TL;DR: What do you think is the most-dangerous city in the U.S.?
- and do you have any stories about bad/scary **** that has happened to you/someone you know?

I've long been intrigued by thinking about which cities/areas in the U.S. are the scariest/most-dangerous/crime-ridden. In particular, I am intrigued by Detroit, Mi. It seems like it's an historic place with lots of great tradition and a beautiful skyline; yet, it seems like it's always at the top (if not the top) of the most ****ed-up, violent, dangerous places in the country.

So, I'm curious, what city do you think is the worst-off/most-ghetto in America?

If I had to come up with a quick list, it would be something like this:

1.) Detroit, & Flint, Mi
2.) Gary, In
3.) Camden, Newark, Trenton, East Orange, NJ
4.) Chicago, Il
5.) East St. Louis, Il
6.) Oakland, Richmond, Stockton, & Fresno, Ca
7.) St. Louis & Kansas City, Mo
8.) New Orleans, La
9.) Cleveland, Cincinnati, & Youngstown, Oh
10.) Memphis & Nashville, Tn
11.) Washington D.C.
12.) Philadelphia & Chester, Pa
13.) Baltimore, Md
14.) Little Rock, Pine Bluff & West Memphis, Ar
15.) Atlanta, Ga
16.) Houston, & Dallas, Tx
17.) Birmingham, Al
18.) Wilmington, De
19.) Oklahoma City, & Tulsa Ok
20.) Bridgeport, & New Haven, Ct


There surely are other places deserving of being mentioned, so feel free to mention any place(s) you think should also be included.

Obviously, Los Angeles and New York City have lots of crime, but the places I listed seem to have particularly-violent cultures and a higher per capita-crime rate.

So, what do some of y'all on here say is the baddest place in the U.S.? Is it where you live now or are originally from? Personally, I live in Arizona, on the outskirts of Phoenix, and there's certainly crime here, but I've tried to keep my ass out of trouble for many years now, so I don't have many good stories to share.

However, I'd like to hear about the place(s) some of y'all think are the worst of the worst.

Btw, I hope I posted this in the appropriate forum. If it's not in the proper section, I apologize.

Also, I have been starting threads like this on another forum, but one that only temporarily hosts the threads, so they would only last a few hours before being deleted. There were some great stories shared, though; so I'm really hoping to get to read some stories about some personal experiences by people on here, since the thread won't be deleted.


I also want to ask about something else. Since many people seem to think that the ghetto cities in America are nowhere near as bad/violent/dangerous as ghetto cities in other countries, I can't help but want to ask if people actually think that the hardcore thugs, criminals and cops in places like Detroit, Camden, Chicago, Los Angeles, Memphis, New Orleans, could not handle themselves against the gangs and cartels in places like Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, South Africa? Is that what some people think? Or is it that there's just more violence and danger in these third world country ghettos because of the makeup of the communities there, .i.e. more poverty and desperation and less people capable of defending themselves?



And in reference to third world ghettos, I just came across this article after searching online for images of Tegucigalpa: http://www.bizarbin.com/most-dangerous-cities-world/


- 25 Of The Most Dangerous Cities in the World


#1 Recife in Brazil
#2 Medellin in Colombia
#3 Cucuta in Colombia
#4 New Orleans
#5 Nuevo Laredo in Mexico
#6 Barquisimeto in Venezuela
#7 Joao Pessoa in Brazil
#8 Manaus in Brazil
#9 Guatemala City
#10 Salvador City in Brazil

I'll admit, I was surprised that the only city from the United States on the list was New Orleans. Maybe, it deserves to be higher up on the list in my OP? And has anyone here been to any of the places on this list?

- #11-#25 of that list in the referenced post:

#11 Culiacan in Mexico
#12 Fortaleza in Brazil
#13 Vitoria in Brazil
#14 Cuernaca in Mexico
#15 Ciudad Juarez in Mexico
#16 Guayana in Venezuela
#17 Detroit
#18 Sao Luis in Brazil
#19 Cali in Colombia
#20 Maceió in Brazil
#21 Torreon in Mexico
#22 The Federal District in Francisco Morazan
#23 Caracas, Venezuela
#24 Acapulco in Mexico
#25 Honduras’ San Pedro Sula


Not surprised to see Detroit as the other American city on the list. Btw, if you check out the article at that link, you'll see some pretty gruesome-looking photos and it looks like there's also some interesting bits of information about each place on the list.

I don't really have much to add but according to your referenced link the order of the international cities is a countdown. Therefore Honduras' San Pedro Sula is the most dangerous and Recife in Brazil is the least dangerous.

I thought something was off when New Orleans was listed as more dangerous than Detroit.

I didn't read through that entire article, as I was mostly just interested in the list of dangerous cities, so, you certainly may be right. However, that isn't how I had thought the list was ranked. If you are correct, though, thanks for pointing that out.

In regards to New Orleans being ranked/considered as a more-dangerous place than Detroit, after starting and reading through several threads like this on 4Chan (a site which I pretty much wish I hadn't ever found out about), many people have claimed that New Orleans is as bad as any place in the U.S. However, it seems to have been much more crime-ridden and dangerous right after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city and in the year or two immediately following. People also discussed how Hurricane Katrina caused crime/danger to rise is other cities, as many of the people from New Orleans ended up in other cities.

I'm curious, where are you from/do you live now? Are there any rough areas close to you? And have you been to any of the places on the list in the OP or to any of the places on the list in the article I linked?

lists like that are why i wont be moving to south america until im fully ready to give up on life

my biggest beef with your original list is that you have cities that arent even closely related linked together, do you realize how far apart places like houston and dallas, or kansas city and st louis are?

FYI, I originally compiled that list while trying to hurry up and finish it, so that I could post it and start a thread. As for some of the cities that I listed together being hours apart from each other, I mostly just tried to lump together cities from the same state. I realize that I did not do the entire list consistently like that; but, like I stated, I did it while in a rush and off the top of my head.

Please feel free to compile your own list and to do so in a more geographically-accurate manner and then post it in this thread.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using 2+2 Forums

You can look at Top 50 cities by Homicide Rate.

Your impression of DC is outdated. The ghettos have been pushed out to MD and tamed. The worst parts of Anacostia do not compare to the depressing downhill spiral I see in Philly and Camden ghettos. A few weeks ago I took the wrong exit and ended up driving around some ghetto parts of Camden. Some of the back streets look and feel worse than 3rd world cities.

Supposedly, some of the Indian reservations are very poor and very ghetto, but I have never been.

In regards to world cities, I never thought about it before I got into traveling. But as I went to more and more places, it was quite revealing to see how ridiculously ghetto Central and Latin America is, how ridiculously safe most of Asia is, and how fairly benign big chunks of Africa are. (at least countries South of DRC.)

Despite how high Detroit/New Orleans/St Louis rank on the world homicide meter, to me they don't compare to Latin America. It is my impression and experience that drug violence generally touches people involved in drug violence. Every time there is a shooting in DC, chances are really high that it's some drug dealer or druggie getting shot or ghetto kids escalating ghetto arguments. It does not feel like the crime touches me all that much, not to the extent the stats show. And with the militarization of US Police forces, there is nowhere in the US where cops are outgunned or outmanned. Nowhere. This is in contrast to Latin America where anyone with money is a target for organized and petty crime and everyone tends to watch their back and take additional security precautions. The more money you have, the more you watch your back. And in plenty of areas, my impression is that you can be robbed and stabbed on the street in broad daylight with plenty of people around and people won't help you, often cops won't help you. In the US, everyone is in everyone's business and people do interject on regular basis. People are just much more willing to get involved, and no one is all that afraid of gang repercussions or that the cops might be crooked. That is not true for Latin America, where there is a lot less trust and people do not get involved.

Got to Manaus (8 on your list) a few days before the world cup started and in the first 2 nights, of the group of people I knew (probably around 25ish people) there was 4 muggings or attempted muggings, one at gun point, two at knife point and one where no weapon was shown.

I stayed in a very dodgy area, in the sort of place that has a price per hour, as I hadn't booked accommodation and it was the world cup so everywhere was full, and after all the drama of the first couple of days was a bit edgy for a day or two, but by the end felt pretty safe even drunk late going back to my 'hotel'.

Once the world cup started there was no problems at all, probably due to larger police presence and fewer quiet streets as there was street parties basically everywhere every night. I miss that city big time.

Also there's currently loads of poker players living in Medellin which makes the list somehow, but is pretty safe nowadays.

agree with DC there are lots of stats there but as long as u mind ur own business u should be fine

plus there are cops everywhere

Take those lists with a grain of salt. I find it hard to believe that Detroit has a higher murder rate than Baghdad or anywhere in the Congo. Some places just don't keep very good records. Then you've got countries like Thailand which rule any death where nobody was prosecuted an accident.

I live 15mins from Gary and have many childhood friends that I knew from basketball from there. It wasn't uncommon for them as 17 and 18 year olds to all have seen someone shot and killed. Although they didn't act like the city was too bad what surprised me was how they felt East Chicago, IN was worse. I guess theres a street guthrie that one gang lives on and its known to not drive let alone walk down it. I guess the only way cops will go down it is if there is a confirmed killing.

funny how the most violent cities are dominated by a particular demographic...

that demographic is for you to figure out.

Dc is fine depending where you are/what time (ie if you are east of the anacostia at night that is kind of dangerous, during the day it is not too bad). That being said stay away from the zoo on family day, apparently there is always trouble then. Someone got shot outside of it this year while I was inside. The lion started roaring about the same time the shooting took place, I think he heard the shots.

I lived in El Salvador during the civil war there; i lived in an area of Oakland, Ca where three drive-by shootings took place within a block of me in just one summer (and I heard all three of them); I lived in Pristina, Kosovo during the period just before the bombing of Serbia and heard machine gun battles go up and down the street outside of the apartment building I lived in several times and grenades were routinely tossed into coffee shops. In not one of these places did I feel particularly threatened; the key is really knowing where one can go and where one should avoid. The cities listed in Brazil in the OP are not that dangerous other than in very specific areas (especially those areas at night) and in fact Recife is beautiful and worth visiting.

People fail to realize often that statistics can be very misleading. Most of the crime and violence in most of the cities that are considered 'dangerous' take place in areas people reading this list are highly unlikely to visit. And even if you do find yourself in such an area, in most cases you'll be fine unless you act lost, confused or decide to flash your rolex and nikon camera around extensively.

I've always hated this sort of rationale.

First, one can't always research every street he takes, everywhere one goes, like some military convoy. This is work in itself, and it will catch up to that person when one day he takes an exit off the highway that is "known" for armed robberies but he didn't "research it enough."

The beauty of living in a safe place is that you don't have to plan your day and schedule your life to avoid all the pitfalls. In many places of the world, you can go where you please, and you can do as you please. This is freedom, this is fun. Avoiding and researching and playing logistics sucks. It's doable, but it still sucks and it's very easy to make mistakes no matter how good you are at it.

Obviously a lot of people just go to work, go home, and maybe go to the same nightlife venues over and over and it's not a huge logistical challenge. But if you like to go to new places and explore, it sucks to worry about security.

It takes a long time for statistics to catch up to people. You can live in a war zone and chances are that you still will be perfectly fine for many years before you run into trouble. It's not like everyone that lives there dies. A huge chunk of people will not have even one problem in their whole life.

The metric I like to use is; how often will I - as a light-brown haired, blue-eyed, (usually) clean-cut, (usually) decently dressed, single white guy - make a juicy target for the local criminal element.

There is little I can do to not be a target in some places. In some places, the wrong people will be able to spot me a block away and I can't do much about it. Just putting my Nikon and Rolex away is not enough when I'm the only white dude at night in downtown Johannesburg. (that doesn't look like a druggie.) In some places you can blend in, in some places you can never blend in.

I always find it amusing when some dirty hippy backpacker dressed in ratty clothes and a few dollars to his name and very few valuables does a bicycle trip cross Africa and tells everyone else that it's all perfectly safe everywhere. If you look poorer than even the local poor, it really helps. hehehe. But not everyone is willing to do that.

War zones/civil conflicts are usually excluded from these sorts of rankings.

Homicide rate is used as a crime proxy because it's generally the hardest to fake. Amusingly enough, in some cases it's hard to say which way the numbers are wrong. For Caracas, the government is supposedly under-reporting the official population of the city (increasing the homicide rate) but also supposedly mis-classifying deaths. (decreasing the homicide rate.)

But overall... at least it's something... better than just talking anecdotes. And for the US, the methodology is generally consistent.

Yeah I don't doubt that the US figures are accurate. I just doubt the figures from the rest of the countries in the world that don't even know how many homicides their own cops have committed let alone the total number.

I think the Detroit & Chicago area is number one.

Your points are all very valid and I don't mean to dismiss or dispute them here, just add some thoughts of my own that are of a slightly different perspective (and add that I do agree with a good bit of what you say). The problem I tried to address in my first post is that many places seem far more dangerous than they are (and of course the opposite can be true). One reason for this is the news: it only reports the bad, so people who are elsewhere only hear about a place when bad things happen (you never hear, 'and today was a slow, peaceful day in South Central LA...') and so outsiders accumulate scary stories and assume that's how it is all the time. It generally isn't.

Second is the statistics game; unless the statistics are filtering for who the targets of crime are, they can often be very misleading. For instance, black on black crime dominates crime in many urban areas of the US and if you find yourself in a wealthy area of, say, DC like Georgetown, you are NOT going to have the statistics of DC as a whole catch up with you anytime soon.

Finally, there's simple common sense and appearance. One rule I have is that if i find myself in a 'scary' area by accident, and this has happened to me numerous times as I like to wander around by foot wherever I live, walk in a straight line looking like you know where you're going and planned to be there. Never dress or act like a tourist or like you're lost. It won't always work but it will reduce your likelihood of being targeted substantially. However, of course, no matter how much one does the above, a white guy wandering the ghettos of Johannesburg will certainly stick out like a sore thumb or the favelas of any Brazilian city and trouble will certainly be more likely than if the same person walked confidently down Mission St. in San Francisco.

Like I said, I've lived in some 'dangerous' places and I guess I've always felt they weren't getting a fair shake from people due to much of what I wrote above. I still love Oakland, Ca. and Rio de Janeiro very much and would go back any time to either for extended stays. Same with San Salvador, El Salvador.

being of the mind that there are more dangerous neighborhoods than cities is more fulfilling.

all big cities have dangerous neighborhoods and they all have enough safe zones to never feel in danger. and they all have mixed income neighborhoods with scary demographics that are safe as any if you mind your business, walk with purpose, just enjoy yourself and respect others.

This is a good Medium article written by a Venezuelan visiting Uganda. It touches on a lot of these issues.

Sure, that's true. The thing is, in some cities it's 80% sketchy and 10% rich and awesome, and in other countries it's the reverse. I'm still trying to find a dangerous neighborhood in Bangkok where I would be afraid to walk at night, for example.

Inglewood CA, especially the area around Hollywood Park

"Tierra Caliente" region of Michoacan, MX and its port city, Lazaro Cardenas.

Parts of Mexico City

The mountainous regions of Sinaloa, MX and its port city, Mazatlan.

Home of senor frogs? Say it ain't so. Seriously though is mazatlan really sketchy now? That was a big spring break place in the 80's/90's

Excellent post

lol @ American gangs hanging against Latin American ones. Completely different culture and mode of operation. Gangs in Mexico these days have corrupted some entire city governments and police forces, and essentially run the town as a for-profit enterprise. They are ruthless to a degree Americans can't begin to match. That doesn't necessarily mean a gringo walking around in the Parque Central at night is going to get mugged; gangs don't necessarily lead to an increase in street crime, and can sometimes decrease it. (Our gringo traveler's mugging might lead to a consular report and a visit by the National Police to the city, which the gang would hate.)

I think it's safe to say Brazil is one of the most dangerous countries anywhere. I felt safety was a graver concern there than in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, for instance (which could arguably find its way onto a list FWIW, although things have settled down a lot over the past few years). In PaP I witnessed a police chase where the suspect was firing a pistol into the sky to clear out traffic--probably one of the crazier acts of lawlessness I've seen in person. And yet Brazil is still worse, imo. Salvador in particular.

Mexico seems far safer than Brazil. I've gladly walked miles through cities such as Morelia, which is the capital of cartel-ridden Michoacan, despite refusing to do so in Brazil (excluding the wealthier bits of Rio and SP). Don't know much about the border, however--I've only been to Nogales which is a small town and felt fine.

Joburg is definitely up there as well. I've heard Lagos is quite sketchy but that's a difficult judgement to make. Any major city in Central America north of Costa Rica is terrible.