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Is Boston America's safest big city? Maybe, maybe not

By adamg on Mon, 10/07/2024 - 5:35pm

GBH runs some numbers, finds we have some admirable crime stats, but the mayor and the Economist might have, well, jumped the gun.

Neighborhoods: 
Boston
Topics: 
Crime


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Comments

By Vicki on Mon, 10/07/2024 - 5:48pm.

For a while, the FBI numbers said that New York was the safest large city in the country. That sort of number may or may not mean anything, but it was handy to pull out when people said things like "but isn't it dangerous?" or that they didn't want to visit because it wasn't safe.

By SwirlyGrrl on Mon, 10/07/2024 - 7:59pm.

Nothing substitutes for knowing an area. But sometimes it helps to ground our perceptions of safety to see some actual data.

I can't really think of many places in the area where I would be uncomfortable walking or cycling in daylight, and fewer where I'd be concerned about biking at night. But I've never bought into the social control messages aimed at controlling women with fear, so I know that I might be an outlier.

Having the data helps when talking to people I know traveling from other areas - I can confidently say "yes, you can walk between the hotels and businesses in the Seaport in the evening and it will probably be okay" or "taking a train to Harvard Square is fine at night".

By Rob on Mon, 10/07/2024 - 7:29pm.

Is Boston a big city?

By SwirlyGrrl on Mon, 10/07/2024 - 7:43pm.

650K people alone - but closer to a million within the space that most cities would have annexed long ago (think Boston and all it touches).

Population density is pretty high for a US city, too - Boston is #6 and Cambridge is #5.

Consider how many people are within rapid transit area and I think it qualifies.

Officially, Boston ranks #25 for population within city limits alone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population

By Will LaTulippe on Mon, 10/07/2024 - 10:37pm.

It was 694K in 2019.

By Frelmont on Mon, 10/07/2024 - 10:11pm.

A big city? On paper…maybe…in somebody’s book, but no one should mistake Boston for an actual big city.

By Waquiot on Mon, 10/07/2024 - 8:27pm.

Nothing against Mesa, but let’s be clear, it’s a suburb of Phoenix.

Incorporate eastern Middlesex County and there’s Mesa. Give Boston the geography of Mesa and we’ve got the lowest murder rate in the nation (probably)