Estero/Bonita/Naples long before they're moving to Ft. Myers. Doesn't matter if "most" happen in the bad areas because it all filters out into other areas. They've had to install video cameras downtown to help curb and identify crime offenders and made a new task force working with the FBI and police to help. On top of it they brought in a new police chief.
Sorry, but non of the other surrounding SWFL areas had to do that. Ft. Myers is drastically higher in crime/murder that its surrounding towns. A simple google search will show that. I love the people defending it as if its some magical paradise where all the crime 100% stays within a certain city block area.
Fort Myers, Florida, violent crime, on a scale from 1 (low crime) to 100, is 91. Violent crime is composed of four offenses: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. The US average is 31.1.
Moderator cut: Link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Specifically regarding violent crimes in Fort Myers, FL, the rate is 120% higher than compared to the Florida average, and 173% higher than when paralleled to the national average
Moderator cut: Link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
and these are isolated instances and usually someone the victim knows it's not like Jason from Friday the 13th is out every night hunting people. Fort Myers is an up and coming area and every area will always have bad people. and if you still live in the SW Florida area than why? Do you think living in Naples makes you immune from being murdered?
you can spin Ft. Myers any way you want but we all know its in the news every day for shootings, violent crimes, assaults etc. People move to Estero/Bonita/Naples long before they're moving to Ft. Myers. Doesn't matter if "most" happen in the bad areas because it all filters out into other areas. They've had to install video cameras downtown to help curb and identify crime offenders and made a new task force working with the FBI and police to help. On top of it they brought in a new police chief.
Sorry, but non of the other surrounding SWFL areas had to do that. Ft. Myers is drastically higher in crime/murder that its surrounding towns. A simple google search will show that. I love the people defending it as if its some magical paradise where all the crime 100% stays within a certain city block area.
Fort Myers, Florida, violent crime, on a scale from 1 (low crime) to 100, is 91. Violent crime is composed of four offenses: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. The US average is 31.1.
Moderator cut: Link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Specifically regarding violent crimes in Fort Myers, FL, the rate is 120% higher than compared to the Florida average, and 173% higher than when paralleled to the national average
Moderator cut: Link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
I don't know if you were referring to me or not, but I never said Fort Myers was paradise, but i like it here. I also own two condos in Marco but prefer living in south Ft. Myers. Naples is nice, but way too crowded for me. I posted the links about the murder rate, simply because you were misleading about " daily murders" . If one only read what you wrote, a person would think it was Afghanistan.
I can not speak of crime statistics, but can say a majority of crime is taking place closer to the city as opposed to the areas around the city. Every city has its crime. Even with the supposed "safe" areas, one should always be aware of what is going on around you. You never know when and where the bad guys will spill out to. I personally have always felt reasonably safe, but I always keep, in the back of my mind, watchful. Once, near Times Square, in Ft. myers beach, I went to use the public restrooms early in the morning. I am thinking that the homeless get cleaned up early in the AM before the beach goers come for the day because there were quite a few if them gathered on the steps. I walked past 2 of them and one of them literally growled at me and told me to get away from his bathrooms. He was physically aggressive and I was at a cross road of fight or flight. I knew my husband was in the running air conditioned car and might not be able to see what was going in. At that point, my fight reflexes just took over. I can not tell you how I saw red. I mean RED. I lunged towards that a hole, eyes bulging, and face enraged. With spit coming out of my mouth, I told him... he comes near me, I will make sure he never walks again. Sometimes you have to one up "nuts" with teetering psychotic. Psychotic isn't hard for me having raised 6 hormonal teenagers. Regardless, you would think the beach town would be safe. Perhaps statistically it is, but you never know when the bad guy might take an opportunity.
Coming from someone who has lived in SWFL for 29 years, allow me to shed some light on the reality of this area. When I first moved here around 1989 it was a quiet "town" with mostly retired senior citizens. There would be an increase in tourists in the winter months, and then the roads would completely die down in the summer. You'd hear about a crime maybe once every 4-5 months on the news.
Unfortunately, it's not at all the same place it was back then. Every road in the area has been expanded and it's still not enough to support all the rapid growth. There is no more "off-season" anymore. The roads are extremely busy all year, as the Fort Myers/Cape Coral metro area now has a population close to 800,000 residents (and that's not counting the Naples area). It's beginning to feel very much like Miami.
As for crime, and I'm being completely honest and non-biased, Fort Myers is overall very dangerous and its bad reputation is not just talk. The crime index is a 91 out of 100, with 100 being the worst! It is ranked as having higher crime than Chicago, LA, and NYC! Statistics don't lie, and I can say that while most of the crime does tend to be in the same areas (MLK blvd, Palm Beach blvd, Downtown, Dunbar, Pine Manner, and Lehigh), I've seen a recent spike in crime in other areas as well. In fact, there were two recent shootings at Gulf Coast Town Center that occurred within two days of each other and they were entirely separate events, and that's a very "nice" area near FGCU right across from a multi-million dollar community. Overall the crime seems to be spreading out into what were otherwise safe areas, as the population continues to spike. So crime is definitely noticeably getting worse, especially in the past 5 years.
The fact is, you've got to know which areas to avoid, especially at night. Some areas that are generally safe during the day are very unsafe at night. Don't be fooled by the palm trees and resort-like atmosphere. There are some VERY ghetto areas in Fort Myers, which I'd feel much more "unsafe" walking through than even some of the most shady areas in the Bronx or Queens. And it's not just a couple of blocks I'm talking about. Basically, you're really not safe going anywhere in between Colonial Pkwy north to Downtown Fort Myers and east to I-75 during the night. During the day, sure you can drive through those areas and feel somewhat safe, but keep in mind, there have been many shootings and robberies in those areas even in broad daylight, so I'd avoid them altogether. There is literally a shooting in those areas ALMOST EVERY DAY.
Cape Coral is overall very safe compared to Fort Myers and Lehigh, and the main issue in Cape Coral is mostly theft and burglaries. I always here about people breaking into cars there, literally like every other day, no joke. So if you're moving to the Cape, just be sure to get a car alarm and lock your doors.
Lehigh Acres (also known as LeCrime Acres) is a complete joke. There is a reason the housing is so inexpensive there. It's a cesspool of violent crime and drugs. It literally looks like a 3rd world country. Nowhere in the entire city of Lehigh is safe, and if you think I'm joking just watch the 6 o-clock news.. all the reports of murders in SWFL (which are literally on a daily-basis) are ALWAYS (and I mean ALWAYS) in Lehigh or one of those areas I mentioned in Fort Myers.
If you're considering moving to the Naples area, avoid Golden Gate. It's like a sister city to Lehigh, and though definitely not as bad with crime, it's still pretty bad and has a lot of crime overall.
North Fort Myers - just avoid it. I'm always hearing about crime there as well, and it's a very junky/trashy looking area. There is really nothing nice there at all. It's like another Lehigh but with slightly less crime, which doesn't say much.
So what are the safest areas in SWFL? The overall safest area is Estero, hands down. Though it's also the most expensive, especially if you're considering renting. Rent there is a joke, it's way over-priced.
Naples is also mostly safe, other than Naples Park which has its problems, but overall you should be perfectly fine almost anywhere in Naples. Bonita Springs is mostly okay as well, though there are some not as safe areas along old 41 and Bonita Beach Rd. But still, it's far safer overall than Fort Myers and Lehigh.
Finally, I will mention the "safer" areas of Fort Myers to be fair. Gateway is mostly okay, though it is awfully close to Lehigh so it's not exempt from crime. Communities along Daniels Pkwy are mostly safe, and the same goes for pretty much everywhere south of Daniels Pkwy/Cypress Lake Drive (other than San Carlos Park which is not entirely safe). The Forum and areas along Treeline are also pretty safe. Finally, the areas closer to the beach (Summerlin and Gladiolous) are "somewhat" safe, other than Harlem Heights.
I hope this has been helpful to newcomers, and if you're coming from the Midwest, just be prepared for a culture shock
Last edited by scifiguy2020; 08-06-2017 at 12:49 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
