US Metros with High Crime Rate.

Ranking from Forbes.com about Top 15 US MSA (Metropolitan Statical Area) with high violent crime rate. This is based on 2008 FBI crime data and Forbes has sorted data by MSA by combining data of cities in each MSA.

Rank Metropolitan Area Violent Crimes per 100,000
1 Detroit, Mich. 1,220
2 Memphis, Tenn. 1,218
3 Miami, Fla. 988
4 Las Vegas, Nev. 887
5 Stockton, Calif. 885
6 Orlando, Fla. 845
7 Little Rock, Ark. 831
8 Charleston, S.C. 824
9 Nashville, Tenn. 817
10 Baltimore, Md. 791
11 New Orleans, La. 773
12 Baton Rouge, La. 728
13 West Palm Beach, Fla. 726
14 Charlotte, N.C. 721
15 Philadelphia, Pa. 709

Again, Detroit got the honor of the most crime ridden MSA. Other than that, many of crime ridden MSA are those cities hit hard by real estate market decline and subsequent economic slow down as financial difficulty tend to cause crimes. Other notable thing is about high rank of traditionally poor southern cities such as Memphis、Charleston、 Nashville、New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

For the comparison, below is the list of cities (not MSA) with 300,000+ population on violent crimes per 100,000 residents.

City Violent Crime per 100000
DETROIT 1,092
ST. LOUIS 1,086
OAKLAND 965
MEMPHIS 958
KANSAS CITY 889
BALTIMORE 780
ATLANTA 767
NASHVILLE 747
PHILADELPHIA 722
MINNEAPOLIS 715
STOCKTON 702
MIAMI 700
MILWAUKEE 699
CLEVELAND 697
BOSTON 576
TULSA 564
SACRAMENTO 560
PITTSBURGH 556
TAMPA 546
HOUSTON 535
DALLAS 526
CINCINNATI 505
"LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN
POLICE DEPARTMENT " 502
JACKSONVILLE 495
CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG 445
COLUMBUS 422
SAN FRANCISCO 404
OKLAHOMA CITY 389
TUCSON4 382
PHOENIX 368
LOS ANGELES 356
LONG BEACH 350
ARLINGTON 350
PORTLAND 329
RIVERSIDE 327
LOUISVILLE METRO 326
FORT WORTH 325
FRESNO 324
DENVER 315
SANTA ANA 306
BAKERSFIELD 297
NEW YORK 291
OMAHA 289
AURORA 278
SAN ANTONIO 276
RALEIGH 274
COLORADO SPRINGS 262
SAN DIEGO 243
MESA 240
ANAHEIM 216
SAN JOSE 207
EL PASO 199
HONOLULU 148
VIRGINIA BEACH 115
CHICAGO #VALUE!

Lastly, below is 2007 Top 25 "safe" cities (mostly over 100K population). Those are very recognized middle class neighborhood.

City Violent Crime per 100000
IRVINE 35
BELLEVUE 55
THOUSAND OAKS 56
CARY 58
AMHERST TOWN 58
PROVO 60
GILBERT 61
SUNNYVALE 63
SIMI VALLEY 69
NORMAN 81
CENTENNIAL 84
GLENDALE 86
SCOTTSDALE 86
CARROLLTON 88
HUNTINGTON BEACH 92
OVERLAND PARK 94
EDISON TOWNSHIP 98
SANTA CLARA 100
ORANGE 102
RANCHO CUCAMONGA 102
ARVADA 105
MCKINNEY 106
SANTA CLARITA 106
CORAL SPRINGS 107
STERLING HEIGHTS 108

In US, you have to pay for the safety. During recession, real estate decline in dangerous areas tend to accelarate. In my experience, unless you are professional slumlord, I would not recommend the properties in bad neghborhood. Good tenants do not live in crime ridden areas --- you will be stuck with low quality tenants who tend to trash the properties and come up with ridiculous excuse not pay rent on time.

Happy Investing!!!!