most dangerous and safest cities - survey says...
The Morgan Quitno Press, an independent private research and publishing company located in Lawrence, Kansas has come out with their 12th Annual America's Safest (and Most Dangerous) Cities. The methodology for determining the safest and most dangerous cities involves a multi-step process. While the process involves much more than this, to give you a simple but incomplete summary they take data from the latest FBI stats in six crime categories - murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft - then each city was plugged into a formula that measured how a particular city compared to the national average for each crime category per 100,000. There were a few more steps which finally lets us know the safest and most dangerous cities in the U.S. Drum roll for the top 15 in each category:
It seems like Richmond, VA always makes this list. It is more dangerous to live in Richmond, VA than Compton, CA - what is up with that? And St. Louis is more dangerous than any city in California, so if you are moving from St. Louis to LA you have some good news to share with concerned parents.
Interesting to note: In cities of populations 500,000 or more, the top ten most dangerous cities are in order:
Detroit, MI
Baltimore, MD
Washington, DC
Memphis, TN
Dallas, TX
Philadelphia, PA
Columbus, OH
Nashville, TN
Houston, TX
Charlotte, NC
What is up with Columbus coming in at #7 while New York, NY in the big city category ranks at the 4th safest city? San Jose, CA comes in as THE SAFEST CITY over 500,000 while San Diego, CA is the 6th safest in big city category. There is not one city over 500,000 in California that made the top ten dangerous city list.
Other notes of interest, in the categories of safestest cities from 100,000 to 499,999, five Southern California cities make the list included Thousand Oaks at #2, Irvine at #4, Sunnyvale at #5, Semi Valley at #6 and Glendale at #9!
When it comes to cities of 75,000 to 99,999 Compton, CA ranks the 3rd most dangerous, while Mission Viejo, CA ranks the 3rd safest. You'll have to check it all out yourself.
As far as metro areas, Los Angeles County came in as the 25th most dangerous metro area, behind many other cities that were more dangerous: Miami #5, Las Vegas #7, Myrtle Beach #10, Little Rock #14, Albuquerque #17, Charlotte #19, Houston #22, Phoenix #23 and Tallahassee #24. Now I know why there is so much traffic in LA and why houses cost so much.
Now while it is interesting to look at all of these rankings, there are of course many things that this study does not tell us. For example, in a city the size of Los Angeles there are neighborhoods where you are likely to find flying bullets and neighborhoods that are very safe. So the overall balance doesn't really tell us much about the neighborhood that we live in, but the study is interesting none-the-less.
posted by J.R. Woodward @ 1:01 AM
4 Comments:
Yea I wouldn't exactly say that I'm dodging bullets getting to work in Richmond but there is a good bit of crime here. It's funny to live in a city with sooooo many churches and really see absolutely no sign of the church here in the city at all.
There's a whole lot of good reasons to be hopeful about where Richmond's going over the next years but its been, and continues to be, a fairly dark place in some areas. Crime, poverty, drugs, and despair feed on each other so that the well off are insulated from it while the poor just sink deeper into it.
This is exactly the kind of city where I think Jesus would be though. In fact, Jesus' homebase of Capernum was a pretty rough area which is probably one of the reasons he chose it.
Enough of my ramblings, back to work! Big shout out to all the people everywhere trying to be a light for God in a dark city - you're exactly where you're supposed to be.
Jason,
You're absolutely right, Jesus lived in a pretty rough place and Jesus wants to bring the light to dark places. I purposely chose a rougher neighborhood to live in la, and as a result I have been a victim of crime a couple of times. Someone took my really nice computer and my new bike. Oh well, part of the cost in living in a rougher neighborhood.
Ross,
While statistics don't typically lie, it is true that people can make them say what they want and they don't always tell the story as accurately as we think. I could tell that you are a big fan of Richmond. I love Richmond as well and might even enjoy living in some of the rough areas.
It says Richmond, CA on the list. Is that a typo, or is there a Richmond, CA that is getting confused as VA? That would change the discussion a little bit, doesn't it?
Hikari,
Richmond, VA is #5 while Richmond, CA is #11. So there are two Richmond's on the most dangerous list.
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