One local city topped the list of most dangerous cities in the country, while three others were among the top ten, according to research from a national real estate website.
Camden had 1,895 violent crimes in 2014, meaning the city averaged averaged 25.66 violent crimes per 1,000 residents, NeighborhoodScout.com said in its latest report. That rate is six times higher than the national average of 3.8 -- which puts the South Jersey city at the top of NeighborhoodScout's most dangerous cities list.
"One thing this report illustrates is that the highest crime rates are found in areas of high population density, lower income and – often - lower real estate values than neighboring communities,” the report said.
Chester followed Camden in the rankings, being named the second most dangerous American city by NeighborhoodScout.com.
Atlantic City and Wilmington also appear in the top ten, listed at eighth and ninth, respectively, while Philadelphia took the 55th spot.
"We realized that the picture of violent crime in America is different today with more of the most dangerous areas dominated by single family homes, abandoned homes, low-income areas in inner-ring suburbs or decaying cities,”said Andrew Schiller, NeighborhoodScout's founder and CEO.
NeighborhoodScout, a website dedicated to matching prospective homeowners to neighborhoods, takes crime rates into account when suggesting where to buy a home.
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The algorithm used takes the number of violent crimes reported, including murder, forcible rape, aggravated assault and armed robbery, per 1,000 residents.
Along with FBI reports, NeighborhoodScout incorporates incident reports from the approximately 17,000 local, municipal and state law enforcement agencies throughout the country to capture the full picture of violent crime in each community.
The safety of your city “is not how big your economy is, but what type of economy you have. What types of jobs, and who is attracted to those jobs,” NeighborhoodScout found.
