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I wish we weren't in the top 100, but it could be worse. Look at ATL. Dern.
ani - If you compare Richmond to Charlotte, it would appear that the Police Chief moved to a lower crime area!
The sad thing is that Charlotte almost falls right in between the rankings of Newark and Paterson NJ. I'm familiar with both, being a Paterson native and if you ever inquire on the NJ C-D forum, most posters would tell you never to move to either! The strange thing about both of them is that they are so tiny in area compared to Charlotte. Newark is 23 sq miles, Paterson is 8.3 sq mi and Charlotte is over 240 sq miles. This would indicate that with the huge size of Charlotte, that some areas must have crime rates that would make New Orleans seem like Disneyland! Surely Myers Park has an overall crime rate that must be much lower than whatever the area with the highest crime rate must have! This is what disturbs me a lot because to my old Northeastern eyes, pretty much all of Charlotte looks so nice! Looks can be so deceiving! To some Newark residents, Peachtree Hills would look like a suburban paradise!
Well, all I know is . . . I grew up here and we always knew what areas of Charlotte to not even drive NEAR. I would suspect that is the same in any area. When I would visit my Philly relatives, they would tell us the same thing - what areas to stay FAR away from.
Every city has its bad areas - and those areas usually get worse after sundown. The thing that has been disconcerting about CLT is . . . when I moved away, crime was still pretty much relegated to those "bad areas" I had known growing up. When I moved back in late 2002, the crime was starting to seep out into the burbs. The perps were FROM the "traditionally bad areas," but they were now trolling the upperclass burbs to rip off electronic equipment and other expensive goodies. So that is the thing . . . I think every city is gonna have its bad areas . . . but the crime is not necessarily seeping out into the burbs . . . I could be wrong, but that is my perception.
The Metro numbers are much worse. The Charlotte metro area is #27, worse than NY, LA, St. Louis, Houston and hundreds of others.
How can this be?
Simple to explain!!! Charlotte is a city of about 700,000 with a metro population of about 1.7 million. If Charlotte's metro size was 4 million (ie more suburbanites that tend not to contribute to crime), Charlotte's metro crime rate would probably drop. I hope this makes sense. In some cases, having a large suburban population (something Charlotte does not have when compared to other cities) can help lower the crime rate of a metro area.
Simple to explain!!! Charlotte is a city of about 700,000 with a metro population of about 1.7 million. If Charlotte's metro size was 4 million (ie more suburbanites that tend not to contribute to crime), Charlotte's metro crime rate would probably drop. I hope this makes sense. In some cases, having a large suburban population (something Charlotte does not have when compared to other cities) can help lower the crime rate of a metro area.
urbancharlotte - To my eyes, Charlotte feels like a collection of suburbs with a downtown (uptown). My old home town is 8.3 sq miles with 150,000 residents. That gives it a population density of over 17,000 per square mile! Charlotte has a population density of about 3000 per square mile. That's why it seems so suburban to me. Parts like Myers Park are like wealthy suburban towns in their own right. For Northern NJ with so many 4 sq mile suburban towns, crime is practically non-existant in these areas. Car jackings in these little suburbs are unheard of. If you go 5 miles outside of the cities in NJ crime rates fall off to practically nothing. Here that doesn't seem to apply! Suburbs are very safe places in NJ. In Charlotte, what seem to be to be extremely suburban areas like Myers Park are not quite in that same category.
I can't believe people are making Charlotte out to be some crime ridden place. IT's NOT! If you're scared of Charlotte, then stay away from all cities. Charlotte is 300 sq miles!
In defense to those that have said this state is unsafe...imagine this. You have lived in a state your entire life (yes people do that) where you rarely hear about gangs, murders and what not. Then all of a sudden some brilliant mind decides to share this paradise with the entire country. Then over a couple of years you begin to hear about school shootings, gang shootings, gang fights in malls...ect. I can understand why people would think of this state as unsafe now. With the growth came the crime, again understandable.
With that being said, even with the excuse of incomplete data for Durham I am glad they are not on the list. Now people do not have an excuse to say Durham is a pool of crime if it isn't on the list. Not surprised about Charlotte or Greensboro and I am surprised that Raleigh did not make the list.
I'm a native Charlottean and I'm 55 yrs old....I recently did some work for a city police sgt. and we got to talking about "good areas vs. bad areas" etc. and he stated that there are no "good areas"! As far as crime, it's apt to take place anywhere anytime. That is the opinion of somebody that works with crime every day.
I'm thinking of relocating from Memphis and even from what i hear i still think its going to be a huge improvement. memphis stat 963 clk 648 pretty big diff
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The strange thing about both of them is that they are so tiny in area compared to Charlotte. Newark is 23 sq miles, Paterson is 8.3 sq mi and Charlotte is over 240 sq miles. This would indicate that with the huge size of Charlotte, that some areas must have crime rates that would make New Orleans seem like Disneyland! Surely Myers Park has an overall crime rate that must be much lower than whatever the area with the highest crime rate must have! This is what disturbs me a lot because to my old Northeastern eyes, pretty much all of Charlotte looks so nice! Looks can be so deceiving! To some Newark residents, Peachtree Hills would look like a suburban paradise! 
