Claim: Certain parts of cities are very dangerous even just to visit

Question

Whenever I go to a new city I always get told to avoid the "dangerous areas" of said city. For example this happened when I went to Chicago, New York City, and Denver.  Usually it is my friends or family saying this but when I ask people who have been to said areas, they always say that it is not as bad as it seems (and they have been right for these 3 cities). Granted I am from a rural town, but this has always bugged me. Does anyone have some hard evidence or a viewpoint that I can show my friends and family? Linked below is a page that gives the same examples that my family says.

Answer 1

Although it is very hard to objectify what danger means with respect to city conditions, studies have, nevertheless, found that their are cities that are considerably "dangerous" compared to others. According to a Forbes article (link attached below), they cited a study that took a measure of per-capita crime for US cities that had a population above 100,000. From what they found, they stated cities such as St.Louis, Missouri, and Jackson, Mississippi are amongst the most dangerous cities, with the highest cost of crimes in the United States. Although this does not directly answer if specific parts of US metropolis are safer than others, it does answer there are safer and unsafer geographies in the US.

Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2022/02/23/crime-in-america-study-reveals-the-10-most-dangerous-cities-its-not-where-you-think/?sh=13835a3a7710

Answer 2

When looking at cities in the United States, each one has particular areas that are labeled as "dangerous." According to Forbes, the most dangerous cities in the US are ranked by their crime per capita. Crime per capita is a significant measure, as it deals with the amount of crime related to a population and how severe these crimes are. Forbes ranked St. Louis, Missouri, Mobile, Alabama, and Birmingham, Alabama to be the top 3 most dangerous cities in the US due to their high crime per capita.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2023/01/31/most-dangerous-cities-in-the-us-crime-in-america/?sh=7227a1054b25

Comments

While everything in your fact-check is true, I believe that you would be able to improve the quality of your answer by listing specific statistics about those cities. Additionally, finding specific areas or neighborhoods of these cities that are especially dangerous to list in your answer would make for a better response to the specific claim of this post.

Answer 3

Every city has a crime rate, more or less. I agree that every place has some areas of danger. According to the source below I found that there is a relationship between crime rate and population. Some places have fewer people so the crime rate is higher, which is the point of the crime rate per capita. “Our analysis finds the single most dangerous American city is East St. Louis, Illinois, just on the other side of the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri, which is No. 5 on our list.” But New York City, USA is ranked as one of the lowest crime cities in the country. This no doubt also has a lot to do with the population.

https://www.security.org/resources/most-dangerous-cities/

Comments

While it is true that crime per capita rates for cities have to do with the population, there are other socioeconomic factors at play, such as a high population of people below the poverty line, that determine the crime rate for a city or area of a city. These factors are important to address to increase the quality and credibility of your fact-check.

Answer 4

This claim is absolutely true. There is data showing many cities are more dangerous than others ans some parts of those cities being more dangerous than other neighborhoods. Many articles cite different ways to organize and "rank" cities based on danger because there are many different ways to classify "danger". For example, Science Focus lists the top 3 most dangerous cities in the US as St. Louis, Detroit, and Baltimore (Science Focus). They state that St. Louis comes in first due to their high crime and poverty. This brings in the question of why are certain parts of cities more dangerous than others, even to visitors. Science Focus states that the northern part of St. Louis tends to have some of the most dangerous areas due to the high crime rates (Science Focus). There are nice parts of every city in the country and it is known to avoid some neighborhoods due to violence, crime, and drugs. 

Answer 5

Yes, certain parts of cities are indeed statistically more dangerous, even just to visit, than other parts of that same city or other cities. The article that you linked lists various parts of Chicago that are known for higher levels of danger when visiting, compared to other areas of Chicago. The statistics in the article you linked come from FBI crime statistics, which is one of the most credible and comprehensive sources on crime rates throughout the United States. This increased risk of travel when moving through certain neighborhoods or areas of cities is a well-studied phenomenon. A study conducted in Sheffield, UK, found that neighborhoods or areas with higher socioeconomic challenges and higher concentrations of public housing also had higher rates of crime. Additionally, residents in these areas reported greater fear of crime. Overall, it is true that there can be large differences in crime rate from area to area in the same city, and there are several socioeconomic factors that cause this to be true. 

Sources:

LOCALISED CRIME SURVEY IN CONTRASTING AREAS OF A CITY | The British Journal of Criminology | Oxford Academic

Chicago Neighborhoods to Avoid and the Safest Places to Stay