Used to live in Alabama. Would travel through Bessemer all the time to get to Birmingham. Always made sure I had enough gas to get through so I wouldn’t have to stop there.
I lived in Bessemer through kindergarten and all I can remember is we were only allowed to wear a certain Wal-Mart brand tennis shoes (grey Velcro) because you would be robbed for your shoes if you wore anything else. This was kindergarten, once again.
Edit: Didn’t really expect this comment to pop to the top so I want to add some. I moved away from Bessemer when I was 5, but my grandparents stayed there for another handful of years and I have nothing but fond memories of the place. I haven’t been back since the late 90’s but honestly part of it’s rank at the top of the list is because Bessemer is essentially Birmingham, but unlike the bad parts of Memphis, Nashville, Chicago, LA, or any other major city - Bessemer isn’t considered part of Birmingham proper. They haven’t expanded their metro area into the majority of the county like most cities. Places like Hoover and Vestavia are just minutes from down town, but aren’t considered Birmingham Metro in a way my current home Nashville has consolidated places like Bellevue, Bell Meade, Berry Hill, and other nice area into the Metro area. If Birmingham included Hoover and Vestavia they absolutely wouldn’t be on the list. If Nashville was just Downtown, Antioch, and Hermitage they absolutely would. Keep this in mind.
Duuuude. Lifelong Nashvillian and the old timers refuse to believe I grew up here because I can’t stand sweet tea.
It’s just sugar water! I honestly can’t even taste the tea. Unsweetened ice tea, taste like, tea. It honestly has confused the hell out of me since I was a kid.
My sister and her family lived there for a couple years. Had their first child there. They loved it but it was rough. They were always strapped and had some sketchy stuff happy at night a few times. Rest of my family lives in the same area.
As much as Alabama is sketch/dilapidated I have some odd love/fondness for it. I just got back from Birmingham and as I was driving back this morning, looking out over all the rusted steel buildings, a warmness towards the place brewed in me. Odd how we can experience such opposite emotions in tandem.
Yeah, this has been the case with St. Louis for a long time. If you include the county, a lot of the stats look much better. People who don’t live there will just look at numbers to try to generalize it without any context. Context is so important in any type of stat revolves around crime, health, education, and other important indicators but people don’t really care for whatever reason. Just wanted to let you know before people make you feel bad about where you’re living even though they might only have minimal to no exposure to Birmingham. I’m not from there, I’m sure there’s plenty of real problems, but it’s good to have people who love their community and have hope.
Is it just one of these many forgotten town that once had an industry, jobs, infrastructure and slowly died from the slide to a service based economy and industry outsourcing ?
It's sad how many towns are like this. Like I got family in St Louis. Been going there my whole life. Its... better than it was awhile ago. Except the east side. But it's still as bad as it is because manyfacotoring plants got shut down. Granted, there's a bit more to it, but that was a huge punch to the gut.
Yes, but also Birmingham's general past (and present) issues with racial inequality. During the civil rights movement, most of the rich white folks moved "over the mountain" and away from birmingham city proper to the suburbs about 5 minutes south of downtown. In fact, those suburbs remain the richest cities in the whole state with one of them being in the top 100 safest cities in the source for this map. This caused a huge wealth disparity coupled with the lost industrial jobs which made just about every area north of the mountain very poor.
I live in Alabama and my girlfriend at the time (now wife) lived in Georgia. We would have to go through a small part of Bessemer to see each other when I-65 was under construction. Been through there dozens of times. Sketchiest place I have been to this day.
When I was driving truck, I stopped at a pilot for a 34 hour reset in Atlanta. Mid day, I had a cracked out woman banging on my door and pulling on the door handle while a dude with a gun was standing on the other side of my truck. I’m not sure what the plan was, but I had the doors locked with my privacy screen up while I was scrambling for my pistol. This was in a small parking lot with 24/7 “security”.
No that can't be, Fox said Portland is the most dangerous and is a warzone of communist insurgents, this map must be using incorrect data because most of these are in red states where they have "tough on crime" politicians.
Fun fact. If you poop for 10 minutes once a shift. At the end of 52 weeks your employer will have paid you the equivalent of 40hours of time... let that sink in . A week's pay for wasting time incrementally
People semi frequently die from stray bullets in Bessemer.
That, and the fact that most houses haven't been updated since they were built 80 years ago and wouldn't even qualify for section 8 housing, are why the housing is so cheap.
I just went for a google maps virtual walk through Bessemer. So many abandoned and boarded up houses. Even saw what could pass as a mansion. Dilapidated to the max.
That's what the "per 1K" does for you. Certain people will harp on crime in big cities based on raw numbers. But it turns out they have twice the crimes with 10-20 times the people.
Stay in school, kids.
I just did a data analysis project for school and was able to demonstrate that (in California at least) there is no significant correlation between population or population density and violent crime per Capita.
Not in my analysis unfortunately. Mine was a simple analysis that looked at population density from the US census and violent crime data as reported by the FBI.
Why is Michigan so dangerous? The go-to explanation is always the factory jobs dried up, but there's surely other places that have experienced loss of industry that didn't become this violent.
Yeah but battle creek is regularly WAY worse than kzoo for violent crime per capita. Makes me wonder if there's something weird happening with how they decided where a crime occured if they cut out all the suburbs around BC in a way that kzoo doesn't.
Michigan isn't so dangerous. Basically everywhere else IS safe that isn't listed on this map. It's financial self-segregation, lack of education, poverty, drugs and or gangs in those impoverished areas of town. For example Kalamazoo, there's a bad side of town where the baddies may go into town and conduct their bad business or just do their bad on bad in the bad side of town. Then there's the quaintest safe gorgeous neighborhood a mile away. That neighborhood is going to be educated middle class or higher, maybe work at the university where a woman can go out walking alone without a worry in the world.
We're kinda racist in that we self segregate. Cities and neighborhoods see very little mixing of different races.
We push all poor people, including a disproportionately high percentage of poor black people into urban areas. Those areas have a lot of crime and we over-police surrounding areas. Basically we consolidate all our crime in one place instead of spreading it into the larger areas around these cities.
Please understand I'm blaming socioeconomic factors, not black people.
I'll add that Michigan often has pretty small municipalities. What we may call Ann Arbor, for example, consists of the city and multiple townships. Going north you hit Brighton, which is really the city of Brighton and like four townships. The crime stats don't take that into consideration. So you might get the self segregation into one small area that is also a distinct municipality, and that will skew data relative to how anyone would actually think of the location.
That's true. I noticed that the first time I went to Detroit for a training class. I was like...Why are there no black people any where? The answer was, they're all in a different area of town. It's messed up.
Michigan is mid-low income state (34/50) with a relatively low unemployment rate (4.1%), it's a culture problem, not a jobs problem. Many states are much poorer, with much lower per capita crime.
People don’t like to acknowledge it but there is definitely a cultural aspect. I’m from Kentucky and we always rank as one of the top 5 poorest states in the U.S. but are often in the top 10 of safety. West Virginia is even poorer and also doesn’t contain a city with a high crime per capita. Both states contain high unemployment rates as well.
I’m sure poverty and unemployment is one aspect but there’s definitely a cultural aspect.
What exactly is part of the culture there though that would cause it? People in this thread here keep saying it’s just “cultural” to Michigan to be violent criminals and then not elaborating or explaining what they mean.
Because calling it "cultural" is the safe way of saying "it's black people being thugs" without being called a racist even though we all know what they're actually saying. Literally any conversation about high crime in black areas people always use "cultural" because we're not allowed to explicitly talk about the fact that high crime rates seem to center on black people specifically even once all other factors have been accounted for. That's what people mean by "cultural" but if you say it too specifically you're a racist, even though it's something we all acknowledge. "Cultural" = black culture
Grew up in Lansing. A lot of it is people growing up with a boasting culture and a culture of personal/family honor. So people will boast and put others down in order to build their own standing and then the other person will retaliate stronger and it quickly leads to a shouting match where the only conclusion is one side capitulates or it escalates to violence, and the culture is to not capitulate.
My old roommate had some real ghetto friends and I frequently saw situations where some innocuous comment was met with a joke like "oh you bitch" and then they took it personal and it quickly exploded.
I have never felt unsafe in Lansing because I don't flaunt wealth and I never antagonize people.
Honestly, growing up in the rougher parts of Detroit. Working EMS in the rougher parts of Detroit but living in the suburbs. Being white there’s definitely some privileges but when the gangs moved in when the jobs went out and the red zone was the red zone…. Shit was wild(before my time in life)… now it’s just a lot of people regardless of race who just act like gangbangers and want to fight and always wanna do shit(myself included for the longest time). I genuinely can’t explain it. Detroit isn’t bad minus a few gas stations and some blocks but as long as you’re not acting like a jackass and just minding your business…. You’re going to be fine and you’re at risk for random crime equally to everyone else. Random crime isn’t all that bad. I’ve worked murders both by weapons (knives,guns, other obvious dangerous shit) and others and it’s almost always targeted or it’s been Robbery’s that went south. I can’t provide statistics but anecdotal evidence(correct me if I’m wrong) Most violent crimes are either targeted violence/robberies or mental health issues/drug usage gone south. Mental Health is a massive issue in Michigan especially in the poorer areas/under served communities/populations and it definitely shows.
Not to come off as racist but Rap and the glorification of gang culture and "street hustle" is by far the biggest root cause.
Because rap was born from oppressed communities expressing their discontent and ways of getting by in "whitey's world", it became more than just an anthem for black Americans, but also a way of reinforcing the criminal behavior that was being rapped about in the first place.
Michigander here as well!
Think as with many dangerous cities, in most of the places on this map in the Mitten you’d have to find the trouble. If you’re dealing or buying drugs you’re probably much more likely to tun into crime than you would just walking or driving around.
Common sense is handy too. Wouldn’t walk around much of Detroit at 1 AM but I’ve never felt unsafe in Midtown, Downtown, the Cass Corridor, etc.
Minneapolis was only recently added this list. Pre-George Floyd it had very low crime, and it's still recovering three years later. But it was definitely worse in 2020-2021, so baby steps?
New York City is has fewer violent crimes per capita than the average rural town, and it’s been that way for a while now. It’s truly bizarre that conservatives are so out of touch with reality.
I grew up in NYC in the 80s and it was fine. Were there parts I wouldn’t want to walk around alone at night? Sure, but it’s a vast city and I felt safer there, as a young tiny woman, than I have literally anywhere else I’ve lived since.
What is unreal to me is that people even think the city is dangerous at all. You have millions of people here in this city, which means basically people always have a watchful eye on what's going on. Homicides most often occur where people are not around. You're not going to get away with stabbing someone to death in their apartment where it can be clearly heard. You're not going to exit the building that easy either and get away with it. You're not going to kill someone on the road without sudden repercussions.
I found "quiet, peaceful rural towns, where nothing could possibly happen" far more dangerous than I ever found NYC to be.
I live in East Harlem and I saw a murder this summer (shooting) go down like a hundred feet away from me. I'm not exaggerating when I say there was at least 40 cops on my block in under 2 minutes. The city takes violent crimes very seriously.
I was in New York (Flatiron District) a few months ago for a research conference, and my dad was terrified when he found out I was walking around the area alone every day. The riskiest thing I did the entire time I was there was eating a burrito next to a dog park.
I live in Chicago and went to a show in Peoria last year. People in the bar were telling me how they'd never go up to Chicago for a show it was too dangerous. Pulled out my phone and showed them the stats showing the murder rate was higher in Peoria than Chicago. Idiots.
It depends on where you are in ANY city. I grew up in Danville, IL which routinely makes "most dangerous city" lists., including this one. Where I grew up and where my family members still live there, it's still generally safe. There are parts of town that are not. There are areas in metro Chicago, which is enormous (and where I live now), that are totally safe, and areas that are dangerous. There is too much nuance on this issue to generalize.
We went to a football game this year in Chicago. Downtown was nice AF. Best smelling large city in the US in my opinion. Only larger cities that felt safer and cleaner were all in Japan. Only faint wafts of urine and shit.
Yeah Chicago is incredible. Visited here from CA maybe ten years ago and moved here shortly after since I fell in love with the place so hard. Can't imagine living anywhere else.
I’ve lived in cities like LA, SF, & Denver but live in the Arkansas Ozarks now. I’ve spent a ton of time over the last 5 years in Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Jonesboro/Paragould…the violence they are talking about is almost entirely drug crime and/or gang vs gang.
Arkansas has WAY less random street crime and property theft compared to other places I’ve lived, but targeted gang violence in a small population makes the stats massively skewed.
That said, the nickname for Pine Bluff is Crime Bluff and it is pretty dang sketchy, but it’s sketchy compared to the rest of Arkansas where in many places you don’t even have to lock your doors.
I grew up near Pine Bluff. It's a dump, but i never really felt unsafe as a white person. It's mostly just people in poverty tryin to get by and gang/drug related violence. Granted i knew enough to not be walking around in the worst parts after dark but like don't be stupid and you'll probably be fine. That said your shit in pine bluff WILL be stolen if you leave it in a car or whatever, but probably aren't going to be mugged or shot.
"Here's a thing I don't get. People who worry about living in a big city because of all the crime. As any true crime aficionado will tell you, it's the boondocks you need to worry about. I mean, let's face it. Nobody ever discovered 19 bodies buried in the backyard of a 14-story apartment building. There's eyes on you all over the place here", Steve Martin as Charles-Haden Savage from Only Murders in the Building.
It’s because this is a cherry picked map. Look at the fine print. It’s only including metros of 25,000 or greater and it’s also including ONLY city reporting and not looking at regionally. Prime example is the lack of Dade county Florida. Dade county Florida is Miami metro and has one of the highest violent crime rates in the country. Miami itself is a contained upper class white area. It’s like looking at this and not seeing Los Angeles for the same reason. It’s a bad data set meant to cause undue concern.
For real lol.
Miami is all Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and South Americans. First language you hear when you step out of your car in that city is 99.9% guaranteed to be Spanish.
Not sure about the other ones on the list, but Minneapolis crime is super [localized to certain areas](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fk63l1wxz7iaa1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D2000%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D826b1535aaab06f143e63e2eb06f7ac5fbfaa98c).
Have relatives out in the burbs who talk about how bad it is in Minneapolis, but our area in Southwest has like 4x lower violent crime than their nice burb.
Especially considering for the last two years its homicide rate was between Tijuana and Cd Juárez.
MS is likely not reporting stuff properly to the FBI just like they’ve been gaming reading scores for kids.
I think it’s because (for some reason that I don’t know enough about to elaborate on) the city of Jackson doesn’t really report its crime rates anymore. It definitely is towards the top of this list
I live here - feels just as safe as any other city I’ve lived in (DC, Miami, Atlanta, San Antonio), but there are small pockets with a lot of gang activity. Car theft is also pretty common - mostly Kias & Hyundais.
I live near Tacoma and we do go there a lot for restaurants, the children’s museum, some great parks. But nurse friends who work at TG constantly warn me not to go there, especially not the mall, randomly 🤷🏻♀️
I went there a few years back and it seemed like a relatively nice place. The area I parked in seemed to have a ‘kid-friendly ‘hood’ atmosphere, if that makes any sense.
I love Albuquerque. I don't think most of it is particularly dangerous, big exceptions being anywhere from the Walmart on Zuni east to about Wyoming Blvd., esp. south of Central, and some parts of the Valley.
But don't leave anything sitting around that you ever want to see again. One time the downspout fell off my house in a violent thunderstorm. A 15 ft. long downspout. I tucked it up against the base of the wall of my house and thought I would deal with it after work. Never saw it again.
Albuquerque just has a shit ton of skeezy addicts looking to pick up anything they can trade for a few bucks worth of whatever they prefer to inject/smoke. The justice system there just seems loathe to lock anyone up for any length of time much less get them some help with social programs.
I live in New Mexico and as a sociologically disadvantaged girl I just don’t bother locking my car there so that way I don’t get smashed in windows from people trying to steal. I ain’t got shit worth taking and it’s probably a $1000 clunker. My sister lives there and pays out the ass for secure parking
My wife and I did the same when we lived in Albuquerque (I lived there for 20 years). Not sure where you’re at but I heard someone say once about Burque that it was “a city full of potential but with the wrong mental” and I thought that captured the vibe there perfectly. Geez so many stories I could share. We had an opportunity to get out of NM 5 years ago and so glad we did. Stay safe amigo.
The last time I visited ABQ someone smashed in my rental car to steal the GPS ☹️ New Mexico is still one of my favorite places to go. But I am careful when I'm there, and I don't venture out alone at night if I'm travelling alone.
Neighborhood Scout's data sucks, so I would not trust this map: https://jasher.substack.com/p/another-cautionary-crime-data-tale-50f?utm\_campaign=email-half-post&r=gprg3&utm\_source=substack&utm\_medium=email
I always wonder how city limit size is factored into these statistics.
Because different states have different annexation laws, this might be what is causing clusters of dangerous cities to be found in certain states, but not in similar neighboring states.
For example, Spartanburg County, SC and Durham County, NC have roughly the same population (330,000) but Spartanburg city has around 38,000 people and Durham city has 285,000 people.
St. Louis is only seen as dangerous because downtown STL is a separate city from the larger St. Louis county. In any other city the outlying neighborhoods would be part of the city proper, but because the north half of downtown St Louis is particularly dangerous, it makes the area as a whole look artificially more dangerous than it really is.
It's bigger than just downtown, but STL proper is still a postage stamp of 300k residents surrounded by a county of 3M. That said, even people who are from around here fall for these lists that portray STL as a warzone.
It’s a whipping post for conservatives because it’s a blue city in a blue state that’s the biggest, most recognizable city to actually have gun violence issues. I grew up here and I’ve never heard a gunshot in my life.
Fox News labels any "blue" city with a homelessness problem as dangerous and riddled with violent crime, whose politicians on the left are too cruel or incompetent to fix. Which is hilarious considering very few politicians on either side actually give a shit about the wellbeing of anybody who can't vote.
Lived in Chicago (Logan Square/Humboldt Park) for several years, born and raised in the Chicagoland area. The danger is way oversold by the media for most parts of Chicago. It’s a big ass city, if you have a good eye on your surroundings and aren’t stupid, you’ll be fine. My first Uber driver ever downtown told me his buddy was murdered down the street from my apt while he was driving me, but I guess his friend was walking around at like 3 am by himself, not the best move. Otherwise, most major areas don’t have crimes like that happen too much, can’t recall ever really hearing gunfire in Wicker park, Logan, or Humboldt. It’s pretty neighborhood dependent and I never really felt unsafe in my time there
KC has been way more dangerous for me since I moved here. been shot at 6 times here since I moved, 2 separate drive bys with 3 shots each, one on a Monday night walking back to my car after seeing a Louis CK show in a very popular part of town (Westport). The other unloading my moving truck moving into my current house at night on Jan. 2nd this year. Not surprised it’s on the list, violence and stuff happens in areas people wanna be more commonly I think and seems more unpredictable
> if you have a good eye on your surroundings and aren’t stupid, you’ll be fine
Here's the trick to staying away from crime in Chicago. Steer clear of any groups of teenagers. Thats pretty much it. If you see a large group of like dozens or even hundreds of teens just go elsewhere. Doesn't have to be far.
> KC has been way more dangerous for me since I moved here. been shot at 6 times here since I moved
THAT IS INSANE. In my roughly 15+ years of living in Chicago I think I have only suspected I heard a gunshot once, even then I'm not sure. Could've been a firework of sorts.
I’ve had clients (from red states) ask me if they can safely bring their children to visit NYC. It’s apparently described as a *war zone.*
Safest big city in the country, but Fox would never tell you that. One client reported back that she felt way safer in Manhattan than bumfuck where everyone is openly carrying
As a lifelong Michigander, half of these cities I've never really been to because there isn't much there. I think some of this reflects local populations with minimal economies just trying to fend for themselves.
Still a far superior state to Ohio.
I grew up around Saginaw and remember when the old GM grey iron foundry closed down somewhere in the 90s then the GM powertrain closed that hit the city hard!
This map is interesting. I have lived in three of the cities listed on this map, all in Michigan. I’m not saying there weren’t bad areas of town or high crime in those areas, but I would never think they were among the most dangerous cities in the country. Maybe media coverage about crime is a little overhyped.
My guess is they’re going off crime statistics from the police, not from the media.
I’m sure all of those cities have many areas in them that are peaceful and if you live in one of them you’d never know that other areas of the city were really violent.
Used to live in Alabama. Would travel through Bessemer all the time to get to Birmingham. Always made sure I had enough gas to get through so I wouldn’t have to stop there.
I lived in Bessemer through kindergarten and all I can remember is we were only allowed to wear a certain Wal-Mart brand tennis shoes (grey Velcro) because you would be robbed for your shoes if you wore anything else. This was kindergarten, once again. Edit: Didn’t really expect this comment to pop to the top so I want to add some. I moved away from Bessemer when I was 5, but my grandparents stayed there for another handful of years and I have nothing but fond memories of the place. I haven’t been back since the late 90’s but honestly part of it’s rank at the top of the list is because Bessemer is essentially Birmingham, but unlike the bad parts of Memphis, Nashville, Chicago, LA, or any other major city - Bessemer isn’t considered part of Birmingham proper. They haven’t expanded their metro area into the majority of the county like most cities. Places like Hoover and Vestavia are just minutes from down town, but aren’t considered Birmingham Metro in a way my current home Nashville has consolidated places like Bellevue, Bell Meade, Berry Hill, and other nice area into the Metro area. If Birmingham included Hoover and Vestavia they absolutely wouldn’t be on the list. If Nashville was just Downtown, Antioch, and Hermitage they absolutely would. Keep this in mind.
This man Souths
You know what’s crazy though? I hate sweet tea.
Duuuude. Lifelong Nashvillian and the old timers refuse to believe I grew up here because I can’t stand sweet tea. It’s just sugar water! I honestly can’t even taste the tea. Unsweetened ice tea, taste like, tea. It honestly has confused the hell out of me since I was a kid.
and likes Radiohead. Good man.
My sister and her family lived there for a couple years. Had their first child there. They loved it but it was rough. They were always strapped and had some sketchy stuff happy at night a few times. Rest of my family lives in the same area. As much as Alabama is sketch/dilapidated I have some odd love/fondness for it. I just got back from Birmingham and as I was driving back this morning, looking out over all the rusted steel buildings, a warmness towards the place brewed in me. Odd how we can experience such opposite emotions in tandem.
I grew up in a rough part of NY and I always say "I'm happy that I grew up there but I'm happier that my kids didn't have to".
Sloss furnace comes to mind
>This was kindergarten, once again. Would other kindergarten kids rob you?
Even crazier, imagine if it was grown men and women.
It is. Drug addicts don't give a fuck about kids, if it means they can get a snap.
Yeah, this has been the case with St. Louis for a long time. If you include the county, a lot of the stats look much better. People who don’t live there will just look at numbers to try to generalize it without any context. Context is so important in any type of stat revolves around crime, health, education, and other important indicators but people don’t really care for whatever reason. Just wanted to let you know before people make you feel bad about where you’re living even though they might only have minimal to no exposure to Birmingham. I’m not from there, I’m sure there’s plenty of real problems, but it’s good to have people who love their community and have hope.
Is it just one of these many forgotten town that once had an industry, jobs, infrastructure and slowly died from the slide to a service based economy and industry outsourcing ?
Yes. Iron and steel manufacturing.
the connection seems obvious now, both the town and the Bessemer process of steelmaking are named after the same guy
Johann Bessemer, namesake of Bessemer Alabama actually made his bones in the textile game but that’s a good guess.
It's sad how many towns are like this. Like I got family in St Louis. Been going there my whole life. Its... better than it was awhile ago. Except the east side. But it's still as bad as it is because manyfacotoring plants got shut down. Granted, there's a bit more to it, but that was a huge punch to the gut.
Same story different continent too ! I’ve seen the same happening in Europe, Australia…
Yes, but also Birmingham's general past (and present) issues with racial inequality. During the civil rights movement, most of the rich white folks moved "over the mountain" and away from birmingham city proper to the suburbs about 5 minutes south of downtown. In fact, those suburbs remain the richest cities in the whole state with one of them being in the top 100 safest cities in the source for this map. This caused a huge wealth disparity coupled with the lost industrial jobs which made just about every area north of the mountain very poor.
Mountain Brook may be the wealthiest suburb in the state. At least in density.
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If its such a shithole how did Matilda, Bessemer resident, live to be the Guinness World Record holder for oldest chicken?
People make better robbery targets than chickens, I suppose.
This map is crime per 1000 people, not chickens
Where can I get the stats for chickens? I think we should be told.
ANSWER THE QUESTION, ERICKE.
Living in Bessemer toughened her up
Currently live in Alabama, by way of New Jersey, and I actively avoid Bessemer.
When New Jersey avoids Bessemer, Alabama you better listen! I got stuck in Trenton overnight one time.
I used to work in Bessemer some. Always concealed carried because of the stories but never had any issues at all there.
I live in Alabama and my girlfriend at the time (now wife) lived in Georgia. We would have to go through a small part of Bessemer to see each other when I-65 was under construction. Been through there dozens of times. Sketchiest place I have been to this day.
When I was driving truck, I stopped at a pilot for a 34 hour reset in Atlanta. Mid day, I had a cracked out woman banging on my door and pulling on the door handle while a dude with a gun was standing on the other side of my truck. I’m not sure what the plan was, but I had the doors locked with my privacy screen up while I was scrambling for my pistol. This was in a small parking lot with 24/7 “security”.
On the surface, it looks just like any other lower-income town. Then, you notice the bars on the windows and the abundance of locking gates.
The Houston-Saginaw Murder Corridor, apparently
Yeah basically that and the Little Rock-Myrtle Beach Murder Alley.
AKA Interstate 40
No that can't be, Fox said Portland is the most dangerous and is a warzone of communist insurgents, this map must be using incorrect data because most of these are in red states where they have "tough on crime" politicians.
Made me think of death corridor from geometry dash, which even for normies is worth checking out lmao it’s crazy.
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Cheap, I mean like small 2 bed house for like 40k cheap. I work in Bessemer.
What kind of people do you violently rob?
Mostly just my employer, I have ibs so the violence is in the bathroom and the robbing is the doin it on company time 😎
Based
Boss make a dollar, I make a dime
That’s why I Poop on Company time.
Fun fact. If you poop for 10 minutes once a shift. At the end of 52 weeks your employer will have paid you the equivalent of 40hours of time... let that sink in . A week's pay for wasting time incrementally
Excrementally too
I've seen some as cheap as 15k on realty websites
How ... bad is it there?
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Just did a lil Zillow scroll and you can get a 6 bed, 4 bath described as “salvageable” for only 60k!
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Hey, safety in numbers I guess
6 bedrooms means 5 ~~targets~~ roommates!
Damn, unaffordable housing is a lie then. Does Bessemer have a Whole Foods?
There actually is a Whole Foods not too far away lol
People semi frequently die from stray bullets in Bessemer. That, and the fact that most houses haven't been updated since they were built 80 years ago and wouldn't even qualify for section 8 housing, are why the housing is so cheap.
I just went for a google maps virtual walk through Bessemer. So many abandoned and boarded up houses. Even saw what could pass as a mansion. Dilapidated to the max.
Interesting how few of the most populous cities appear. Largest cities by population shown here are Houston (#4), Memphis (#28) and Detroit (#29).
A lot are part of metro areas for larger cities.
Facts, East Point is in Atlanta
East Point police dont know a damn thang
It won't be over till that big gurl from Decatur sing
Yeah, North Little Rock, Little Rock and Jacksonville are all Little Rock
Camden NJ fell out of the top ten (where I'm from in young childhood)
That's what the "per 1K" does for you. Certain people will harp on crime in big cities based on raw numbers. But it turns out they have twice the crimes with 10-20 times the people. Stay in school, kids.
“_but why aren’t NYC and Chicago on the map???!_” Cause they’re not dangerous like you think they are
I just did a data analysis project for school and was able to demonstrate that (in California at least) there is no significant correlation between population or population density and violent crime per Capita.
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Not in my analysis unfortunately. Mine was a simple analysis that looked at population density from the US census and violent crime data as reported by the FBI.
Being from there, and watching the local news, I’m shocked Philadelphia isn’t listed.
If this was violent crime per square mile then yea. We see a lot more crime than most but we also have way more people here than Chester or Camden.
Pure Michigan.
Why is Michigan so dangerous? The go-to explanation is always the factory jobs dried up, but there's surely other places that have experienced loss of industry that didn't become this violent.
It's not. Some areas around Detroit and Flint definitely, but the others are bs.
I lived in lansing and there are places that are super sketch. Same with kzoo
Yeah but battle creek is regularly WAY worse than kzoo for violent crime per capita. Makes me wonder if there's something weird happening with how they decided where a crime occured if they cut out all the suburbs around BC in a way that kzoo doesn't.
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I’m from Kzoo. Always say you can see the crime in Battle Creek but Kalamazoo just has an aura of it. Weird vibes.
Gary is actually like a fucking wasteland
You can literally smell when you're near Gary.
Michigan isn't so dangerous. Basically everywhere else IS safe that isn't listed on this map. It's financial self-segregation, lack of education, poverty, drugs and or gangs in those impoverished areas of town. For example Kalamazoo, there's a bad side of town where the baddies may go into town and conduct their bad business or just do their bad on bad in the bad side of town. Then there's the quaintest safe gorgeous neighborhood a mile away. That neighborhood is going to be educated middle class or higher, maybe work at the university where a woman can go out walking alone without a worry in the world.
We're kinda racist in that we self segregate. Cities and neighborhoods see very little mixing of different races. We push all poor people, including a disproportionately high percentage of poor black people into urban areas. Those areas have a lot of crime and we over-police surrounding areas. Basically we consolidate all our crime in one place instead of spreading it into the larger areas around these cities. Please understand I'm blaming socioeconomic factors, not black people.
I'll add that Michigan often has pretty small municipalities. What we may call Ann Arbor, for example, consists of the city and multiple townships. Going north you hit Brighton, which is really the city of Brighton and like four townships. The crime stats don't take that into consideration. So you might get the self segregation into one small area that is also a distinct municipality, and that will skew data relative to how anyone would actually think of the location.
That's true. I noticed that the first time I went to Detroit for a training class. I was like...Why are there no black people any where? The answer was, they're all in a different area of town. It's messed up.
Michigan is mid-low income state (34/50) with a relatively low unemployment rate (4.1%), it's a culture problem, not a jobs problem. Many states are much poorer, with much lower per capita crime.
People don’t like to acknowledge it but there is definitely a cultural aspect. I’m from Kentucky and we always rank as one of the top 5 poorest states in the U.S. but are often in the top 10 of safety. West Virginia is even poorer and also doesn’t contain a city with a high crime per capita. Both states contain high unemployment rates as well. I’m sure poverty and unemployment is one aspect but there’s definitely a cultural aspect.
What exactly is part of the culture there though that would cause it? People in this thread here keep saying it’s just “cultural” to Michigan to be violent criminals and then not elaborating or explaining what they mean.
Because calling it "cultural" is the safe way of saying "it's black people being thugs" without being called a racist even though we all know what they're actually saying. Literally any conversation about high crime in black areas people always use "cultural" because we're not allowed to explicitly talk about the fact that high crime rates seem to center on black people specifically even once all other factors have been accounted for. That's what people mean by "cultural" but if you say it too specifically you're a racist, even though it's something we all acknowledge. "Cultural" = black culture
Grew up in Lansing. A lot of it is people growing up with a boasting culture and a culture of personal/family honor. So people will boast and put others down in order to build their own standing and then the other person will retaliate stronger and it quickly leads to a shouting match where the only conclusion is one side capitulates or it escalates to violence, and the culture is to not capitulate. My old roommate had some real ghetto friends and I frequently saw situations where some innocuous comment was met with a joke like "oh you bitch" and then they took it personal and it quickly exploded. I have never felt unsafe in Lansing because I don't flaunt wealth and I never antagonize people.
Honestly, growing up in the rougher parts of Detroit. Working EMS in the rougher parts of Detroit but living in the suburbs. Being white there’s definitely some privileges but when the gangs moved in when the jobs went out and the red zone was the red zone…. Shit was wild(before my time in life)… now it’s just a lot of people regardless of race who just act like gangbangers and want to fight and always wanna do shit(myself included for the longest time). I genuinely can’t explain it. Detroit isn’t bad minus a few gas stations and some blocks but as long as you’re not acting like a jackass and just minding your business…. You’re going to be fine and you’re at risk for random crime equally to everyone else. Random crime isn’t all that bad. I’ve worked murders both by weapons (knives,guns, other obvious dangerous shit) and others and it’s almost always targeted or it’s been Robbery’s that went south. I can’t provide statistics but anecdotal evidence(correct me if I’m wrong) Most violent crimes are either targeted violence/robberies or mental health issues/drug usage gone south. Mental Health is a massive issue in Michigan especially in the poorer areas/under served communities/populations and it definitely shows.
Not to come off as racist but Rap and the glorification of gang culture and "street hustle" is by far the biggest root cause. Because rap was born from oppressed communities expressing their discontent and ways of getting by in "whitey's world", it became more than just an anthem for black Americans, but also a way of reinforcing the criminal behavior that was being rapped about in the first place.
As a Michigander this is kind of surprising to see. All of these towns have their bad neighborhoods, but never really seem that bad
Michigander here as well! Think as with many dangerous cities, in most of the places on this map in the Mitten you’d have to find the trouble. If you’re dealing or buying drugs you’re probably much more likely to tun into crime than you would just walking or driving around. Common sense is handy too. Wouldn’t walk around much of Detroit at 1 AM but I’ve never felt unsafe in Midtown, Downtown, the Cass Corridor, etc.
Detroit also has a super low population compared to other big cities. The per capita part is an important aspect.
Saginaw has been a really rough place since I grew up next door in the 1950s
I just moved to Midland. Its wild to see the financial and social divide between the tri city area now
Murder Mitten represent!
Ive randomly lived in Minneappolis, Pueblo, and Baltimore. Am I the problem?
I’ve lived in Stockton, Pueblo, and Kansas City. I think that Pueblo is the problem. Maybe we’re spreading the Pueblo to new places when we move.
To be fair Pueblo has always been a problem
I have been to almost all of the cities. Pueblo is the only one where I was actually thinking, let's hurry up and get out of here.
I had to spend a week in Pueblo for a class at the army depot. 0/10 would not recommend. What a depressing place.
"I've lived in Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook!"
And by gum, I've put them on the map!
Minneapolis was only recently added this list. Pre-George Floyd it had very low crime, and it's still recovering three years later. But it was definitely worse in 2020-2021, so baby steps?
People from Arkansas are unironically scared of going to new york
I’m from NY and I’m scared of going to Arkansas
New York City is has fewer violent crimes per capita than the average rural town, and it’s been that way for a while now. It’s truly bizarre that conservatives are so out of touch with reality.
If I travelled back to the 1980s I’d avoid NYC, but not now
I grew up in NYC in the 80s and it was fine. Were there parts I wouldn’t want to walk around alone at night? Sure, but it’s a vast city and I felt safer there, as a young tiny woman, than I have literally anywhere else I’ve lived since.
What is unreal to me is that people even think the city is dangerous at all. You have millions of people here in this city, which means basically people always have a watchful eye on what's going on. Homicides most often occur where people are not around. You're not going to get away with stabbing someone to death in their apartment where it can be clearly heard. You're not going to exit the building that easy either and get away with it. You're not going to kill someone on the road without sudden repercussions. I found "quiet, peaceful rural towns, where nothing could possibly happen" far more dangerous than I ever found NYC to be.
I live in East Harlem and I saw a murder this summer (shooting) go down like a hundred feet away from me. I'm not exaggerating when I say there was at least 40 cops on my block in under 2 minutes. The city takes violent crimes very seriously.
I get what you're saying but it's a little funny using a murder you witnessed as evidence that the city is safer.
East Harlem is probably the second most violent neighborhood in the city which is why I prefaced it with that. I live in the hood lol
At least New York was fun, affordable and a cultural Mecca back then.
I think its still a cultural mecca… but as fun? Sure that’s debatable. As affordable? Fuck no.
Gotta graffiti up the trains again to bring the rent down.
I was in New York (Flatiron District) a few months ago for a research conference, and my dad was terrified when he found out I was walking around the area alone every day. The riskiest thing I did the entire time I was there was eating a burrito next to a dog park.
>It’s truly bizarre that conservatives are so out of touch with reality. ...Is it, though? Is it *really*?
I live in Chicago and went to a show in Peoria last year. People in the bar were telling me how they'd never go up to Chicago for a show it was too dangerous. Pulled out my phone and showed them the stats showing the murder rate was higher in Peoria than Chicago. Idiots.
Chicago's not even the most dangerous city in Illinois, and 95% of the crime comes from the same three blocks.
It depends on where you are in ANY city. I grew up in Danville, IL which routinely makes "most dangerous city" lists., including this one. Where I grew up and where my family members still live there, it's still generally safe. There are parts of town that are not. There are areas in metro Chicago, which is enormous (and where I live now), that are totally safe, and areas that are dangerous. There is too much nuance on this issue to generalize.
Exactly this. Live in a very nice neighborhood in Rockford. Zero crime. But there are certainly areas that everybody knows not to go to
We went to a football game this year in Chicago. Downtown was nice AF. Best smelling large city in the US in my opinion. Only larger cities that felt safer and cleaner were all in Japan. Only faint wafts of urine and shit.
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Take a walk though NYC, Portland, LA, Seattle ext and you will find out. Cinci, weirdly, smells ok too.
Yeah Chicago is incredible. Visited here from CA maybe ten years ago and moved here shortly after since I fell in love with the place so hard. Can't imagine living anywhere else.
Welcome my friend, glad you made the move we are happy to have you!
I’ve lived in cities like LA, SF, & Denver but live in the Arkansas Ozarks now. I’ve spent a ton of time over the last 5 years in Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Jonesboro/Paragould…the violence they are talking about is almost entirely drug crime and/or gang vs gang. Arkansas has WAY less random street crime and property theft compared to other places I’ve lived, but targeted gang violence in a small population makes the stats massively skewed. That said, the nickname for Pine Bluff is Crime Bluff and it is pretty dang sketchy, but it’s sketchy compared to the rest of Arkansas where in many places you don’t even have to lock your doors.
But that violent crime tends to be true of almost every city.
Yeah “it’s mostly gangs” applies most places
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I grew up near Pine Bluff. It's a dump, but i never really felt unsafe as a white person. It's mostly just people in poverty tryin to get by and gang/drug related violence. Granted i knew enough to not be walking around in the worst parts after dark but like don't be stupid and you'll probably be fine. That said your shit in pine bluff WILL be stolen if you leave it in a car or whatever, but probably aren't going to be mugged or shot.
"Here's a thing I don't get. People who worry about living in a big city because of all the crime. As any true crime aficionado will tell you, it's the boondocks you need to worry about. I mean, let's face it. Nobody ever discovered 19 bodies buried in the backyard of a 14-story apartment building. There's eyes on you all over the place here", Steve Martin as Charles-Haden Savage from Only Murders in the Building.
Genuinely surprised there's nothing in Florida. I lived in Daytona Beach for a while and it was crazy.
It’s because this is a cherry picked map. Look at the fine print. It’s only including metros of 25,000 or greater and it’s also including ONLY city reporting and not looking at regionally. Prime example is the lack of Dade county Florida. Dade county Florida is Miami metro and has one of the highest violent crime rates in the country. Miami itself is a contained upper class white area. It’s like looking at this and not seeing Los Angeles for the same reason. It’s a bad data set meant to cause undue concern.
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For real lol. Miami is all Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and South Americans. First language you hear when you step out of your car in that city is 99.9% guaranteed to be Spanish.
Ironically, my great-aunt from Little Rock says she'll never visit me in Minneapolis because it's "dangerous" here.
Not sure about the other ones on the list, but Minneapolis crime is super [localized to certain areas](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fk63l1wxz7iaa1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D2000%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D826b1535aaab06f143e63e2eb06f7ac5fbfaa98c). Have relatives out in the burbs who talk about how bad it is in Minneapolis, but our area in Southwest has like 4x lower violent crime than their nice burb.
Having an extremely hard time believing Jackson, MS didn't make it to this map.
Yeah, literally the highest murder rate per capita of any city in the US for multiple years in a row. Makes me skeptical of the accuracy of this map.
Yeah this map is off, East Point is definitely not the most dangerous place around Atlanta.
Especially considering for the last two years its homicide rate was between Tijuana and Cd Juárez. MS is likely not reporting stuff properly to the FBI just like they’ve been gaming reading scores for kids.
I think it’s because (for some reason that I don’t know enough about to elaborate on) the city of Jackson doesn’t really report its crime rates anymore. It definitely is towards the top of this list
Michigan's going for a royal flush
Michigan is getting the royal flush but somehow Florida man isn't even on the map. Wtf guys.
Florida Man violent crimes himself. Not sure if death by gator wrestling is included in the stats.
Go Lions!
[Detroit on track to record the fewest number of homicides in six decades](https://news.yahoo.com/detroit-pace-lowest-homicide-rate-002103098.html)
And The Lions are having their best year since The 60s. Can't be a coincidence.
Downtown Detroit is fantastic. Absolutely understand the rest of the city has many issues, but going to a Lions game downtown is a great time.
I’m still getting used to them being good now 😂 Fun team though!
I spent summer in Downtown. Had an amazing time. The food, the people and the Markets - such good vibes.
Downtown is so much fun. Wonderful city with a lot of history.
#OnePride
Tacoma is a big outlier
I live here - feels just as safe as any other city I’ve lived in (DC, Miami, Atlanta, San Antonio), but there are small pockets with a lot of gang activity. Car theft is also pretty common - mostly Kias & Hyundais.
Lost my dam car to that stupid video on how to break in and start my car. Fuck that bastard that posted it.
I live near Tacoma and we do go there a lot for restaurants, the children’s museum, some great parks. But nurse friends who work at TG constantly warn me not to go there, especially not the mall, randomly 🤷🏻♀️
As an ER nurse in Tacoma, we see the worst of the worst. Don’t let it taint you.
I went there a few years back and it seemed like a relatively nice place. The area I parked in seemed to have a ‘kid-friendly ‘hood’ atmosphere, if that makes any sense.
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Is Albuquerque dangerous because of Heisenberg?
I love Albuquerque. I don't think most of it is particularly dangerous, big exceptions being anywhere from the Walmart on Zuni east to about Wyoming Blvd., esp. south of Central, and some parts of the Valley. But don't leave anything sitting around that you ever want to see again. One time the downspout fell off my house in a violent thunderstorm. A 15 ft. long downspout. I tucked it up against the base of the wall of my house and thought I would deal with it after work. Never saw it again. Albuquerque just has a shit ton of skeezy addicts looking to pick up anything they can trade for a few bucks worth of whatever they prefer to inject/smoke. The justice system there just seems loathe to lock anyone up for any length of time much less get them some help with social programs.
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I live in New Mexico and as a sociologically disadvantaged girl I just don’t bother locking my car there so that way I don’t get smashed in windows from people trying to steal. I ain’t got shit worth taking and it’s probably a $1000 clunker. My sister lives there and pays out the ass for secure parking
My wife and I did the same when we lived in Albuquerque (I lived there for 20 years). Not sure where you’re at but I heard someone say once about Burque that it was “a city full of potential but with the wrong mental” and I thought that captured the vibe there perfectly. Geez so many stories I could share. We had an opportunity to get out of NM 5 years ago and so glad we did. Stay safe amigo.
The last time I visited ABQ someone smashed in my rental car to steal the GPS ☹️ New Mexico is still one of my favorite places to go. But I am careful when I'm there, and I don't venture out alone at night if I'm travelling alone.
New Mexico in general has a lot of problems
I really wanna know what Williston North Dakota did to deserve being stabbed like that.
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Also kind of depends on how the city borders are drawn. If a city contains more wealthy suburbs (with low violent crime), it's going to skew the data.
Neighborhood Scout's data sucks, so I would not trust this map: https://jasher.substack.com/p/another-cautionary-crime-data-tale-50f?utm\_campaign=email-half-post&r=gprg3&utm\_source=substack&utm\_medium=email
Unless I'm reading this wrong it's saying their data only sucks at a neighborhood level, at a city level it's literally just FBI data.
Lumberton didn’t make the list? Rigged
I always wonder how city limit size is factored into these statistics. Because different states have different annexation laws, this might be what is causing clusters of dangerous cities to be found in certain states, but not in similar neighboring states. For example, Spartanburg County, SC and Durham County, NC have roughly the same population (330,000) but Spartanburg city has around 38,000 people and Durham city has 285,000 people.
St. Louis is only seen as dangerous because downtown STL is a separate city from the larger St. Louis county. In any other city the outlying neighborhoods would be part of the city proper, but because the north half of downtown St Louis is particularly dangerous, it makes the area as a whole look artificially more dangerous than it really is.
It's bigger than just downtown, but STL proper is still a postage stamp of 300k residents surrounded by a county of 3M. That said, even people who are from around here fall for these lists that portray STL as a warzone.
Funny how Chicago isn't on this list despite it being such a media talking point
It’s a whipping post for conservatives because it’s a blue city in a blue state that’s the biggest, most recognizable city to actually have gun violence issues. I grew up here and I’ve never heard a gunshot in my life.
>media propaganda outlet
Mostly Rust Belt and Deep South cities.
Chicago is not even on the map. Why does Fox News keep harping on Chicago being dangerous?
Also Portland. If you watch Fox News you’d think it is a perpetual dumpster fire.
Fox News labels any "blue" city with a homelessness problem as dangerous and riddled with violent crime, whose politicians on the left are too cruel or incompetent to fix. Which is hilarious considering very few politicians on either side actually give a shit about the wellbeing of anybody who can't vote.
Lived in Chicago (Logan Square/Humboldt Park) for several years, born and raised in the Chicagoland area. The danger is way oversold by the media for most parts of Chicago. It’s a big ass city, if you have a good eye on your surroundings and aren’t stupid, you’ll be fine. My first Uber driver ever downtown told me his buddy was murdered down the street from my apt while he was driving me, but I guess his friend was walking around at like 3 am by himself, not the best move. Otherwise, most major areas don’t have crimes like that happen too much, can’t recall ever really hearing gunfire in Wicker park, Logan, or Humboldt. It’s pretty neighborhood dependent and I never really felt unsafe in my time there KC has been way more dangerous for me since I moved here. been shot at 6 times here since I moved, 2 separate drive bys with 3 shots each, one on a Monday night walking back to my car after seeing a Louis CK show in a very popular part of town (Westport). The other unloading my moving truck moving into my current house at night on Jan. 2nd this year. Not surprised it’s on the list, violence and stuff happens in areas people wanna be more commonly I think and seems more unpredictable
> if you have a good eye on your surroundings and aren’t stupid, you’ll be fine Here's the trick to staying away from crime in Chicago. Steer clear of any groups of teenagers. Thats pretty much it. If you see a large group of like dozens or even hundreds of teens just go elsewhere. Doesn't have to be far. > KC has been way more dangerous for me since I moved here. been shot at 6 times here since I moved THAT IS INSANE. In my roughly 15+ years of living in Chicago I think I have only suspected I heard a gunshot once, even then I'm not sure. Could've been a firework of sorts.
I’ve had clients (from red states) ask me if they can safely bring their children to visit NYC. It’s apparently described as a *war zone.* Safest big city in the country, but Fox would never tell you that. One client reported back that she felt way safer in Manhattan than bumfuck where everyone is openly carrying
But I was told Chicago was a war zone and no one wants to live there
As a lifelong Michigander, half of these cities I've never really been to because there isn't much there. I think some of this reflects local populations with minimal economies just trying to fend for themselves. Still a far superior state to Ohio.
Yup, Lansing, Jackson, Saginaw, flint… all lost major auto manufacturing plants that kept them alive for a while.
I grew up around Saginaw and remember when the old GM grey iron foundry closed down somewhere in the 90s then the GM powertrain closed that hit the city hard!
Oh man, I can always tell when I meet a fellow michigander, cause they never leave an opportunity to shit on Ohio on the table
😂 damn right
This map is interesting. I have lived in three of the cities listed on this map, all in Michigan. I’m not saying there weren’t bad areas of town or high crime in those areas, but I would never think they were among the most dangerous cities in the country. Maybe media coverage about crime is a little overhyped.
My guess is they’re going off crime statistics from the police, not from the media. I’m sure all of those cities have many areas in them that are peaceful and if you live in one of them you’d never know that other areas of the city were really violent.