WalletPop, an AOL site, has released its list of the
25 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods for 2010. The list was generated by using research from a company that tracks data on neighborhoods and cities, and from FBI data from 17,000 local law enforcement agencies. The end result, Chicago's West Lake Street neighborhood, 60612 zip code, ranks as the most dangerous neighborhood in America. Charlotte's North Tryon Street neighborhood, with a 28206 zip code, ranks 11th.
As the study points out, neighborhoods were ranked instead of cities, because "even the cities with the highest crime rates can have relatively safe neighborhoods, and thus it is less useful to generalize an entire city." I think that makes perfect sense, because all cities have their "bad" parts of town, but it's not always a reflection of the entire city.
In ranking number one, the Chicago neighborhood has a violent crime rate of 257 per 1,000 and your chances of being a victim there within a year are 1 in 4. That's head and shoulders above the second most dangerous neighborhood, Cleveland Ohio's Covill Avenue, 44104 zip, with a violent crime rate of 165 per 1,000, and the chances of being a victim there within a year are 1 in 6. Rounding out the top five are neighborhoods in Las Vegas at third and fourth, and Atlanta's Carter Street, 30313 and 30314, neighborhood is fifth.
Charlotte's North Tryon Street neighborhood has a 109 violent crime rate, and your chances of being a victim there are 1 in 9.
Other relative neighborhoods on the list are one in North Charleston, 13th; one in Winston-Salem, 16th; and Atlanta has four neighborhoods on the list at fifth, seventh, 17th, and 22nd--more than any other city. Las Vegas has three and they're all in the top ten.
