One of America’s Most Dangerous Cities Close to Home!
Feeling safe in your city is one of our core values for choosing a place to live. None of us wants to fear leaving our homes because of crime. And certainly we don't want to fear someone breaking into our home for any reason.
I think that we generally all feel safe here in Grand Rapids and the entire surrounding area. Certainly we are not crime free, but with excellent policing and community involvement, we are in pretty good shape.
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However, statistics do show there are a couple of areas in Michigan that people do not feel safe and crime stats back it up. They are cities that sadly have made the list of the most dangerous cities in the U.S., and surprisingly one is very close to home!
Probably, Detroit first comes to mind. Detroit has been on a downhill spiral for years, but they are really trying to rebound and have been making progress.
Based on the city's murder and property crime rates per 100,000 people, determined by FBI crime reports, Detroit comes in at number three most dangerous, according to Real Estate U.S. News. With the survey focused on FBI crime reports, of course those stats will all skew toward major cities.
However, there is other data covering small towns across America, and it's pretty revealing.
They found that there is one small Michigan city that lands squarely in the top ten of most dangerous cities in America. In fact, this city landed in the top five!
Muskegon Heights, and that is pretty darn close to home!
Muskegon Heights has approximately 10,000 to 12,000 residents and a high crime rate, according to our sister station, 102.5 The Block.
Muskegon Heights is a city of it's own around Muskegon, with a high poverty rate, lack of jobs within the city, and some seriously rundown neighborhoods. All of that combined increases the opportunity for crime.
102.5 the Block said Muskegon Heights has a crime rate of 24.8 per 1000 residents, which means that 24.8 out of every 1000 residents will be a victim of a violent crime. This crime rate is the 4th highest on the list, thus placing Muskegon Heights in the infamous top five.
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