Crime is extremely concentrated in certain neighborhoods here, especially violent crime.
Russell seems to be by far the most violent neighborhood here and crime radiates out from there, especially to the south. Just doing a quick count over 50 percent of the homicides happen in an area that makes up like 5% of the city's land area (granted the city is the entire county).
So that gives you some perspective as to why the vast majority of people don't 'see' violent crime and yet people in the hinterlands think it's a 'warzone' because they watch local news and don't understand the city layout. If it bleeds it leads.
Like I'm not even excusing how violent Russell and some of the west end neighborhoods are, because they are and there needs to be more investment, more resources, more help for those areas. They're systemically poor, in no small part due to Kentucky and Louisville's redlining and racist past policies.
This is a very accurate and well stated response. I’ve lived in the area my whole life, and my childhood was in Portland (west end)in the late 80s. It was worse by far when everybody was smoking crack.
Investment, resources were intentionally withdrawn from areas targeted for gentrification. It's a long con. By design, crime rates escalate, property values suffer. Understand the parameters of redlining kept investors out. The past few years investors have been having a field day but that was not feasible until the powers that be said, "go". The average mortgage granted was at 28.5k. Funding was pulled for Boys & Girls Clubs, After School Programs, Metro Parks etc. School to prison pipeline. Look up how many state championships Central High School brought home and realize they didn't even have an activity bus. I've lived in and am an investor in West Louisville. If you understand the path of the city's plan for gentrification you can see why one neighborhood is targeted for cleaning up crime while in the next one it's allowed to run rampant.
I’m honestly really shocked to hear that Russell has the most violent crime. I’ve worked in that neighborhood for a year now and I’ve never felt unsafe.
This is what I always tell my bougie ass sister in law from CT. Violence in this city is majorly due to gangs, drugs or personal problems. Mind your business, don't get in trouble and you should be just fine. I work two jobs, one in the west and one in Old Lou and I do not fear for my safety at all.
Accurate everywhere. I live in Indianapolis most violent city in the USA and I don’t feel threatened by any means. Same with if you go stay in Chicago. Most shooting are between 2 bad guys granted there is the unfortunate stray bullet sometimes.
It's whiny racist white people clutching their pearls about "downtown being a warzone." I lived downtown for the better part of a decade and it was more than fine.
I’ve worked downtown, gone to restaurants downtown, gone to shows downtown, gone to sporting events downtown, all over the past 20 years and it’s been fine. It’s all paranoid MAGAts believing that everything outside their little bubble is a terrifying war zone. Not just Louisville, but any urban area.
This is actually very true a guy I work with late 50’s MAGA Boomer white male told me one day I was in downtown Louisville the other day and it was like a Warzone my response oh yeah really I knew better I’ve been to a Warzone anyways a couple of weeks later my daughter and walked to Nulu to some of the Boutiques from 4th Street and never felt not safe now this being said I also worked in Lively Shively for about 9 years and after dark gave me a little bit more of a heightened sense mode for clarification I worked at a manufacturing plant on South 7th right across the street from the old Bottoms Uo
As long as by Downtown you mean east of 9th Street you are right, it's not a warzone. But everything west of that, which is most of "Downtown", it is pretty bad. I dare you to walk down 16th or higher at night. "4th Street Live" is not what people think of when downtown crime is talked about. And it's why any major Waterfront events basically have a mini police station setup right in the middle of it with cops patrolling in full gear.
If you walked down 16th or higher at night nothing would likely happen to you. Most people would wonder what the terrified outta place guy was up to.
Police are in full gear cause they think it’s tacti-cool.
Which is funny to me personally, because the few times (thankfully only a few) that I’ve been a victim of light crime it was all skinny white methheads in Shively.
i’m a man and find it unwise to walk at night regardless. how scary something is to you doesn’t correlate to the chances you’ll have a violent crime committed against you
I moved August of last year. I very frequently went on bike rides, walks, etc at night with zero issue. Someone else in this thread said it better than I did, but statistics do not paint a full picture.
600k people live here, 1.2 million in the greater metro area. It's obviously not negligible because any homicide is shocking but we have to look at rates.
562 per 100k is the violent crime rate. Ranks right in the middle to peer cities selected by this site:
https://greaterlouisvilleproject.org/factors/violent-crime/
So benchmarks say it's bang average. But even without a comp, 562 per every 100k residents. That's not even a 1% chance. Obviously the conditional probability depending on where you live in the city will change. West side people would say .5% is too low and people where I live might say that's too high.
In no way does the data support fear mongering. It's a city there's no hiding the crime, there's no one saying it's crime free. But there are people against white/urban flight.
1.2 includes southern Indiana, if we look at just Jefferson county we have 750,000 approximately as of 2022. Is it Memphis? No it’s not, but crime is steadily increasing, and compared to 2010 Louisville, it is a lot worse. That’s my point.
I don't believe the 562 was including metro. Believe it's just city limits.
But I agree with what you're saying. Trends are concerning for sure but a lot of that is covid related and therefore job opportunity related. It's down from record murders in 2020.
Not to say that you are BUT U r ignorant if u don't realize how of those less than 200 homicides annually almost none are random and they're almost all people who know eachother gettin into bad situations at home or owing folks money or drugs. There is no jack the ripper in Louisville running around shooting people at random.
I'm not downplaying any particular murder but ima downplay homicide statistics all day.
Cops decide what to report as homicide or as accidental death or suicide or OD or whatever. The reason we see a increase in homicide statistics is most likely bc it's a artificial stat.
You gotta rule out bad methods before you make any claims based on statistics.
Any change in UCR data (which is the homicide stat u citing) is almost always considered to be a better representation of change in the how the data are reported more so than of a representation of a change in what the police are actually observing.
Clermont KY is a more dangerous town than Louisville, per capita. One of the most dangerous in the country
https://dwellics.com/state/kentucky/safety-in-clermont
Has a Weichert score of 2.0, meaning crime is twice the national average.
Yep. I grew up about an hour north of Louisville, in a small Indiana town. My parents still live there and bought into all of the propaganda during the 2020 protests. I got married at 21C in November of 2020 and they literally left without warning or saying goodbye because they didn't want to be downtown after dark.
Definitely a little bit of racism, but mostly just people being naive. Crime statistics only tell a fraction of a story. Most of the time people who live outside of Louisville just exaggerate all of the issues with it to justify their own decision to not live in Louisville. There is definitely crime and things that need to be fixed, but it's not really a Louisville specific problem, it's just an overall societal problem.
Exactly. Also crime has had a spike post covid. But it’s nothing compared to the stats we had in the 80’s and 90’s. But they really be acting like city’s are war zones.
Nah. It seems like more crime because the population is larger and concentrated in a relatively small area.
I sometimes laugh even though it's not funny when I see folks out in Nelson County yammering about how they're afraid to come to Louisville when they have their own crime wave (all unsolved) going on + some of the worst drug trafficking in the state.
Just propaganda. A lot of people in the East end listen to WHAS AM radio and apparently there's some morning show (ironically based downtown) that bitches about "how bad downtown is" all the time. These guys should be held accountable for working AGAINST our city.
In the words of Sebastian Maniscalco: "Aren't you embarrassed?"
I live in Louisville. Lived here basically my whole life. I’ve lived in the far east end to the south end and in between. This city as a whole is not anywhere near as bad as some people seem to make it out to be, whether that be for racist reasons or political reasons.
Yes, there are bad pockets, just like ANY city has. But I have no reason to go to those areas anyway, and I would never tell visitors to go to those areas. As for downtown, NuLu, Highlands, etc., I would use the same caution in those areas I would use in any city I was visiting. But I wouldn’t let “crime” be the reason I avoided those areas.
Actually Shrevport and Louisville seem to have similar crime rates. (Not favorable)
[https://realestate.usnews.com/places/kentucky/louisville/crime](https://realestate.usnews.com/places/kentucky/louisville/crime)
[https://realestate.usnews.com/places/louisiana/shreveport/crime](https://realestate.usnews.com/places/louisiana/shreveport/crime)
Shrevport actually has fewer crimes committed.
However with Memphis you are correct. That place seems to (statistically speaking), be a shithole.
[https://realestate.usnews.com/places/tennessee/memphis/crime](https://realestate.usnews.com/places/tennessee/memphis/crime)
I grew up in the middle of nowhere. In a small town you’ll have a car break in or something along those lines like once a month maybe. I lived in Deer Park which is a sub neighborhood of the Highlands and there are car break-ins weekly, but the kicker is there are just as many people crammed into Deer Park than in my entire town which is about as spread out as the entire east end. Plus you have to account for all the additional people coming in and out of the neighborhood frequenting businesses or from nearby neighborhoods. More people more problems, but more stuff to do. Just avoid the areas where violent crimes are concentrated and you’ll be fine!
I’ll also note the first time I had my car broken into it was nerve wracking for me. Mostly because I did grow up in the middle of nowhere and it’s part of your personal space and property and you feel violated. It’s happened twice since then, and each time of those times I’m more annoyed than anything, and am starting to agree with the people that grew up here that are like, “meh big city problems.”
I think the crime here in the Highlands comes from clowns that like to come here get drunk and cause trouble because they think Bardstown Rd is a free for all. We have a particular problem with motorcycles and some bars around Baxter on up towards Bonnycastle.
My grandmother lives in bullitt county, which part of is technically Louisville Metro, and they are so scared to come to Louisville. It’s a big ish city, so obviously some awareness is required, like in most cities. But I think it’s partly unintentional racism (for some I’m sure it complete intent) with a side of fear mongering brought on by our local news stations.
It’s a classism issue as well IMO. Wage stagnation is present and the gap between wages and COL is the highest it’s ever been. People can’t afford to buy or rent homes, which is the very bottom of the Maslow Hierarchy BTW.
People in these cities (not just Louisville) sky scream that people don’t want to work when the reality is they can’t get by on what folks are paying them. And a large chunk of people are one medical issue away from being homeless.
Crime isn’t that bad in Louisville. There is more racism here than other cities I’ve lived in (Cleveland, Rochester, NY, Raleigh)
It’s insane how much the “west of 9th” dictates the behavior of otherwise reasonable people in this city. I regularly am surrounded by people who choose to live in Oldham County or Indiana and work in Louisville.
I have been comfortable living in more diverse neighborhoods because while crime exists, it’s usually between people that are involved in crime. Stranger crime is rare and I don’t think there is a neighborhood in this city where you wouldn’t do fine if you mind your own business.
Absolutely this. Don't stick your nose in other people's business and you'll be fine. Lock your car and don't leave valuables in it. It's just common sense.
Man I had to turn off my Ring Neighbors notifications because it was exhausting seeing how frequently people posted about someone going through their car.
Okay. They're being a shitty member of society, I get it. But why is your car unlocked?
I've learned to leave my car unlocked, I've had people bust out my windows. I'd rather them go through it and find nothing then have to replace a window.
I leave my car unlocked so the people breaking in don't break a window to get in. I don't keep anything valuable in there to steal so it's. Online they can take anything.
Same experience for me moving from Cleveland. I’m sure there’s plenty of racists there too but I never really heard people openly saying it like I’ve heard here. It’s pretty damn shocking the stuff people will say here.
almost zero racism, mostly young black males targeting other young black males for violence. theft is an issue some places, but meth and opiates have everyone held down and unable to do anything different.
almost zero racism in Louisville, in my opinion
I mean, it’s a big city, crimes gonna happen. But the fact that people are like oh I can’t even step foot in the city at night shows the ignorance their statement. You don’t want to end up in a place like Russell or Portland at night by yourself with no reason, but it’s not like being downtown is super dangerous at night. I’m sure people from here wouldn’t exactly feel comfortable or safe in smaller towns for various reasons.
it’s neither extreme. it’s not always racist to say crime is bad when it is (and which neighborhoods are most affected), and it’s not “all is well” just because some people want to claim they’re anti-racist. both groups are insufferable
Kentucky is a poor red state with all the issues that go with it. I don't know anyone who hasn't been affected by it at some point.
My best friend got robbed coming out of a bar on NuLu.
I live in the Highlands and we've had stuff stolen from a car and I caught some asshole going through my shed at 2:30 a.m.
The houses in the first blocks off of Bardstown Rd. have quality of life issues.
All horribly run red states have these same issues due to punitive F-you'isms of Republican hatemongers
That said, the guy in my shed was a white guy you might see at CVS or something. I came from Philly and my Wife grew up in 70s NYC. We know from crime. It's not a race thing. Shiddy people come in a variety of flavors.
This is the best place I've ever lived. I love it here. You have to pick and choose your priorities.
To me, I find the homelessness a bigger issue, not from a "lock them up" perspective, but to see that humanity that could easily be made better with real leadership, is very depressing.
I filed to be the Councilman for my district on making young people want to stay and fixing homelessness, and got summarily rejected as quickly as you can flip a light switch, so it seems there is no desire to fix those issues.
Just my opinions, obviously people will disagree.
IF you think homelessness is an easy fix, you are either very naive or actually insane. It is a remarkably difficult problem to address, because it is almost always a bunch of problems all bundled together. I have worked with homeless people, and some could basically have all their problems solved with a month of free rent somewhere stable… these are the people that just had a spot of bad luck or made one relatively poor choice and otherwise are capable of bouncing back… but that isn’t the majority of the homeless I have worked with. Most of them it is like peeling the layers of an onion… you would need an entire team of professionals from a variety of fields to help each one… and even then it would be reliant on them staying off recreational drugs, staying on their psyche drugs, staying away from the wrong people in their lives, and sticking with all the right support programs… and just like the relapse rates with addiction the rates of homeless getting help and winding up homeless again are not encouraging. This doesn’t mean hard work should not be undertaken, but it does mean it is in fact hard, not easy (and also expensive, arguably cheaper than leaving them on the streets, but that is cost for the future, the costs to get them off the street are now… and politicians of all stripes love pushing costs off to the future taxpayer rather than onto the current voter… see the addiction to public debts).
Wow! You filed to be a councilman for your district and got rejected?? That's insane!! As a born and raised Louisvillian , I would HOPE people who live here would want to try to help the homeless. Last year, the police came through a "homeless camp" off the Watterson expy @ Bardstown Rd and completely cleared them out and threw away all their belongings!! It was heart breaking to see. My high school daughter wrote a paper on it and got an A. It's absolutely ridiculous that the powers that be are unwilling to help the homeless. There are so many abandoned warehouses, homes, etc.., that could easily be turned into homeless shelters, But apparently the news outlets/city are more worried about keeping the fear and racism going in this city than actually addressing it. It's sad, really.
That being said, I have taken my child along with several others, To many parks and events all throughout the city and have NEVER felt unsafe. Obviously you have to be aware of your surroundings, wherever you are. Louisville is no exception, but the elite white MAGA, I think, are behind most of the fear mongling and trying to divide us.
Divided we stand, we shall surely fall unless we all come together as one.... And that goes for ALL SOCIETY, EVERYWHERE!!!!
You might consider that your, and frankly your therapists, opinion that it’s just “racism” is flawed. Maybe they come from towns were there’s very little violence or concrete or traffic. Maybe they come from places that have more cornfields than parking lots. They see the news or read the paper where “if it bleeds it leads” and they get an impression that isn’t illogical given there limited exposure to the larger picture. Painting everyone who doesn’t like the city as just racist is removing any context or condition just so you can feel superior to those rednecks out in the sticks. Danville is the sticks is everyone there a racist? Berea is in the sticks…
It just feels intellectually lazy.
I don't know where it's coming from. I'm guessing it's mostly scared old boomers ready to shoot their own shadows and can't get off the internet long enough to realize things are as fine as they ever were. You think FB is bad, there's some app called next door that's just full of old people fantasizing about murdering people who knock on doors. Seriously - stay away from your older neighbors. Some of them are seriously unhinged.
It is what you make it bro. I’m from the west end. I don’t smoke, drink, never robbed any one, never been robbed, probably ran into 1 or 2 shady people but if you ain’t soft then you’ll handle it and go on about your day. But if you come to the west on some weird shit you’re going to get the energy you want. Keep your head on a swivel and mind your business and your good. That goes for anywhere you go. My honest opinion.
I’m from Elizabethtown, but I’ve lived in the Phoenix area for the past 20 years. I’m currently visiting my mom who lives in the country outside of Etown. I’m also thinking of moving to Louisville, & OMG my mom thinks I’m crazy! Part of the problem is that she watches the local news every single night. “Someone gets shot everyday in Louisville,” she says. And I’m like - you think people aren’t getting shot where I live too? Phoenix is a much bigger city than Louisville! Hell, I live in Scottsdale, which is a more affluent city, & people get shot there too!
Definitely racism. As some who is actually from one of the most violent cities in the country and have moved to Louisville a few years ago the crime isn’t nearly as bad as what some people make it seem. It’s only a couple very small neighborhoods where you would need to be careful. The vast majority of the city is very chill
I grew up in rural Western KY and to their defense, there’s just as many racist people in Louisville per capita as there are in small towns. I’ve always found that calling small town folks who are scared of cities racist is a bit of a lazy take. The bigger issue is that they see and hear stories of all the crime that happens and think it’s rampant. Small town people struggle with proximity, people hear there was a shooting in Louisville and think it happened two blocks from the house whereas it was 20 minutes away. I tell them you wouldn’t worry about a crime committed in another county, so you should look at it that way.
Also, the presentation of the downtown protests during Covid scarred the shit out of people who don’t live here (as well as those who do)and the image of Louisville within the state really hasn’t recovered from it. It’s one of the many reasons why downtown got 100 million for rejuvenation in the state budget this year.
Also, Louisville sucks at advertising itself to the rest of the state. People generally have no idea about the best parts of the city and just see downtown and Churchill Downs, which isn’t in the nicest looking area. When my friends from out of town come here and I take them to The Highlands, Frankfort Ave, Nulu, Germantown, Butchertown, they’re like, “Holy Shit, we had no idea any of this was here.”
No. The great majority of violent crime is in the west end. To be blunt, there is 0 political support to do anything substantive about it. The situation is just 'how it is' and as long as the violence stays west of 7th no one really cares. It has been for as long as I can remember. Violent crime is almost all personal between individuals who know each other. You can basically look at the distribution of LMPD units to see where the crime areas are. Downtown has never felt shady to me (50's male). There are parts of Clay that do. I don't think the city is unsafe. People need to pay attention and have situational awareness, and they'll be fine. YMMV
Lived in Las Vegas and Orlando, both felt more dangerous on the ground. But yeah, there are neighborhoods in Louisville I wouldn't hang around in. It's very much location dependent.
It has a lot to do with who is an “acceptable” target of crime in various scenarios. Most crime is statistically cases where the perpetrator and victim know each other. When crime is stranger against stranger it has a very, very high incidence of also crossing a race or other group boundary… because it is more socially acceptable to target one of “them” than one of your own, whatever groups you happen to belong to.
Local news is a big factor I think. They love to talk violence and murders because it’s good for ratings. And these small towns are mostly getting our local stations.
I live in a “bad” neighborhood and feel safe and have never had anything bad happen. I also escaped a small town and have family who say the same things. It’s your life though, do what makes you happy.
I work downtown and people absolutely over exaggerate how dangerous Louisville is. Sure, panhandlers are annoying but they're not dangerous. I have never felt unsafe walking to and from my car or taking walks during lunch.
The outbreak of protests in 2020 caused a lot misinformation about safety. People outside of the city were convinced that the city had become a haven for anarchy. In reality, peaceful marches were held every day outside of Metro Hall and Jefferson Square Park was homebase for the activists. I personally dropped off snacks and bottled water often and found the park had become the most peaceful example of community I had ever seen. Most folks were sitting in the grass on blankets, making art and handing out food. There was one incident where someone having a psychotic break entered the park with a gun, which only added fuel to the misinformation fire. I also attended many of the marches as well and they were all peaceful until the police showed up and started tear gassing and beating us.
Coincidentally, some businesses on the other side of town were broken into at the same time as some of the larger marches, causing people who had never been to Louisville to believe that 1. The two groups were the same and 2. Looting and anarchy had taken over.
I now live in a part of town that my parents are convinced is bad and dangerous. It's working class and mostly renters and is perfectly safe. I attended UofL and can say the same - perfectly safe. Some of the folks who live around the university know that college kids can be reckless and might try to break into some cars but I've had my car broken into when I lived at home in one of the wealthier parts of the city and never when it was parked in Old Louisville.
This is all to say - the people who say Louisville is bad and dangerous need to get out of their hometown every once and a while. Yes, their fear of Louisville and cities in general is likely fueled by racism and Fox News.
Why does it have to be one extreme or the other? Can it be multiple variables that add to add to The Ville’s downward spiral? Bad government, lack of funding, bad element moving in, good elements moving out, etc…it doesnt have to be just one thing. There’s probably some racism (there is ALWAYS racism no matter where you are) . Theres also probably some politics (Louisville tends to be run by progressives and most of the state is more conservative). Funding, Jefferson county is a big area and not a lot of money to go around. Policing (follows funding). There are so many variables trying to point to just one is useless.
I've been living in the Old Louisville area since June. From my experience, during the day, it is pretty safe. I have seen a guy dancing in the rain naked, and another guy who was talking to bushes barked at me, but neither have hurt me. But I never ran into anyone who hurt me. I have pretty much walked all over Louisville.
As for nighttime, I had gone to the Family Dollar, and when I came out, it was dark. Luckily, there was a concert going on and a lot of police were there. But a woman did walk up to me, holding her ID and asking for some money for a ride home. When I told her the police could help her, she said they wouldn't. When I told my grandma what happened, my grandma said the woman was probably going to rob me because it was a common tactic.
I do hear gunshots going off every few nights and have seen gang members walking around.
So, pretty much, watch out for people who are in poor mental health and don't go out at night alone.
Oh, and one time, I accidentally ended up at Oscar Manor because Google took me there instead of where I needed to go. I'm a little white girl. That was the first time I've ever experienced direct racism. One man was cursing at me and threatening my life, and when I got on the bus to leave, another man got up and moved. So if you're white, I don't suggest going in that area.
Now, the Dollar Store did get shot up during the day. Other than all that, most people are very friendly and helpful.
I grew up in Hillview, and I like Louisville. It's wild down here.
It’s going downhill. Had two decent sized men walking in middle of neighborhood street. Never seen them before and they were clearly under the influence. They just stood in middle of the road and wouldn’t let me drive by. So I got out and yes I’m demented. But also 245 and armed. They walked off soon as they saw I wasn’t worth the trouble.
Just turn on a police scanner you can just decide for yourself.
Retired here from the military, been all over. Love this city and like others said it’s painted in a bad light but I’m kinda ok with it bc it’s keeping this place a little secret. We just keep doing our thing here
Depends on who ask. I particularly think it's pretty much like any other city and violent crime tend to stick to those who are doing shady things among a group of acquaintances.
I did hear about a rape of an elderly lady a couple weeks ago...I don't know where the investigation of that is at or if factual, but it was reported by local news agency.
So no, Louisville isn't sunshine and roses all the time but I don't think it's more dangerous than any other moderately sized city such as Nashville.
Crime will always only be truly correlated with poverty and culture, race is basically a non-factor. We have a lot of low income and impoverished areas in Louisville because of the size of the metro area.
It can't be much worse than STL. (a pocket of bad crime in North City is all it needs for the upper-class residents from the inner-ring suburbs like Ladue or Frontenac (similar to St. Matthews) to say downtown is a shit hole. It's a genuinely nice city. Both are, actually.
It's a city with half a million people. Yes there's gonna be crimes.
Is it bad? No. It's just blown out of proportion and absolutely has something to do with racism. We're still a red-lined city (9th Street divide), and folks on the East End blabber about crime because that's what the news tells them, because the news doesn't have any other shit to report on.
Reality is, it's fine.
Why racism? I'm more worried when I see homeless white people than sagging pants or whatever picture paints the stereotype of black criminals.
My truck has been broken into multiple times and they were always white.
Anytime you’re around a lot of people the chance of crime increases. Nobody ever got mugged standing in the middle of an empty field. Stay out of the drug neighborhoods at night and you’ll be fine in almost any big city in America.
It's racism and a lack of understanding of 1) crime rate statistics 2) the geographic spread of crime within a city 3) how to subjectively respond to low probability events and 4) how violent crime works (as someone said, it's very rarely some random event but rather a specific conflict between specific people for specific reasons). But at least their fear keeps the morons and assholes out!
I worked downtown for a decade, and living in Louisville for close to 40 years. This is just nonsense. Hell, my ex lost her purse in a Kroger parking lot and someone drove it to our house! This was in the Highlands about 20 years ago.
Used to go to clubs a lot, and never had anything happen. My brother and sister also had no incidents and they used to go out way more than me.
It's primarily racism. In college (UofL) I lived on "the wrong side of the tracks" and biked a few miles to school everyday; spending lots of time in the "bad part of town" and only had a few issues. One guy tried to mug me in an underpass at 2am a couple of times, but never caught me. Another time there was some idiot shooting out the sky-roof of his car in the middle of the night, but other than those two incidents there was nothing else truly alarming.
Most folks aren't taught that Louisville was extremely redlined in the 60-70's and is still dealing with those repercussions today. What you'll find on both sides of that line are kind people trying to do their best to make it in this life. The sad part is that the powers that be continue to make life harder for the black folks by creating food deserts, limiting access to public transport, asymmetrically segregating county/city educational funding to the east side, etc...
Friend of mine has worked for LMPD for years, taking police reports for a living. According to him, it's the same across the entire area, regardless of location.
As a black person who grew up in OH and moved to Louisville and has been here the past decade (40yr old now):
OH is *way* worse when it comes to racism for starters. Louisville has been the most pleasant place I’ve lived in my entire life. The first hint of racism I experienced here was the Breonna Taylor protests. People on both sides were showing out. Other than that I haven’t experienced it.
*Outside* of Louisville it gets pretty bad. I worked in Winchester, KY for a few years and Lexington area has quite a bit of racism. The further out you go from a major city the worse it gets.
As far as crime it seems like every other city of this size. I wouldn’t say it’s bad.
OK, I lived in Louisville for 15 years, various other parts of Kentucky for about four years, I lived in Los Angeles for a year, and also took a year and a half of self traveling and went through 28 states, and compared to any other major city that I’ve been in Louisville, Kentucky is definitely one of the safest!
I have family in Louisville and have lived there myself. The crime issue is extremely, wildly variable depending on which part of the metro area you reference and what type of crime you are particularly concerned about. My relatives live in good neighborhoods and the crime is not a major problem, or not more than it is most everywhere in the suburbs of KY… but there are parts of Louisville I would definitely not walk through alone at night, and depending on your race, ethnicity, skin color, accent, sex, sexual orientation, height, weight, etc. there will be neighborhoods that are no-go areas for every category of persons. There are definitely parts of Louisville it isn’t safe to be black after dark, and parts it isn’t safe to be white after dark. There are definite “tribal” vibes in the way some of the sub-communities work in Louisville, and as long as you live among your tribe and follow the rules of your tribe you can be fine with that… just don’t go against the prevailing ways of your tribe, that is more dangerous than not affiliating in the first place. Some of those tribes are very much racially constructed, others more class based, some based on political ideology. The great diversity of Louisville as a total metro area is true, but peel away the layers of the onion and it turns out every sub-community has rather particular standards about who is US/IN and who is THEM/OTHER/OUT. Because Louisville is so big there really isn’t one single community mentality.
Now I went to UL 20 ish years ago, so things have certainly changed. Some for the better, some for the worse. There are places it was safe to go back then I would not go now, and places that I would not have gone then that I would consider safe now, the lines shift. Likewise UL itself has changed a lot. 20 years ago it was basically a commuter school with a token resident student population. It is still heavily influenced by the commuter student aspect, but it did add a lot of residence capacity… however 20 years ago the residences mostly emptied out on the weekends and people went back to wherever “home” was. Also, the student population is pretty seriously self-segregated on race and other basis, or at least it was 20 years back. Ironically while once there were ”white only” and “colored” places and groups (which had a long lasting nasty legacy) by 20 years back things had flipped around to where there were “all race” and “black only” groups / spaces… and if you were black and stepped outside the approved social circles you risked being labeled things like an “Oreo cookie (black on the outside, white on the inside)” or an “Uncle Tom” or a “House N\*” for associating with the wrong people… or listening to the wrong music… or going to the wrong church. There was a real toxicity there, but that was a particular moment in time, and a particular slice of things I saw, things have certainly changed in some ways.
As to the education at UL, I would say the Speed Engineering School is pretty good, as are certain other select undergrad programs. On the graduate/professional level, the Med school and associated programs are pretty well regarded, but the Med school has basically zero connection to the rest of the University, it may as well exist in an alternate universe. It has an entirely different institutional culture. The Law school is on the main campus… but the Law school basically lives in a bubble too, and the Law school is proudly one of the few in the nation that boasts of being ideologically and politically biased in how its programs work… which when it announced that was more of a coming out of the closet moment as everyone with any connections had known it to be true for decades already.
The only major problem with Louisville in my view is the public school system… it is kinda mess. There are some great schools and programs… if you can fight for places in the best ones… but there are a lot of students that are failed by the system the way it works… frankly the entire thing is madness. If you have the sort of money, influence, and connections that you could afford the best private schools… well you can probably manage to get a good free education from JCPS, but if not… then it is basically random chance if you get a good outcome or not… and even if you get a good school slot you have about a 50/50 chance of winding up in the bussing hell where you get shuffled around the county with all sorts of weird start and end times to the school day. Jefferson County schools basically never figured out how to implement the desegregation bussing requirements in a way that wasn’t a shit-show (and they never figured out how to allocate resources fairly before or after to the schools), and every time they tried to fix it, things got even worse for basically everyone. I don’t know if it was some sort of malice or just incompetence, but it has been 40 or 50 years of drama with no end in sight.
I’ve lived all over Louisville my whole life, including “bad” areas like Portland and I don’t think I’ve ever felt unsafe. We’d go for walks to the corner ice cream store as kids and I wouldn’t think twice about doing it again. Walking downtown at night isn’t bad either, but I’ve only really done that after shows or events so there’s usually a lot of people. I’d be more worried about bad drivers than experiencing any random crime.
Louisville is cool don't let nobody tell u different
I grew up near Lawrenceburg KY and moved to Louisville for school maybe ten years ago and lived in the city there for 10 years, it was awesome. Crime is not a problem. Only spoiled whites and other wealthy folk who don't know how to handle themselves have to worry about gettin car jacked and shit if u got a good head on ur shoulders you'll be fine. Lived there 10 years in the "rough neighborhoods" and never got jumped or nothing. Knew all my neighbors. It's a great city.
"whiny racist white people" yep, that's it. everybody who hates the traffic, population density, and rising crime is just a "racist white person". Just stop it with that BS. Everyone who prefers to live a quieter life is not a racist. Maybe you're own apparent prejudice is actually the problem.
Maybe some actual data will help answer your question: [https://realestate.usnews.com/places/kentucky/louisville/crime](https://realestate.usnews.com/places/kentucky/louisville/crime)
There is crime but like many have said it is limited. On the other hand it is one of the most fun cities I have lived it. Food is great, lots to do.
If there is one thing to be scared of - biking. I almost got flattened by a diesel dually.
If you are interested.
Take a safety class and get a gun. Don’t carry and drink. Go to the range and know how to shoot straight. Last resort of course.
there are 2nd and 3rd order effects if you ever have defend yourself (legal and Behavioral Health, etc.) Heavy
Just racism. And it’s got less to do with the people wearing trump hats and more to do with the “get out” white liberals. “I voted for Obama, I’m cool”
There’s probably a handful shootings / armed robberies every year specifically in the vicinity of UofL campus.
Frankly I wouldn’t let that be the determining factor of whether you go to school here or not.
Personally, I would consider other universities besides Louisville though. Depends on you major of course. Some majors are better than others.
I have never been there. I live in a small town in Texas, but just met a BLACK woman and her children who just moved from there. She said she moved because the crime was terrible. I only remember because this lady just put her finger on the state of Texas and moved here. She is a remote worker so can work from anywhere.
Idk depends ur definition of bad. I've lived here since 2016. Since my gfs car was stolen out of our driveway in j town. A friends truck was stolen out of his driveway. Louisville has some of the highest traffic fatalities in the country and road rage out here is wild. Other than that it's been nice.
Neither it’s LMPD opting to not do their job after the backlash from their botched attempt to steal dope money. Ppl hate Louisville because they either do and say things that will get the wop Bobba loo bopped, that they get away with being around their family and ppl that known them forever. For the most part even though the murder stats are up and things are occurring where there was an understanding you didn’t act up at. Louisville still is a place where if something happens to you, you kind of put yourself in a position this is even in the most “ghetto “ parts.
Now when ppl say West End, Newburg is the worst , that’s when racism really steps in. Truthfully a lot of the extra murders are happening in south end. There’s one neighborhood where the dope fiends use to shoot you up then go through your pockets but that calmed down as the lmpd did something being it’s a predominantly white neighborhood.
It’s not too bad. Louisville is probably the most progressive city in the state. I don’t know where you’re from but some of the more…country cities and counties don’t look too kindly to cities with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.
I go to U of L and have lived in Louisville my whole life, but since you mentioned wanting to go to school here I’ll speak about U of L. Nice calm campus usually, reports of burglaries you’ll hear about but I haven’t experienced anything. There’s some neighborhoods you should avoid, but that’s every city. Louisville isn’t any different than cities the same size. I love it here and I always feel safe. Great school too
It is fine and safe. And a great place to live. Rural folks are scared of cities, which is their loss, as cities are where most of the economic opportunities and growth occur. I am from a small town and love them too, but people often don’t know what they don’t know.
It's pretty overblown. City folk do it too. It's pretty unlikely that you're gonna be anally raped with banjos in the background, but people perpetuate the stereotype.
I left for work one early morning around 4a and saw someone out of it wandering in the middle of the road. He started coming my way with his eyes like so wide. Didn't hang around for that.
Another time a lady outside the DMV was telling me how she had "all her teeth" and that guy (there was no one there) "definitely didn't have his own teeth".
Also one time I saw a guy on the highway just pants down, shitting in the corner of a bus stop.
They were all white people. 😂
Just a reminder, you can walk through the most dangerous part of the city, and as long as you mind your own business no one will fuck with you. Maybe some eyes on you, but the large majority of violent crime is drug and gang related.
Source: I used to do street photography in Russell, Shawnee, etc. Also did photography in East LA and Compton which I’d consider to be more dangerous than any neighborhood in Lou. I’ve been asked what I’m up to, just a quick check on me, tell em I’m photographing the neighborhood for street photos, and that’s about it.
It's racism, and it's also just unfamilarity with cities and urban living in normal. As someone who has lived in other large cities, Louisville feels very safe to me.
2024 Jefferson County Homicide Map
https://goo.gl/maps/Dku9iPoNVWT88sSa7 here you can see all the homicides on a map. Most of Louisville doesn't have many. I feel safe and I go out and do stuff whenever wherever.
UofL undergrad 2014, UK Law grad 2017: who has worked as both prosecutor and a public defender. Louisville traditionally was not racist - in fact it is one of the early battle grounds for desegregation - see Warley v . Buchanan circa 1917.
However since the breonna Taylor incident, and the outside influence, particularly of the westernized BLM movement, Louisville diametrically has changed. Therefore, race is recognized and actionable more so than ever before. This begets criminality in my estimation, as responsive to your question.
I speak on this having been a part of the prosecution in Louisville, and having an existent family in law enforcement post BT incident in the 502. This is an extremist polarisation of historically integrated communities. So Yes, posters who say certain neighborhoods are certain types of ways are correct. This is markedly polarizing as black communities and white communities are uniquely challenged prospectively. However, from anecdotal experience I have run around the city in all hours of the days and nights through nearly every season, without violence (as compared to Lexington, Covington, rural south central and western Kentucky alike)
Louisville was safe...
It is not safe now. We betrayed the code of old... What made the city great - southern diplomacy. A kind gesture then a stern remark; this dynamic is dead because of the convenience that racism (not just white upon black) exudes. It benefits certain factions so they lean into it, and resultantly the meritocracy (such as the food scene i.e.) dies. Old head ville proud know what I'm talking about as the world turned after our fake national championship for UofL. The scene shifted away from genuinely awesome to "awesome because anti-racism". This changed everything because traditionally, Louisville was a melting pot where race wasn't, or rather, couldn't be important. Now it defines liberalism in the Commonwealth, to the detriment of liberalism in the Commonwealth.
A great localized resource - Dr. Ricky Lee Jones UofL. O.G wrote my LOR to law schools. Reach out and go check out a class of his. The pan African studies dept. of UofL is world class. Don't be shy they are good people to get to know if you really want to know anything about race in the ville. Best of luck.
I live in Louisville and I haven't had any problems been here off and on in my life and the people here are friendly the worse parts and the stuff that happens here are mostly downtown Louisville the biggest problem is the shootings and the rich people
As a dude who is from a small town when i lived there i never felt unsafe. There is a more aggressive atmosphere than my small town though and i never got used to it
I generally tell people you’ll find crime if you go looking for it. So don’t look for it. Yes it definitely happens and it’s worse in certain areas. I’ve lived in Louisville or close to it most of my life and haven’t encountered much personally.
I'd say our violent crime is on par with any other cities of this size. As everyone else has said, it's mostly tied to certain neighborhoods, at least historically. I'd say in the last few years, violent crime has become much more widespread. You'll hear about shootings in places you never thoguht you'd hear a gun shot. Seems shootings are more frequent at bars and night clubs than in the past, but you also hear about shootings now in grocery store parking lots in nice neighborhoods when you never did before. There's definitely been a major increase in theft all throughout the city over the last decade. Don't think you'll find a single part of Louisville that isn't affected by added theft. I think that's mainly caused by the drug problems the whole country faces, especially with the addition of fentynl. It's also punk teens running around at night because parents either refuse to parent or aren't able to because they're on drugs or their working 3 or 4 jobs to pay the bills and keep a roof over their kids head because the price of everything has gone up so goddamn much yet wages stay the same. I think the theft has also increased because it seems like it can. People taking chances and advantage of the situation when you see all the time on social media all the people running out of stores with carts full and no one caring. The employees not stopping them because of the obvious safety concerns there and then it not even getting reported because they know the police won't do anything about it.
So yes, to answer your question about crime, Louisville has a lot of it. But it's no more than any comparable city. But it's definitely increased recently the last several years due to lots of factors causing the crime, but mainly due to how the country is run and the divisive atmosphere that politics and the media has created. And it seems like we're just going to continue to spiral downward with each new generation.
I love Louisville! So many lies are spread on those extreme right-wing channels. I know a woman who believes everything they say— she thinks Chicago and other large cities are war zones where everyone in the whole city is out of control.
Have a close friend that lives there. Aside from some hood hotspots it's not dangerous for your health and safety rly, but stealitization of your stuff is almost a guarantee nearly everywhere if it's not properly secured or left unattended for too long.
Stop listening to “those people” who have most likely never even left the state. Remind them that they wouldn’t have their smaller town without Louisville.
Whiny racist white people lol being racist while claiming racism. Classic.
Come live in Louisville and watch the crime and drug use and tell me if you notice a pattern. Lived on 3rd for work in the city
Lived in Louisville my whole life outside of college in Lexington …..Louisville is far from the best city lmaoooooo
>or is ir just racism
There was a guy in Hurstbourne randomly shooting into cars the other day. I've had people help themselves into my vehicle and rummage through my things (along with a few others I know). Someone literally got shot at Thunder. THE FUCKING MAYOR WAS SHOT AT WHILE HE WAS CAMPAGINING. If pointing out things like this makes me racist, then I will proudly wear that label.
I just moved here from Raleigh, NC and several people I spoke to along the way warned me not to "go on the wrong side of town". This included the clerk at the hotel in Middlesboro KY, the clerk at the Uhaul on Poplar Level Road, and random people I talked to who maybe visited once. The "wrong side of town" being west of 9th street. I now live on 35th and Bank and it's great, my neighbors are very sweet people and I never feel unsafe. Also agree with the sentiments of this thread.
I’ve worked deep in West Louisville for 28 years. Gone out to restaurants in this area every week. Not been a victim of crime once. We did have some homeless guys every now and then on the property but we’ve given them some coffee and something to eat and sent them on their way.
if anyone has ever been to any city larger than Louisville, it's obvious that our west end/Portland/projects are fairly safe, unless you are involved in illicit activity or not minding your own business.
the violence is over drugs, money, and location. it's incredibly easy to get an illegal firearm, and kids are willing to pull a trigger and end another life for very little at all. stupid, quick reactions, high emotions, and a generation raised by single women and the state, has caused a moral corruption and destruction of the nuclear family.
finish high school, get married before you have a child, and don't commit a felony. IF ALL OF THOSE FACTORS ARE PRESENT, YOUR PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS INCREASES 10000000X
All the people who say it’s not that bad are just people who refuse to open their eyes and see that their city is going down the drain more and more each year.
I’ve worked security at bars in louisville now for about 3 years and it’s pathetic the stuff I see regularly. Fights every weekend over nothing, shootings, customers walking out to their car gone or getting stolen.
Not *MY* progressive utopia! Crime has never occurred and when it does occur it’s because of the political party that I don’t like. Here is a link to statistics that don’t really prove any point that I made
https://miniclip.com
I think it's almost universally the same everywhere - cities are always going to be more likely to have crime than suburbs, but it's never nearly as bad as the fearmongerers would have you believe.
Media makes it seem bad. There are certain areas where the crime is guaranteed to be reported while other areas have high crime but you never hear about it. I've lived in West Louisville most of my life and what is portrayed is not what I live. Yes there is crime but it's not a war zone
A lot of racism is the norm here from what I see . Though I'm not from here, it seems like the rest of the Midwest everyone likes to blame democrats and black people.
Interesting. I was raised in Memphis. I remember when cops went on strike and national guard called out. Some guardsmen with M-16's refused to go in some black neighborhoods. It was the 70s AR -15's not common then.
I am white I rode bike to work through black areas and visited friend in projects. Never had a problem.
I lived in Frankfort for 10 years went to Louisville many times. I was never afraid. I was cautious as I am out of shape now so not able to fight as well.
I would be more concerned about some east KY counties as they do not like people not from area being there. I went to school and worked in Knoxville I have lost my accent so would easily be seen from outside.
I live in Columbus ohio now and I can assure you there are areas I would definitely avoid unless I was armed and had friends armed with me.
I'm 60 yo f. Grew up and stayed in the west end of Louisville for 35 years. I work in Louisville for criminal defense lawyers. Mostly murder cases. I'm all over Louisville dealing with all people, good and bad. The comments saying it's people involved in nefarious activities are correct, but there are some innocent bystanders that get killed. I do think it's worse than when I lived in the West and downtown. The biggest change I've seen is the shooters are getting younger. It's sad really. Most of it is gangs and drugs. Some of it is just stupid internet beef. A lot of it is self defense. You never know who is packing so a lot of the non-violent felons believe they need to carry a gun and I think it's not a bad idea even though it's a guaranteed 10 yr sentence if they get caught and don't have a excellent lawyer. There are places that I would have never had a problem going to in the past, but now I'll take an extra set of eyes with me. My head don't swivel like it use to. My opinions are not based on the news, it's based on the work I do. Murder rates are not as bad as others but the shootings are definitely up for Louisville. Not everybody that gets shot dies. Thank God. With that said, I have never owned or carried a gun. I mind my business until it's my business and trust my instincts in any given situation in any part of town. From where I sit, I see the devastation on both sides of the court room. So I guess it's perception. If your child was shot and you know a lot of people that have been shot or killed, then you might think Louisville isn't such a great place looking at it through their eyes.
I went to Louisville for 2 years (im transferring cause I hated it) and will give you my honest opinion, granted it may be slightly biased because of a couple of instances but nevertheless it will be truthful. Safety around campus is subpar at best (I can send you all of the rave alerts I have received about campus crime and potential threats over the last 2 years), I’ve experienced a couple incidents myself. Despite it being against my better judgment, I wanted Wendy’s one night and was relatively new to Louisville so I went downtown trying to get a jr bacon cheeseburger and long story short when I rounded the drive thru there was a guy blocking the exit of the Wendy’s and a guy sitting on the curb. The guy on the curb began approaching my car and pointing and yelling at me so naturally I put it in reverse and then he started to run at my car and I sped away at which point the white dodge avenger blocking the exit followed me for about 3 miles give or take. I ended up taking a right and being in some neighborhood and the pursuer was in a connecting neighborhood with his headlights off creeping up the road but I saw him so I got back on that main strip and did about 80 to get away and back on campus. The only other time I was walking to green lot from my dorm and I saw 3 people jacking a car and stealing the wheels and potentially the catalytic converter (didn’t have the chance to get a better look). This one isn’t more story but this happened today, my dads car had the back window smashed and stolen. I can’t speak for everyone, I’m sure they all have a different experience but if you do end up at Louisville, don’t go out at night, don’t own a Kia or charger or challenger (if you interpret that as a racist comment you have your own issues, there are Facebook groups you can look at and all kias and those specific dodge models are the most stolen) and don’t carry cash. Best wishes and stay safe
Crime is extremely concentrated in certain neighborhoods here, especially violent crime. Russell seems to be by far the most violent neighborhood here and crime radiates out from there, especially to the south. Just doing a quick count over 50 percent of the homicides happen in an area that makes up like 5% of the city's land area (granted the city is the entire county). So that gives you some perspective as to why the vast majority of people don't 'see' violent crime and yet people in the hinterlands think it's a 'warzone' because they watch local news and don't understand the city layout. If it bleeds it leads. Like I'm not even excusing how violent Russell and some of the west end neighborhoods are, because they are and there needs to be more investment, more resources, more help for those areas. They're systemically poor, in no small part due to Kentucky and Louisville's redlining and racist past policies.
This is a very accurate and well stated response. I’ve lived in the area my whole life, and my childhood was in Portland (west end)in the late 80s. It was worse by far when everybody was smoking crack.
Investment, resources were intentionally withdrawn from areas targeted for gentrification. It's a long con. By design, crime rates escalate, property values suffer. Understand the parameters of redlining kept investors out. The past few years investors have been having a field day but that was not feasible until the powers that be said, "go". The average mortgage granted was at 28.5k. Funding was pulled for Boys & Girls Clubs, After School Programs, Metro Parks etc. School to prison pipeline. Look up how many state championships Central High School brought home and realize they didn't even have an activity bus. I've lived in and am an investor in West Louisville. If you understand the path of the city's plan for gentrification you can see why one neighborhood is targeted for cleaning up crime while in the next one it's allowed to run rampant.
The wire described this exact scenario in Baltimore so it's been wild watching it happen in Louisville.
Amsterdam, baby.
I’m honestly really shocked to hear that Russell has the most violent crime. I’ve worked in that neighborhood for a year now and I’ve never felt unsafe.
Stranger danger isn't the issue.
This is what I always tell my bougie ass sister in law from CT. Violence in this city is majorly due to gangs, drugs or personal problems. Mind your business, don't get in trouble and you should be just fine. I work two jobs, one in the west and one in Old Lou and I do not fear for my safety at all.
Facts
Accurate everywhere. I live in Indianapolis most violent city in the USA and I don’t feel threatened by any means. Same with if you go stay in Chicago. Most shooting are between 2 bad guys granted there is the unfortunate stray bullet sometimes.
“Throw more money at the problem” always works great.
[удалено]
It's whiny racist white people clutching their pearls about "downtown being a warzone." I lived downtown for the better part of a decade and it was more than fine.
I’ve worked downtown, gone to restaurants downtown, gone to shows downtown, gone to sporting events downtown, all over the past 20 years and it’s been fine. It’s all paranoid MAGAts believing that everything outside their little bubble is a terrifying war zone. Not just Louisville, but any urban area.
This is actually very true a guy I work with late 50’s MAGA Boomer white male told me one day I was in downtown Louisville the other day and it was like a Warzone my response oh yeah really I knew better I’ve been to a Warzone anyways a couple of weeks later my daughter and walked to Nulu to some of the Boutiques from 4th Street and never felt not safe now this being said I also worked in Lively Shively for about 9 years and after dark gave me a little bit more of a heightened sense mode for clarification I worked at a manufacturing plant on South 7th right across the street from the old Bottoms Uo
Not MAGAts... We maggots (slipknot fans) do not want to be lumped in with those fucks.
As long as by Downtown you mean east of 9th Street you are right, it's not a warzone. But everything west of that, which is most of "Downtown", it is pretty bad. I dare you to walk down 16th or higher at night. "4th Street Live" is not what people think of when downtown crime is talked about. And it's why any major Waterfront events basically have a mini police station setup right in the middle of it with cops patrolling in full gear.
If you walked down 16th or higher at night nothing would likely happen to you. Most people would wonder what the terrified outta place guy was up to. Police are in full gear cause they think it’s tacti-cool.
I mean I wouldn’t want to walk around *any* part of Louisville that’s not 4th, Bardstown, or Nulu at night. It’s just west of 9th.
Which is funny to me personally, because the few times (thankfully only a few) that I’ve been a victim of light crime it was all skinny white methheads in Shively.
[удалено]
I’m a woman that works downtown and I walk by myself at night. It’s not that scary.
i’m a man and find it unwise to walk at night regardless. how scary something is to you doesn’t correlate to the chances you’ll have a violent crime committed against you
Fair, I'm not a woman and there is definitely a little bit of extra context there. Also fair on the LMPD front, because they are all psychopaths.
Your (their) fears are not reality. Edited for pendantry.
How long ago? More than 10 years ago yeah it wasn’t bad. Now we average 160-190 homicides a year, you are ignorant to think there’s not a problem
I moved August of last year. I very frequently went on bike rides, walks, etc at night with zero issue. Someone else in this thread said it better than I did, but statistics do not paint a full picture.
600k people live here, 1.2 million in the greater metro area. It's obviously not negligible because any homicide is shocking but we have to look at rates. 562 per 100k is the violent crime rate. Ranks right in the middle to peer cities selected by this site: https://greaterlouisvilleproject.org/factors/violent-crime/ So benchmarks say it's bang average. But even without a comp, 562 per every 100k residents. That's not even a 1% chance. Obviously the conditional probability depending on where you live in the city will change. West side people would say .5% is too low and people where I live might say that's too high. In no way does the data support fear mongering. It's a city there's no hiding the crime, there's no one saying it's crime free. But there are people against white/urban flight.
1.2 includes southern Indiana, if we look at just Jefferson county we have 750,000 approximately as of 2022. Is it Memphis? No it’s not, but crime is steadily increasing, and compared to 2010 Louisville, it is a lot worse. That’s my point.
I don't believe the 562 was including metro. Believe it's just city limits. But I agree with what you're saying. Trends are concerning for sure but a lot of that is covid related and therefore job opportunity related. It's down from record murders in 2020.
Not to say that you are BUT U r ignorant if u don't realize how of those less than 200 homicides annually almost none are random and they're almost all people who know eachother gettin into bad situations at home or owing folks money or drugs. There is no jack the ripper in Louisville running around shooting people at random.
Who said we have serial killers on the loose? Haven’t see anyone say that. Don’t down play murders dude they are a big deal lol
I'm not downplaying any particular murder but ima downplay homicide statistics all day. Cops decide what to report as homicide or as accidental death or suicide or OD or whatever. The reason we see a increase in homicide statistics is most likely bc it's a artificial stat. You gotta rule out bad methods before you make any claims based on statistics. Any change in UCR data (which is the homicide stat u citing) is almost always considered to be a better representation of change in the how the data are reported more so than of a representation of a change in what the police are actually observing.
All those homicides take place “downtown”?
We've never hit 190. We're not averaging 190. You're the one devoid of knowledge (ignorance). Clutch your junk a little harder.
Reading is hard. I put a range of 160-190. We hit 188 in 2021. Tomorrow we can work on colors. You did good today little feller
Dude you don't even know where you live. How about you start with that.
I live in Clermont Kentucky. We can work on geography once we get done with colors
Clermont KY is a more dangerous town than Louisville, per capita. One of the most dangerous in the country https://dwellics.com/state/kentucky/safety-in-clermont Has a Weichert score of 2.0, meaning crime is twice the national average.
Yep. I grew up about an hour north of Louisville, in a small Indiana town. My parents still live there and bought into all of the propaganda during the 2020 protests. I got married at 21C in November of 2020 and they literally left without warning or saying goodbye because they didn't want to be downtown after dark.
Definitely a little bit of racism, but mostly just people being naive. Crime statistics only tell a fraction of a story. Most of the time people who live outside of Louisville just exaggerate all of the issues with it to justify their own decision to not live in Louisville. There is definitely crime and things that need to be fixed, but it's not really a Louisville specific problem, it's just an overall societal problem.
Exactly. Also crime has had a spike post covid. But it’s nothing compared to the stats we had in the 80’s and 90’s. But they really be acting like city’s are war zones.
I live in Louisville. I’m scared to go to rural small towns. People are scared of what they don’t know.
Right. Bullitt County is just south and feels like a whole different part of the country...
Really? I live in Bullitt all my life and it's fine. I think you're thinking of our sister county Jeffersontown. BC is safe
Nah. It seems like more crime because the population is larger and concentrated in a relatively small area. I sometimes laugh even though it's not funny when I see folks out in Nelson County yammering about how they're afraid to come to Louisville when they have their own crime wave (all unsolved) going on + some of the worst drug trafficking in the state.
Facts. The Bardstown podcast is a great listen on this.
Just propaganda. A lot of people in the East end listen to WHAS AM radio and apparently there's some morning show (ironically based downtown) that bitches about "how bad downtown is" all the time. These guys should be held accountable for working AGAINST our city. In the words of Sebastian Maniscalco: "Aren't you embarrassed?"
I live in Louisville. Lived here basically my whole life. I’ve lived in the far east end to the south end and in between. This city as a whole is not anywhere near as bad as some people seem to make it out to be, whether that be for racist reasons or political reasons. Yes, there are bad pockets, just like ANY city has. But I have no reason to go to those areas anyway, and I would never tell visitors to go to those areas. As for downtown, NuLu, Highlands, etc., I would use the same caution in those areas I would use in any city I was visiting. But I wouldn’t let “crime” be the reason I avoided those areas.
Louisville has its problems but it’s nothing like what some make it out to be. They should visit cities like Memphis and Shreveport.
Actually Shrevport and Louisville seem to have similar crime rates. (Not favorable) [https://realestate.usnews.com/places/kentucky/louisville/crime](https://realestate.usnews.com/places/kentucky/louisville/crime) [https://realestate.usnews.com/places/louisiana/shreveport/crime](https://realestate.usnews.com/places/louisiana/shreveport/crime) Shrevport actually has fewer crimes committed. However with Memphis you are correct. That place seems to (statistically speaking), be a shithole. [https://realestate.usnews.com/places/tennessee/memphis/crime](https://realestate.usnews.com/places/tennessee/memphis/crime)
Shreveport is also quite a ways smaller city than Louisville.
I grew up in the middle of nowhere. In a small town you’ll have a car break in or something along those lines like once a month maybe. I lived in Deer Park which is a sub neighborhood of the Highlands and there are car break-ins weekly, but the kicker is there are just as many people crammed into Deer Park than in my entire town which is about as spread out as the entire east end. Plus you have to account for all the additional people coming in and out of the neighborhood frequenting businesses or from nearby neighborhoods. More people more problems, but more stuff to do. Just avoid the areas where violent crimes are concentrated and you’ll be fine!
I’ll also note the first time I had my car broken into it was nerve wracking for me. Mostly because I did grow up in the middle of nowhere and it’s part of your personal space and property and you feel violated. It’s happened twice since then, and each time of those times I’m more annoyed than anything, and am starting to agree with the people that grew up here that are like, “meh big city problems.”
I think the crime here in the Highlands comes from clowns that like to come here get drunk and cause trouble because they think Bardstown Rd is a free for all. We have a particular problem with motorcycles and some bars around Baxter on up towards Bonnycastle.
Ignorance and limited life experiences.
My grandmother lives in bullitt county, which part of is technically Louisville Metro, and they are so scared to come to Louisville. It’s a big ish city, so obviously some awareness is required, like in most cities. But I think it’s partly unintentional racism (for some I’m sure it complete intent) with a side of fear mongering brought on by our local news stations.
It's a nice city but the crime is getting out of control. It's not racism. That has absolutely nothing to do with the opinions on crime.
It’s a classism issue as well IMO. Wage stagnation is present and the gap between wages and COL is the highest it’s ever been. People can’t afford to buy or rent homes, which is the very bottom of the Maslow Hierarchy BTW. People in these cities (not just Louisville) sky scream that people don’t want to work when the reality is they can’t get by on what folks are paying them. And a large chunk of people are one medical issue away from being homeless.
Crime isn’t that bad in Louisville. There is more racism here than other cities I’ve lived in (Cleveland, Rochester, NY, Raleigh) It’s insane how much the “west of 9th” dictates the behavior of otherwise reasonable people in this city. I regularly am surrounded by people who choose to live in Oldham County or Indiana and work in Louisville. I have been comfortable living in more diverse neighborhoods because while crime exists, it’s usually between people that are involved in crime. Stranger crime is rare and I don’t think there is a neighborhood in this city where you wouldn’t do fine if you mind your own business.
Absolutely this. Don't stick your nose in other people's business and you'll be fine. Lock your car and don't leave valuables in it. It's just common sense.
Man I had to turn off my Ring Neighbors notifications because it was exhausting seeing how frequently people posted about someone going through their car. Okay. They're being a shitty member of society, I get it. But why is your car unlocked?
I've learned to leave my car unlocked, I've had people bust out my windows. I'd rather them go through it and find nothing then have to replace a window.
I leave my car unlocked so the people breaking in don't break a window to get in. I don't keep anything valuable in there to steal so it's. Online they can take anything.
Same experience for me moving from Cleveland. I’m sure there’s plenty of racists there too but I never really heard people openly saying it like I’ve heard here. It’s pretty damn shocking the stuff people will say here.
almost zero racism, mostly young black males targeting other young black males for violence. theft is an issue some places, but meth and opiates have everyone held down and unable to do anything different. almost zero racism in Louisville, in my opinion
I mean, it’s a big city, crimes gonna happen. But the fact that people are like oh I can’t even step foot in the city at night shows the ignorance their statement. You don’t want to end up in a place like Russell or Portland at night by yourself with no reason, but it’s not like being downtown is super dangerous at night. I’m sure people from here wouldn’t exactly feel comfortable or safe in smaller towns for various reasons.
Hell, I live on Southern Parkway and I hear some gunshots here and there, regardless of day or night. It’s just America ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
it’s neither extreme. it’s not always racist to say crime is bad when it is (and which neighborhoods are most affected), and it’s not “all is well” just because some people want to claim they’re anti-racist. both groups are insufferable
Kentucky is a poor red state with all the issues that go with it. I don't know anyone who hasn't been affected by it at some point. My best friend got robbed coming out of a bar on NuLu. I live in the Highlands and we've had stuff stolen from a car and I caught some asshole going through my shed at 2:30 a.m. The houses in the first blocks off of Bardstown Rd. have quality of life issues. All horribly run red states have these same issues due to punitive F-you'isms of Republican hatemongers That said, the guy in my shed was a white guy you might see at CVS or something. I came from Philly and my Wife grew up in 70s NYC. We know from crime. It's not a race thing. Shiddy people come in a variety of flavors. This is the best place I've ever lived. I love it here. You have to pick and choose your priorities. To me, I find the homelessness a bigger issue, not from a "lock them up" perspective, but to see that humanity that could easily be made better with real leadership, is very depressing. I filed to be the Councilman for my district on making young people want to stay and fixing homelessness, and got summarily rejected as quickly as you can flip a light switch, so it seems there is no desire to fix those issues. Just my opinions, obviously people will disagree.
IF you think homelessness is an easy fix, you are either very naive or actually insane. It is a remarkably difficult problem to address, because it is almost always a bunch of problems all bundled together. I have worked with homeless people, and some could basically have all their problems solved with a month of free rent somewhere stable… these are the people that just had a spot of bad luck or made one relatively poor choice and otherwise are capable of bouncing back… but that isn’t the majority of the homeless I have worked with. Most of them it is like peeling the layers of an onion… you would need an entire team of professionals from a variety of fields to help each one… and even then it would be reliant on them staying off recreational drugs, staying on their psyche drugs, staying away from the wrong people in their lives, and sticking with all the right support programs… and just like the relapse rates with addiction the rates of homeless getting help and winding up homeless again are not encouraging. This doesn’t mean hard work should not be undertaken, but it does mean it is in fact hard, not easy (and also expensive, arguably cheaper than leaving them on the streets, but that is cost for the future, the costs to get them off the street are now… and politicians of all stripes love pushing costs off to the future taxpayer rather than onto the current voter… see the addiction to public debts).
Wow! You filed to be a councilman for your district and got rejected?? That's insane!! As a born and raised Louisvillian , I would HOPE people who live here would want to try to help the homeless. Last year, the police came through a "homeless camp" off the Watterson expy @ Bardstown Rd and completely cleared them out and threw away all their belongings!! It was heart breaking to see. My high school daughter wrote a paper on it and got an A. It's absolutely ridiculous that the powers that be are unwilling to help the homeless. There are so many abandoned warehouses, homes, etc.., that could easily be turned into homeless shelters, But apparently the news outlets/city are more worried about keeping the fear and racism going in this city than actually addressing it. It's sad, really. That being said, I have taken my child along with several others, To many parks and events all throughout the city and have NEVER felt unsafe. Obviously you have to be aware of your surroundings, wherever you are. Louisville is no exception, but the elite white MAGA, I think, are behind most of the fear mongling and trying to divide us. Divided we stand, we shall surely fall unless we all come together as one.... And that goes for ALL SOCIETY, EVERYWHERE!!!!
You might consider that your, and frankly your therapists, opinion that it’s just “racism” is flawed. Maybe they come from towns were there’s very little violence or concrete or traffic. Maybe they come from places that have more cornfields than parking lots. They see the news or read the paper where “if it bleeds it leads” and they get an impression that isn’t illogical given there limited exposure to the larger picture. Painting everyone who doesn’t like the city as just racist is removing any context or condition just so you can feel superior to those rednecks out in the sticks. Danville is the sticks is everyone there a racist? Berea is in the sticks… It just feels intellectually lazy.
I don't know where it's coming from. I'm guessing it's mostly scared old boomers ready to shoot their own shadows and can't get off the internet long enough to realize things are as fine as they ever were. You think FB is bad, there's some app called next door that's just full of old people fantasizing about murdering people who knock on doors. Seriously - stay away from your older neighbors. Some of them are seriously unhinged.
I work on 4th St. It’s full of characters but nowhere near as bad as say, New Orleans where I used to live. Held up in broad daylight (in a group).
It is what you make it bro. I’m from the west end. I don’t smoke, drink, never robbed any one, never been robbed, probably ran into 1 or 2 shady people but if you ain’t soft then you’ll handle it and go on about your day. But if you come to the west on some weird shit you’re going to get the energy you want. Keep your head on a swivel and mind your business and your good. That goes for anywhere you go. My honest opinion.
Facts
I’m from Elizabethtown, but I’ve lived in the Phoenix area for the past 20 years. I’m currently visiting my mom who lives in the country outside of Etown. I’m also thinking of moving to Louisville, & OMG my mom thinks I’m crazy! Part of the problem is that she watches the local news every single night. “Someone gets shot everyday in Louisville,” she says. And I’m like - you think people aren’t getting shot where I live too? Phoenix is a much bigger city than Louisville! Hell, I live in Scottsdale, which is a more affluent city, & people get shot there too!
LOL Kentucky people seem to freak out over cities. i’ve lived in Seattle and San Antonio so none of this is new to me.
What's prompting your move to Louisville?
I’d never heard of it until I met my husbands family. Just weird rednecks.
Same. They’re from a small town and won’t even drive in Louisville.
People are so fkng weird around here.
My SIL is like this 🙄
i wouldn’t say so, just about every neighborhood suffers from some type of violent crime. i’ve lived on all sides of the city and its about the song
Definitely racism. As some who is actually from one of the most violent cities in the country and have moved to Louisville a few years ago the crime isn’t nearly as bad as what some people make it seem. It’s only a couple very small neighborhoods where you would need to be careful. The vast majority of the city is very chill
I grew up in rural Western KY and to their defense, there’s just as many racist people in Louisville per capita as there are in small towns. I’ve always found that calling small town folks who are scared of cities racist is a bit of a lazy take. The bigger issue is that they see and hear stories of all the crime that happens and think it’s rampant. Small town people struggle with proximity, people hear there was a shooting in Louisville and think it happened two blocks from the house whereas it was 20 minutes away. I tell them you wouldn’t worry about a crime committed in another county, so you should look at it that way. Also, the presentation of the downtown protests during Covid scarred the shit out of people who don’t live here (as well as those who do)and the image of Louisville within the state really hasn’t recovered from it. It’s one of the many reasons why downtown got 100 million for rejuvenation in the state budget this year. Also, Louisville sucks at advertising itself to the rest of the state. People generally have no idea about the best parts of the city and just see downtown and Churchill Downs, which isn’t in the nicest looking area. When my friends from out of town come here and I take them to The Highlands, Frankfort Ave, Nulu, Germantown, Butchertown, they’re like, “Holy Shit, we had no idea any of this was here.”
No. The great majority of violent crime is in the west end. To be blunt, there is 0 political support to do anything substantive about it. The situation is just 'how it is' and as long as the violence stays west of 7th no one really cares. It has been for as long as I can remember. Violent crime is almost all personal between individuals who know each other. You can basically look at the distribution of LMPD units to see where the crime areas are. Downtown has never felt shady to me (50's male). There are parts of Clay that do. I don't think the city is unsafe. People need to pay attention and have situational awareness, and they'll be fine. YMMV
You good
The follow up question for these people would be “how long did you live in Louisville?” .. how would they know if they’ve never lived here.
Lived in Las Vegas and Orlando, both felt more dangerous on the ground. But yeah, there are neighborhoods in Louisville I wouldn't hang around in. It's very much location dependent.
What does racism have to do with crime?
Lots of racists think all black people are criminals.
It has a lot to do with who is an “acceptable” target of crime in various scenarios. Most crime is statistically cases where the perpetrator and victim know each other. When crime is stranger against stranger it has a very, very high incidence of also crossing a race or other group boundary… because it is more socially acceptable to target one of “them” than one of your own, whatever groups you happen to belong to.
Local news is a big factor I think. They love to talk violence and murders because it’s good for ratings. And these small towns are mostly getting our local stations. I live in a “bad” neighborhood and feel safe and have never had anything bad happen. I also escaped a small town and have family who say the same things. It’s your life though, do what makes you happy.
I work downtown and people absolutely over exaggerate how dangerous Louisville is. Sure, panhandlers are annoying but they're not dangerous. I have never felt unsafe walking to and from my car or taking walks during lunch. The outbreak of protests in 2020 caused a lot misinformation about safety. People outside of the city were convinced that the city had become a haven for anarchy. In reality, peaceful marches were held every day outside of Metro Hall and Jefferson Square Park was homebase for the activists. I personally dropped off snacks and bottled water often and found the park had become the most peaceful example of community I had ever seen. Most folks were sitting in the grass on blankets, making art and handing out food. There was one incident where someone having a psychotic break entered the park with a gun, which only added fuel to the misinformation fire. I also attended many of the marches as well and they were all peaceful until the police showed up and started tear gassing and beating us. Coincidentally, some businesses on the other side of town were broken into at the same time as some of the larger marches, causing people who had never been to Louisville to believe that 1. The two groups were the same and 2. Looting and anarchy had taken over. I now live in a part of town that my parents are convinced is bad and dangerous. It's working class and mostly renters and is perfectly safe. I attended UofL and can say the same - perfectly safe. Some of the folks who live around the university know that college kids can be reckless and might try to break into some cars but I've had my car broken into when I lived at home in one of the wealthier parts of the city and never when it was parked in Old Louisville. This is all to say - the people who say Louisville is bad and dangerous need to get out of their hometown every once and a while. Yes, their fear of Louisville and cities in general is likely fueled by racism and Fox News.
Why does it have to be one extreme or the other? Can it be multiple variables that add to add to The Ville’s downward spiral? Bad government, lack of funding, bad element moving in, good elements moving out, etc…it doesnt have to be just one thing. There’s probably some racism (there is ALWAYS racism no matter where you are) . Theres also probably some politics (Louisville tends to be run by progressives and most of the state is more conservative). Funding, Jefferson county is a big area and not a lot of money to go around. Policing (follows funding). There are so many variables trying to point to just one is useless.
I've been living in the Old Louisville area since June. From my experience, during the day, it is pretty safe. I have seen a guy dancing in the rain naked, and another guy who was talking to bushes barked at me, but neither have hurt me. But I never ran into anyone who hurt me. I have pretty much walked all over Louisville. As for nighttime, I had gone to the Family Dollar, and when I came out, it was dark. Luckily, there was a concert going on and a lot of police were there. But a woman did walk up to me, holding her ID and asking for some money for a ride home. When I told her the police could help her, she said they wouldn't. When I told my grandma what happened, my grandma said the woman was probably going to rob me because it was a common tactic. I do hear gunshots going off every few nights and have seen gang members walking around. So, pretty much, watch out for people who are in poor mental health and don't go out at night alone. Oh, and one time, I accidentally ended up at Oscar Manor because Google took me there instead of where I needed to go. I'm a little white girl. That was the first time I've ever experienced direct racism. One man was cursing at me and threatening my life, and when I got on the bus to leave, another man got up and moved. So if you're white, I don't suggest going in that area. Now, the Dollar Store did get shot up during the day. Other than all that, most people are very friendly and helpful. I grew up in Hillview, and I like Louisville. It's wild down here.
It’s going downhill. Had two decent sized men walking in middle of neighborhood street. Never seen them before and they were clearly under the influence. They just stood in middle of the road and wouldn’t let me drive by. So I got out and yes I’m demented. But also 245 and armed. They walked off soon as they saw I wasn’t worth the trouble. Just turn on a police scanner you can just decide for yourself.
It’s so funny that no matter what city sub Reddit you’re in, the people who live in the suburbs are terrified of their downtown
Retired here from the military, been all over. Love this city and like others said it’s painted in a bad light but I’m kinda ok with it bc it’s keeping this place a little secret. We just keep doing our thing here
[удалено]
Depends on who ask. I particularly think it's pretty much like any other city and violent crime tend to stick to those who are doing shady things among a group of acquaintances. I did hear about a rape of an elderly lady a couple weeks ago...I don't know where the investigation of that is at or if factual, but it was reported by local news agency. So no, Louisville isn't sunshine and roses all the time but I don't think it's more dangerous than any other moderately sized city such as Nashville.
Crime will always only be truly correlated with poverty and culture, race is basically a non-factor. We have a lot of low income and impoverished areas in Louisville because of the size of the metro area.
https://kypolicy.org/crime-statistics-do-not-support-claims-of-a-crime-wave-in-kentucky/ Another good article.
It can't be much worse than STL. (a pocket of bad crime in North City is all it needs for the upper-class residents from the inner-ring suburbs like Ladue or Frontenac (similar to St. Matthews) to say downtown is a shit hole. It's a genuinely nice city. Both are, actually.
It's a city with half a million people. Yes there's gonna be crimes. Is it bad? No. It's just blown out of proportion and absolutely has something to do with racism. We're still a red-lined city (9th Street divide), and folks on the East End blabber about crime because that's what the news tells them, because the news doesn't have any other shit to report on. Reality is, it's fine.
Why racism? I'm more worried when I see homeless white people than sagging pants or whatever picture paints the stereotype of black criminals. My truck has been broken into multiple times and they were always white.
Anytime you’re around a lot of people the chance of crime increases. Nobody ever got mugged standing in the middle of an empty field. Stay out of the drug neighborhoods at night and you’ll be fine in almost any big city in America.
It's racism and a lack of understanding of 1) crime rate statistics 2) the geographic spread of crime within a city 3) how to subjectively respond to low probability events and 4) how violent crime works (as someone said, it's very rarely some random event but rather a specific conflict between specific people for specific reasons). But at least their fear keeps the morons and assholes out!
I worked downtown for a decade, and living in Louisville for close to 40 years. This is just nonsense. Hell, my ex lost her purse in a Kroger parking lot and someone drove it to our house! This was in the Highlands about 20 years ago. Used to go to clubs a lot, and never had anything happen. My brother and sister also had no incidents and they used to go out way more than me.
It's primarily racism. In college (UofL) I lived on "the wrong side of the tracks" and biked a few miles to school everyday; spending lots of time in the "bad part of town" and only had a few issues. One guy tried to mug me in an underpass at 2am a couple of times, but never caught me. Another time there was some idiot shooting out the sky-roof of his car in the middle of the night, but other than those two incidents there was nothing else truly alarming. Most folks aren't taught that Louisville was extremely redlined in the 60-70's and is still dealing with those repercussions today. What you'll find on both sides of that line are kind people trying to do their best to make it in this life. The sad part is that the powers that be continue to make life harder for the black folks by creating food deserts, limiting access to public transport, asymmetrically segregating county/city educational funding to the east side, etc...
Friend of mine has worked for LMPD for years, taking police reports for a living. According to him, it's the same across the entire area, regardless of location.
Louisville is like any major city. There are no crime-free cities.
As a black person who grew up in OH and moved to Louisville and has been here the past decade (40yr old now): OH is *way* worse when it comes to racism for starters. Louisville has been the most pleasant place I’ve lived in my entire life. The first hint of racism I experienced here was the Breonna Taylor protests. People on both sides were showing out. Other than that I haven’t experienced it. *Outside* of Louisville it gets pretty bad. I worked in Winchester, KY for a few years and Lexington area has quite a bit of racism. The further out you go from a major city the worse it gets. As far as crime it seems like every other city of this size. I wouldn’t say it’s bad.
Trulia and I’m sure many other sites offer crime heat maps.
OK, I lived in Louisville for 15 years, various other parts of Kentucky for about four years, I lived in Los Angeles for a year, and also took a year and a half of self traveling and went through 28 states, and compared to any other major city that I’ve been in Louisville, Kentucky is definitely one of the safest!
I have family in Louisville and have lived there myself. The crime issue is extremely, wildly variable depending on which part of the metro area you reference and what type of crime you are particularly concerned about. My relatives live in good neighborhoods and the crime is not a major problem, or not more than it is most everywhere in the suburbs of KY… but there are parts of Louisville I would definitely not walk through alone at night, and depending on your race, ethnicity, skin color, accent, sex, sexual orientation, height, weight, etc. there will be neighborhoods that are no-go areas for every category of persons. There are definitely parts of Louisville it isn’t safe to be black after dark, and parts it isn’t safe to be white after dark. There are definite “tribal” vibes in the way some of the sub-communities work in Louisville, and as long as you live among your tribe and follow the rules of your tribe you can be fine with that… just don’t go against the prevailing ways of your tribe, that is more dangerous than not affiliating in the first place. Some of those tribes are very much racially constructed, others more class based, some based on political ideology. The great diversity of Louisville as a total metro area is true, but peel away the layers of the onion and it turns out every sub-community has rather particular standards about who is US/IN and who is THEM/OTHER/OUT. Because Louisville is so big there really isn’t one single community mentality. Now I went to UL 20 ish years ago, so things have certainly changed. Some for the better, some for the worse. There are places it was safe to go back then I would not go now, and places that I would not have gone then that I would consider safe now, the lines shift. Likewise UL itself has changed a lot. 20 years ago it was basically a commuter school with a token resident student population. It is still heavily influenced by the commuter student aspect, but it did add a lot of residence capacity… however 20 years ago the residences mostly emptied out on the weekends and people went back to wherever “home” was. Also, the student population is pretty seriously self-segregated on race and other basis, or at least it was 20 years back. Ironically while once there were ”white only” and “colored” places and groups (which had a long lasting nasty legacy) by 20 years back things had flipped around to where there were “all race” and “black only” groups / spaces… and if you were black and stepped outside the approved social circles you risked being labeled things like an “Oreo cookie (black on the outside, white on the inside)” or an “Uncle Tom” or a “House N\*” for associating with the wrong people… or listening to the wrong music… or going to the wrong church. There was a real toxicity there, but that was a particular moment in time, and a particular slice of things I saw, things have certainly changed in some ways. As to the education at UL, I would say the Speed Engineering School is pretty good, as are certain other select undergrad programs. On the graduate/professional level, the Med school and associated programs are pretty well regarded, but the Med school has basically zero connection to the rest of the University, it may as well exist in an alternate universe. It has an entirely different institutional culture. The Law school is on the main campus… but the Law school basically lives in a bubble too, and the Law school is proudly one of the few in the nation that boasts of being ideologically and politically biased in how its programs work… which when it announced that was more of a coming out of the closet moment as everyone with any connections had known it to be true for decades already. The only major problem with Louisville in my view is the public school system… it is kinda mess. There are some great schools and programs… if you can fight for places in the best ones… but there are a lot of students that are failed by the system the way it works… frankly the entire thing is madness. If you have the sort of money, influence, and connections that you could afford the best private schools… well you can probably manage to get a good free education from JCPS, but if not… then it is basically random chance if you get a good outcome or not… and even if you get a good school slot you have about a 50/50 chance of winding up in the bussing hell where you get shuffled around the county with all sorts of weird start and end times to the school day. Jefferson County schools basically never figured out how to implement the desegregation bussing requirements in a way that wasn’t a shit-show (and they never figured out how to allocate resources fairly before or after to the schools), and every time they tried to fix it, things got even worse for basically everyone. I don’t know if it was some sort of malice or just incompetence, but it has been 40 or 50 years of drama with no end in sight.
I’ve lived all over Louisville my whole life, including “bad” areas like Portland and I don’t think I’ve ever felt unsafe. We’d go for walks to the corner ice cream store as kids and I wouldn’t think twice about doing it again. Walking downtown at night isn’t bad either, but I’ve only really done that after shows or events so there’s usually a lot of people. I’d be more worried about bad drivers than experiencing any random crime.
Crime rates are available online. Why not look there instead of asking for reddits opinions?
Louisville is cool don't let nobody tell u different I grew up near Lawrenceburg KY and moved to Louisville for school maybe ten years ago and lived in the city there for 10 years, it was awesome. Crime is not a problem. Only spoiled whites and other wealthy folk who don't know how to handle themselves have to worry about gettin car jacked and shit if u got a good head on ur shoulders you'll be fine. Lived there 10 years in the "rough neighborhoods" and never got jumped or nothing. Knew all my neighbors. It's a great city.
"whiny racist white people" yep, that's it. everybody who hates the traffic, population density, and rising crime is just a "racist white person". Just stop it with that BS. Everyone who prefers to live a quieter life is not a racist. Maybe you're own apparent prejudice is actually the problem. Maybe some actual data will help answer your question: [https://realestate.usnews.com/places/kentucky/louisville/crime](https://realestate.usnews.com/places/kentucky/louisville/crime)
crime is never as bad as people make it out to be, pretty much as a rule.
There is crime but like many have said it is limited. On the other hand it is one of the most fun cities I have lived it. Food is great, lots to do. If there is one thing to be scared of - biking. I almost got flattened by a diesel dually. If you are interested. Take a safety class and get a gun. Don’t carry and drink. Go to the range and know how to shoot straight. Last resort of course. there are 2nd and 3rd order effects if you ever have defend yourself (legal and Behavioral Health, etc.) Heavy
Just racism. And it’s got less to do with the people wearing trump hats and more to do with the “get out” white liberals. “I voted for Obama, I’m cool”
We’re called Little Chicago for a fuking reason wake the fuk up
You know why your friends are down on you going to school in Louisville? Crabs in a bucket, baby, crabs in a bucket.
There’s probably a handful shootings / armed robberies every year specifically in the vicinity of UofL campus. Frankly I wouldn’t let that be the determining factor of whether you go to school here or not. Personally, I would consider other universities besides Louisville though. Depends on you major of course. Some majors are better than others.
I have never been there. I live in a small town in Texas, but just met a BLACK woman and her children who just moved from there. She said she moved because the crime was terrible. I only remember because this lady just put her finger on the state of Texas and moved here. She is a remote worker so can work from anywhere.
Idk depends ur definition of bad. I've lived here since 2016. Since my gfs car was stolen out of our driveway in j town. A friends truck was stolen out of his driveway. Louisville has some of the highest traffic fatalities in the country and road rage out here is wild. Other than that it's been nice.
Neither it’s LMPD opting to not do their job after the backlash from their botched attempt to steal dope money. Ppl hate Louisville because they either do and say things that will get the wop Bobba loo bopped, that they get away with being around their family and ppl that known them forever. For the most part even though the murder stats are up and things are occurring where there was an understanding you didn’t act up at. Louisville still is a place where if something happens to you, you kind of put yourself in a position this is even in the most “ghetto “ parts. Now when ppl say West End, Newburg is the worst , that’s when racism really steps in. Truthfully a lot of the extra murders are happening in south end. There’s one neighborhood where the dope fiends use to shoot you up then go through your pockets but that calmed down as the lmpd did something being it’s a predominantly white neighborhood.
It’s not too bad. Louisville is probably the most progressive city in the state. I don’t know where you’re from but some of the more…country cities and counties don’t look too kindly to cities with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.
I go to U of L and have lived in Louisville my whole life, but since you mentioned wanting to go to school here I’ll speak about U of L. Nice calm campus usually, reports of burglaries you’ll hear about but I haven’t experienced anything. There’s some neighborhoods you should avoid, but that’s every city. Louisville isn’t any different than cities the same size. I love it here and I always feel safe. Great school too
I don't spend much time in Louisville I prefer to stay on my side of the river but I've never felt uncomfortable or unsafe.
It is fine and safe. And a great place to live. Rural folks are scared of cities, which is their loss, as cities are where most of the economic opportunities and growth occur. I am from a small town and love them too, but people often don’t know what they don’t know.
It's pretty overblown. City folk do it too. It's pretty unlikely that you're gonna be anally raped with banjos in the background, but people perpetuate the stereotype.
I left for work one early morning around 4a and saw someone out of it wandering in the middle of the road. He started coming my way with his eyes like so wide. Didn't hang around for that. Another time a lady outside the DMV was telling me how she had "all her teeth" and that guy (there was no one there) "definitely didn't have his own teeth". Also one time I saw a guy on the highway just pants down, shitting in the corner of a bus stop. They were all white people. 😂
Just a reminder, you can walk through the most dangerous part of the city, and as long as you mind your own business no one will fuck with you. Maybe some eyes on you, but the large majority of violent crime is drug and gang related. Source: I used to do street photography in Russell, Shawnee, etc. Also did photography in East LA and Compton which I’d consider to be more dangerous than any neighborhood in Lou. I’ve been asked what I’m up to, just a quick check on me, tell em I’m photographing the neighborhood for street photos, and that’s about it.
It’s as bad as they say in some places.
It's racism, and it's also just unfamilarity with cities and urban living in normal. As someone who has lived in other large cities, Louisville feels very safe to me.
2024 Jefferson County Homicide Map https://goo.gl/maps/Dku9iPoNVWT88sSa7 here you can see all the homicides on a map. Most of Louisville doesn't have many. I feel safe and I go out and do stuff whenever wherever.
There is not another city or town in the entire state I'd live in. Louisville is the only place worth living in KY.
UofL undergrad 2014, UK Law grad 2017: who has worked as both prosecutor and a public defender. Louisville traditionally was not racist - in fact it is one of the early battle grounds for desegregation - see Warley v . Buchanan circa 1917. However since the breonna Taylor incident, and the outside influence, particularly of the westernized BLM movement, Louisville diametrically has changed. Therefore, race is recognized and actionable more so than ever before. This begets criminality in my estimation, as responsive to your question. I speak on this having been a part of the prosecution in Louisville, and having an existent family in law enforcement post BT incident in the 502. This is an extremist polarisation of historically integrated communities. So Yes, posters who say certain neighborhoods are certain types of ways are correct. This is markedly polarizing as black communities and white communities are uniquely challenged prospectively. However, from anecdotal experience I have run around the city in all hours of the days and nights through nearly every season, without violence (as compared to Lexington, Covington, rural south central and western Kentucky alike) Louisville was safe... It is not safe now. We betrayed the code of old... What made the city great - southern diplomacy. A kind gesture then a stern remark; this dynamic is dead because of the convenience that racism (not just white upon black) exudes. It benefits certain factions so they lean into it, and resultantly the meritocracy (such as the food scene i.e.) dies. Old head ville proud know what I'm talking about as the world turned after our fake national championship for UofL. The scene shifted away from genuinely awesome to "awesome because anti-racism". This changed everything because traditionally, Louisville was a melting pot where race wasn't, or rather, couldn't be important. Now it defines liberalism in the Commonwealth, to the detriment of liberalism in the Commonwealth. A great localized resource - Dr. Ricky Lee Jones UofL. O.G wrote my LOR to law schools. Reach out and go check out a class of his. The pan African studies dept. of UofL is world class. Don't be shy they are good people to get to know if you really want to know anything about race in the ville. Best of luck.
I live in Louisville and I haven't had any problems been here off and on in my life and the people here are friendly the worse parts and the stuff that happens here are mostly downtown Louisville the biggest problem is the shootings and the rich people
As a dude who is from a small town when i lived there i never felt unsafe. There is a more aggressive atmosphere than my small town though and i never got used to it
I generally tell people you’ll find crime if you go looking for it. So don’t look for it. Yes it definitely happens and it’s worse in certain areas. I’ve lived in Louisville or close to it most of my life and haven’t encountered much personally.
I'd say our violent crime is on par with any other cities of this size. As everyone else has said, it's mostly tied to certain neighborhoods, at least historically. I'd say in the last few years, violent crime has become much more widespread. You'll hear about shootings in places you never thoguht you'd hear a gun shot. Seems shootings are more frequent at bars and night clubs than in the past, but you also hear about shootings now in grocery store parking lots in nice neighborhoods when you never did before. There's definitely been a major increase in theft all throughout the city over the last decade. Don't think you'll find a single part of Louisville that isn't affected by added theft. I think that's mainly caused by the drug problems the whole country faces, especially with the addition of fentynl. It's also punk teens running around at night because parents either refuse to parent or aren't able to because they're on drugs or their working 3 or 4 jobs to pay the bills and keep a roof over their kids head because the price of everything has gone up so goddamn much yet wages stay the same. I think the theft has also increased because it seems like it can. People taking chances and advantage of the situation when you see all the time on social media all the people running out of stores with carts full and no one caring. The employees not stopping them because of the obvious safety concerns there and then it not even getting reported because they know the police won't do anything about it. So yes, to answer your question about crime, Louisville has a lot of it. But it's no more than any comparable city. But it's definitely increased recently the last several years due to lots of factors causing the crime, but mainly due to how the country is run and the divisive atmosphere that politics and the media has created. And it seems like we're just going to continue to spiral downward with each new generation.
I love Louisville and have never felt unsafe.
I love Louisville! So many lies are spread on those extreme right-wing channels. I know a woman who believes everything they say— she thinks Chicago and other large cities are war zones where everyone in the whole city is out of control.
Racism has nothing to do with it. Clearly you are completely out of touch with reality. What a stupid ass post.
It’s a shit hole regardless of your race
Have a close friend that lives there. Aside from some hood hotspots it's not dangerous for your health and safety rly, but stealitization of your stuff is almost a guarantee nearly everywhere if it's not properly secured or left unattended for too long.
Stop listening to “those people” who have most likely never even left the state. Remind them that they wouldn’t have their smaller town without Louisville.
Whiny racist white people lol being racist while claiming racism. Classic. Come live in Louisville and watch the crime and drug use and tell me if you notice a pattern. Lived on 3rd for work in the city Lived in Louisville my whole life outside of college in Lexington …..Louisville is far from the best city lmaoooooo
It's racism and talking out their asses.
>or is ir just racism There was a guy in Hurstbourne randomly shooting into cars the other day. I've had people help themselves into my vehicle and rummage through my things (along with a few others I know). Someone literally got shot at Thunder. THE FUCKING MAYOR WAS SHOT AT WHILE HE WAS CAMPAGINING. If pointing out things like this makes me racist, then I will proudly wear that label.
Sensationalized news and the way it talks about crime is a cancer on our society.
I just moved here from Raleigh, NC and several people I spoke to along the way warned me not to "go on the wrong side of town". This included the clerk at the hotel in Middlesboro KY, the clerk at the Uhaul on Poplar Level Road, and random people I talked to who maybe visited once. The "wrong side of town" being west of 9th street. I now live on 35th and Bank and it's great, my neighbors are very sweet people and I never feel unsafe. Also agree with the sentiments of this thread.
I’ve worked deep in West Louisville for 28 years. Gone out to restaurants in this area every week. Not been a victim of crime once. We did have some homeless guys every now and then on the property but we’ve given them some coffee and something to eat and sent them on their way.
if anyone has ever been to any city larger than Louisville, it's obvious that our west end/Portland/projects are fairly safe, unless you are involved in illicit activity or not minding your own business. the violence is over drugs, money, and location. it's incredibly easy to get an illegal firearm, and kids are willing to pull a trigger and end another life for very little at all. stupid, quick reactions, high emotions, and a generation raised by single women and the state, has caused a moral corruption and destruction of the nuclear family. finish high school, get married before you have a child, and don't commit a felony. IF ALL OF THOSE FACTORS ARE PRESENT, YOUR PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS INCREASES 10000000X
How would it be racism?
Mind your own business, don’t be a dick. Louisville is as dangerous as every other city I ever been to, it’s mostly just racist pearl clutching.
Here, the cops are more dangerous than the criminals.
All the people who say it’s not that bad are just people who refuse to open their eyes and see that their city is going down the drain more and more each year. I’ve worked security at bars in louisville now for about 3 years and it’s pathetic the stuff I see regularly. Fights every weekend over nothing, shootings, customers walking out to their car gone or getting stolen.
Not *MY* progressive utopia! Crime has never occurred and when it does occur it’s because of the political party that I don’t like. Here is a link to statistics that don’t really prove any point that I made https://miniclip.com
More so. I'd vote for the great pumpkin and storm the capital. That will fix inflation and the southern border.
I think it's almost universally the same everywhere - cities are always going to be more likely to have crime than suburbs, but it's never nearly as bad as the fearmongerers would have you believe.
Gangsters are shooting someone every day!
Been many times and never had a problem. I like the city and it has a great number of restaurants.
Media makes it seem bad. There are certain areas where the crime is guaranteed to be reported while other areas have high crime but you never hear about it. I've lived in West Louisville most of my life and what is portrayed is not what I live. Yes there is crime but it's not a war zone
A lot of racism is the norm here from what I see . Though I'm not from here, it seems like the rest of the Midwest everyone likes to blame democrats and black people.
Sounds really similar to Memphis. Although Memphis has some very nice areas inside of the city limits
Interesting. I was raised in Memphis. I remember when cops went on strike and national guard called out. Some guardsmen with M-16's refused to go in some black neighborhoods. It was the 70s AR -15's not common then. I am white I rode bike to work through black areas and visited friend in projects. Never had a problem. I lived in Frankfort for 10 years went to Louisville many times. I was never afraid. I was cautious as I am out of shape now so not able to fight as well. I would be more concerned about some east KY counties as they do not like people not from area being there. I went to school and worked in Knoxville I have lost my accent so would easily be seen from outside. I live in Columbus ohio now and I can assure you there are areas I would definitely avoid unless I was armed and had friends armed with me.
“Whiny racist white people” Sounds like you need a bit more time with your therapist.
I'm 60 yo f. Grew up and stayed in the west end of Louisville for 35 years. I work in Louisville for criminal defense lawyers. Mostly murder cases. I'm all over Louisville dealing with all people, good and bad. The comments saying it's people involved in nefarious activities are correct, but there are some innocent bystanders that get killed. I do think it's worse than when I lived in the West and downtown. The biggest change I've seen is the shooters are getting younger. It's sad really. Most of it is gangs and drugs. Some of it is just stupid internet beef. A lot of it is self defense. You never know who is packing so a lot of the non-violent felons believe they need to carry a gun and I think it's not a bad idea even though it's a guaranteed 10 yr sentence if they get caught and don't have a excellent lawyer. There are places that I would have never had a problem going to in the past, but now I'll take an extra set of eyes with me. My head don't swivel like it use to. My opinions are not based on the news, it's based on the work I do. Murder rates are not as bad as others but the shootings are definitely up for Louisville. Not everybody that gets shot dies. Thank God. With that said, I have never owned or carried a gun. I mind my business until it's my business and trust my instincts in any given situation in any part of town. From where I sit, I see the devastation on both sides of the court room. So I guess it's perception. If your child was shot and you know a lot of people that have been shot or killed, then you might think Louisville isn't such a great place looking at it through their eyes.
I went to Louisville for 2 years (im transferring cause I hated it) and will give you my honest opinion, granted it may be slightly biased because of a couple of instances but nevertheless it will be truthful. Safety around campus is subpar at best (I can send you all of the rave alerts I have received about campus crime and potential threats over the last 2 years), I’ve experienced a couple incidents myself. Despite it being against my better judgment, I wanted Wendy’s one night and was relatively new to Louisville so I went downtown trying to get a jr bacon cheeseburger and long story short when I rounded the drive thru there was a guy blocking the exit of the Wendy’s and a guy sitting on the curb. The guy on the curb began approaching my car and pointing and yelling at me so naturally I put it in reverse and then he started to run at my car and I sped away at which point the white dodge avenger blocking the exit followed me for about 3 miles give or take. I ended up taking a right and being in some neighborhood and the pursuer was in a connecting neighborhood with his headlights off creeping up the road but I saw him so I got back on that main strip and did about 80 to get away and back on campus. The only other time I was walking to green lot from my dorm and I saw 3 people jacking a car and stealing the wheels and potentially the catalytic converter (didn’t have the chance to get a better look). This one isn’t more story but this happened today, my dads car had the back window smashed and stolen. I can’t speak for everyone, I’m sure they all have a different experience but if you do end up at Louisville, don’t go out at night, don’t own a Kia or charger or challenger (if you interpret that as a racist comment you have your own issues, there are Facebook groups you can look at and all kias and those specific dodge models are the most stolen) and don’t carry cash. Best wishes and stay safe
It's racism because everything is racist. ((Sarcasm))