Safest Neighborhoods in America’s Top Cities 2010

08-Nov-2010

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WalletPop Staff
Nov 8th 2010 at 6:00AM

WalletPop reveals the safest neighborhoods with the lowest predicted rates of property and violent crime in America’s major cities.

Most Americans equate big cities with high crime — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago. But NeighborhoodScout‘s exclusive research reveals that even big cities with high crime rates can have very safe neighborhoods with stunningly low rates of crime. Some city neighborhoods are actually safer than most neighborhoods in America regardless of whether they are urban or rural. For this reason, we set out to discover which area of each of America’s major cities is safest.

Using exclusive neighborhood crime data developed by Dr. Andrew Schiller’s team at NeighborhoodScout.com, and based on FBI data from all 17,000 local law enforcement agencies, they crunched the numbers to reveal the safest neighborhoods in every major American city. As it turns out, some big cities contain neighborhoods that are among the safest of any place in the nation, hopefully breaking stereotypes.

For example, the data show Los Angeles is home to the safest big city neighborhood in America, which is safer than 98% of all U.S. neighborhoods, from the smallest towns to the biggest cities. Fort Worth is home to the second safest big city neighborhood in America, safer than 93% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Surprisingly, many of the neighborhoods they discovered are substantially safer than neighborhoods in the suburbs. Some of these same cities are also home to the most dangerous neighborhoods in America, underscoring the importance of looking at neighborhoods, and not passing judgment on entire cities. For safety, it really is all about your location, not just your city or your zip code.

The safest big city neighborhoods discovered tend to be of two types; highly affluent city neighborhoods, on one hand, but also more modest income neighborhoods with many tightly-knit working class families.

NeighborhoodScout reveals how safe the neighborhoods on our list are relative to all U.S. neighborhoods (safer than what % of U.S. Neighborhoods), and their rank among all 7,685 big city neighborhoods in the study.

Here we reveal for the first time the safest neighborhood in each of America’s major cities.

The Safest Neighborhood in 29 Top American Cities
(Listed Alphabetically by City)

ATLANTA, GA.

Safest Neighborhood: Paces
Found within ZIP Code: 30327
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 71%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 429
Crime rate (per 1,000): 11.20
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 89
More on This Neighborhood

AUSTIN, TEXAS
Safest Neighborhood: Mt. Bonnell Road
Found within ZIP Code: 78731
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 65%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 671
Crime rate (per 1,000): 15.00
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 67
More on This Neighborhood

BALTIMORE, MD.
Safest Neighborhood: Locust Point
Found within ZIP Code: 21230
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 70%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 485
Crime rate (per 1,000): 11.86
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 84
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BOSTON, MASS.
Safest Neighborhood: Highland
Found within ZIP Code: 02132
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 71%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 466
Crime rate (per 1,000): 11.65
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 86
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CHICAGO, ILL.
Safest Neighborhood: Forest Glen
Found within ZIP Code: 60646
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 75%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 300
Crime rate (per 1,000): 9.28
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 108
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CLEVELAND, OHIO
Safest Neighborhood: E 55th St.
Found within ZIP Code: 44105
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 91%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 4
Crime rate (per 1,000): 2.04
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 490
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COLUMBUS, OHIO
Safest Neighborhood: E. Stanton Ave.
Found within ZIP Code: 43214
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 83%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 41
Crime rate (per 1,000): 4.75
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 211
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DALLAS, TEXAS
Safest Neighborhood: Westgrove Dr.
Found within ZIP Code: 75284
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 80%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 120
Crime rate (per 1,000): 6.50
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 154
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DENVER, COLO.
Safest Neighborhood: Race St.
Found within ZIP Code: 80210
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 79%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 145
Crime rate (per 1,000): 7.04
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 142
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DETROIT, MICH.
Safest Neighborhood: Jefferson Chalmers
Found within ZIP Code: 48215
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 70%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 508
Crime rate (per 1,000): 12.07
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 83
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FORT WORTH, TEXAS
Safest Neighborhood: West Byer
Found within ZIP Code: 76107
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 93%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 2
Crime rate (per 1,000): 1.71
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 585
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HOUSTON, TEXAS
Safest Neighborhood: Afton Oaks / River Oaks
Found within ZIP Code(s): 77027, 77019
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 81%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 96
Crime rate (per 1,000): 6.06
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 165
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INDIANAPOLIS, IND.
Safest Neighborhood: Perry Manor
Found within ZIP Code(s): 46237, 46227
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 66%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 712
Crime rate (per 1,000): 14.32
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 70
More on This Neighborhood

KANSAS CITY, MO.
Safest Neighborhood: Waukomis Dr.
Found within ZIP Code: 64151
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 74%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 358
Crime rate (per 1,000): 9.93
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 101
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LAS VEGAS, NEV.
Safest Neighborhood: Baskin Park
Found within ZIP Code(s): 89102, 89107, 89106
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 8%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 4,549
Crime rate (per 1,000): 51.89
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 19
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LOS ANGELES, CALIF.
Safest Neighborhood: Cahuenga Blvd.
Found within ZIP Code(s): 90068, 91604, 91608
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 98%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 1
Crime rate (per 1,000): 0.96
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 1,042
More on This Neighborhood

MEMPHIS, TENN.
Safest Neighborhood: Poplar Ave.
Found within ZIP Code: 38117
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 60%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 1,191
Crime rate (per 1,000): 18.40
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 54
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MIAMI, FLA.
Safest Neighborhood: Coconut Grove
Found within ZIP Code: 33133
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 70%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 442
Crime rate (per 1,000): 11.39
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 88
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MILWAUKEE, WIS.
Safest Neighborhood: Fernwood
Found within ZIP Code: 53207
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 80%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 132
Crime rate (per 1,000): 6.81
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 147
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MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
Safest Neighborhood: Waite Park
Found within ZIP Code: 55418
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 60%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 739
Crime rate (per 1,000): 14.60
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 68
More on This Neighborhood

NEW YORK, N.Y.
Safest Neighborhood: Bedford Ave., Brooklyn
Found within ZIP Code: 11210
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 90%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 3
Crime rate (per 1,000): 2.00
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 500
More on This Neighborhood

PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Safest Neighborhood: Rhawn St.
Found within ZIP Code: 19111
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 70%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 362
Crime rate (per 1,000): 9.99
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 100
More on This Neighborhood

PHOENIX, ARIZ.
Safest Neighborhood: Biltmore Estates
Found within ZIP Code: 85016
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 60%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 661
Crime rate (per 1,000): 13.76
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 73
More on This Neighborhood

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
Safest Neighborhood: Park Village
Found within ZIP Code: 78218
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 70%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 233
Crime rate (per 1,000): 8.23
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 122
More on This Neighborhood

SAN DIEGO, CALIF.
Safest Neighborhood: Del Mar Heights
Found within ZIP Code: 92014
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 80%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 72
Crime rate (per 1,000): 5.41
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 185
More on This Neighborhood

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.
Safest Neighborhood: Balboa Terrace
Found within ZIP Code(s): 94127, 94132
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 67%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 646
Crime rate (per 1,000): 13.62
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 73
More on This Neighborhood

SAN JOSE, CALIF.
Safest Neighborhood: Country Club
Found within ZIP Code: 95120
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 84%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 34
Crime rate (per 1,000): 4.30
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 233
More on This Neighborhood

SEATTLE, WASH.
Safest Neighborhood: Laurelhurst
Found within ZIP Code(s): 98105, 98115
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 60%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 1,155
Crime rate (per 1,000): 18.13
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 55
More on This Neighborhood

WASHINGTON, D.C.
Safest Neighborhood: Embassy Row
Found within ZIP Code(s): 20008, 20007, 20016
Safer Than What % of All U.S. Neighborhoods: 73%
Rank Among 7,685 Big City Neighborhoods: 388
Crime rate (per 1,000): 10.43
My chances of becoming a victim here (in one year): 1 in 96
More on This Neighborhood

NeighborhoodScout’s Methodology:
Exclusive Neighborhood Crime Information

Location, Inc. offers the most detailed national database of neighborhood crime statistics available today. If neighborhood safety is important to you in selecting your next home, we provide the exclusive information you need for informed decisions.

Hyper-local crime research and risk assessment in the United States is hindered by two important and pervasive issues: Incomplete counts at the municipal level due to an agency-centric rather than a locality-centric method of reporting to the federal government; and the lack of specific locations for crimes reported by most law enforcement agencies. We address both of these issues in the way Location, Inc. develops its database.

Most city and town crime data are incomplete and inaccurate because crimes are reported by individual law enforcement agencies, rather than by city or town, and many cities have more than one agency responsible for law enforcement (municipal, university, county, etc.). Even FBI data are reported by agency not by city or town, providing an incomplete assessment of city-wide crime counts. It is an agency-centric rather than locality-centric reporting method.

In addition, neighborhood crime research across the nation is further hindered because the majority of law enforcement agencies in the United States do not geocode the specific locations of reported crimes, making it difficult to ascertain the locations and neighborhoods of most crimes in America today.

To address both of these issues with the goal of local crime risk assessment and comparative analysis nationwide, Location, Inc. begins by collecting data from all 17,000 local law enforcement agencies in America, and uses a relational database to assign reported crimes from each agency to the city or town where the agency has law enforcement responsibility, and hence where the crimes occurred. Our method provides an accurate representation of the complete number and types of crimes that truly occur within any city or town.

With this accurate foundation, Location, Inc. then uses more than eighteen proprietary computer models developed by its expert analysts to statistically estimate the number of violent crimes and property crimes for every neighborhood in the U.S. — creating a national database of accurate neighborhood crime statistics and crime risk.

This allows us to do a national comparison of crime risk at the neighborhood level, and to include all locations treated equally using a consistent, rigorous approach.

The neighborhood data is based on the aggregate crime data for the municipality containing that neighborhood for the most recent year of non-preliminary (final) data available from the FBI. We use non-preliminary data in our models for reliability and accuracy and these data take an extra year to be released (2008). (Note: 2009 is still preliminary with regard to coding all law enforcement agencies to the municipalities that the agencies serve so that we can assemble complete and accurate locality-centric counts upon which we base our analysis, and 2010 is not even over yet, so there is not even preliminary annual counts for 2010.)

It is important to note that very recent changes in a neighborhood may not be reflected in our findings, as we use non-preliminary data in our models for accuracy and reliability, as stated, and these take a year to be released.

Our crime data cover every one of the 61,000 neighborhoods in America (sub zip code), and every one of the 14,464 cities, towns, villages, boroughs, and hamlets in the U.S. No piece of land in America is without detailed crime statistics.

What do we mean by a neighborhood, and did you make up these neighborhood boundaries?

Many communities define neighborhoods differently, from small areas of great similarity, to larger areas that fall under one colloquial name, but which have many different sub-neighborhoods within them, and ranging often with different lifestyle and living conditions. Many other communities do not electronically define neighborhood boundaries at all. To be consistent in our research approach across the nation, to include all municipalities regardless of whether they have defined neighborhood boundaries, and to treat all communities equally in the way neighborhoods are defined, we use the official government designation for neighborhoods — the census tract. These boundaries were sources from the U.S. Census Bureau.

What are census tracts?
Census tracts are small, relatively permanent subdivisions of a county that are defined by the U.S. Census Bureau in conjunction with local authorities all across the country to define real neighborhoods that are bounded to contain areas with homogeneous population characteristics (including economic status, lifestyle, and living conditions). Census tracts usually have approximately 4,000 persons, but can range between a few hundred persons to more than 8,000 in some cases. This is the most fine-grained area for which detailed information is made available from the government, to protect the individual privacy of each of us. Because census tracts are based on population, they vary in size depending on the density of settlement. In urban areas, they are small, and in rural areas they can cover an entire small town or even a few small towns in very rural areas.

How did we name the neighborhoods?
Since census tracts are subdivisions of a county, we did a spatial overlay of the census tracts onto city and town boundaries using a geographic information system to properly assign each census tract to its appropriate city or town. Then we named each census tract to the local colloquially recognized neighborhood name for that spot (e.g., Boston, MA (Dorchester). If there was not a name available, we named the census tract by the largest street or intersection in the census tract (e.g., Worcester, MA (Lincoln St/Plantation St).

Why didn’t we just use zip codes?
Zip codes were developed by the Postal Service for the purpose of delivering mail, but were never intended by the Postal Service or anyone, for that matter, to define coherent neighborhoods. In addition, Zip Codes can have as many as 14 distinctly different census tracts contained within them. When distinct census tracts are blended together in a single Zip Code, the data reflects their average conditions and often gives a false sense of the area.

As can be seen from this Boston example, there are 12 distinct neighborhoods that are in or overlap zip code 02118.

Combining the richness of our data with this ultra-local scale provides unbeatable information to assess crime and theft risk.

Why neighborhoods and not cities?
Even the cities with the highest crime rates in America can and do have very safe neighborhoods, and thus it is less useful to generalize about an entire city. But using exclusive data developed by Location, Inc., and based on FBI data from all 17,000 local law enforcement agencies, we here report those specific neighborhoods in America’s top cities that have the lowest predicted rates of crime, sometimes significantly lower than many suburban or rural neighborhoods.

Crimes included are both property crimes and violent crimes from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, armed robbery, aggravated assault, burglary (including breaking-and-entering, including home break-ins), larceny (over $50), and motor vehicle theft. Based on the most recent non-preliminary national data available, and predicted to the individual neighborhood level by NeighborhoodScout’s exclusive crime models, we list the safest neighborhood in each of America’s top cities and show how safe they are compared to all big-city neighborhoods, and also in relation to all neighborhoods in the U.S., urban or rural. The rating is based on the predicted number of violent and property crimes in the neighborhood per 1,000 population of the neighborhood. Only neighborhoods with 1,000 or more permenant residents were included in the analysis, for extra care. Therefore you might see that the safest neighborhood we identify ranks as second or third safest in the city on the crime report detail; this can occur when the neighborhoods that may have had a lower crime rate had fewer than 1,000 population, and thus were removed from our analysis for this report.

Key Proprietary Crime Data Points at the Neighborhood-Level
• Number of Motor Vehicles Stolen in every neighborhood
• Motor Vehicle Theft Risk for every neighborhood
• Number of violent crimes in each neighborhood
• Number of violent crimes per 1,000 neighborhood population
• A neighborhood resident’s chance of becoming a victim of violent crime (e.g., 1 in 24)
• Number of property crimes in each neighborhood
• Number of property crimes per 1,000 neighborhood population
• A neighborhood resident’s chance of becoming a victim of property crime (e.g., 1 in 9)
• Total number of crimes in each neighborhood
• Total number of crimes per 1,000 neighborhood population
• Neighborhood Crime Index (overall Crime Safety rating, nationally comparable)
• Neighborhood Violent Crime Index (Violent Crime Safety Rating, nationally comparable)
• Neighborhood Property Crime Index (Property Crime Safety Rating, nationally comparable)
• Total Crimes per Sq. Mile within each neighborhood
• Violent Crimes per Sq. Mile within each neighborhood
• Property Crimes per Sq/ Mile within each neighborhood
• Comparable city-wide and state-wide crime data and indices, to complement and compare to neighborhood-specific data

About Location Inc.

To license our data: email us: buy_data@locationinc.com or call us toll-free: 1-888-250-3200.

Location, Inc. is a research and data mining company born of university research, specializing in location analysis, demographic and school data information products, and location-based decision-making tools for businesses and consumers. The Company licenses data for a host of business to business applications. Location, Inc. is the owner of NeighborhoodScout.com, a national neighborhood data source and search engine which has served 9.1 million home buyers and businesses since its 2002 inception. The Company is based in Massachusetts.


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