# Are there any cities where the north side is the rough part of town? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 13, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336 "2009-03-13T15:45:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/41 "2009-03-14T01:29:51Z")
The northern part of Seoul is definitely considered sketchier than the southern part, although even the rougher neighborhoods seem like a walk in the park compared to some parts of Chicago’s South Side. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/42 "2009-03-14T01:42:52Z")
Where I grew up in West Texas, it was rather segregated. The north side was Hispanic and poor. The east side was for blacks. Whites everywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/43 "2009-03-14T02:18:48Z")
Hmm. I was all set to post the lyrics to the mawkish Anne Murray song, “Little Good News”, which for reasons I shudder to contemplate, I still partially remember. For a couple of decades, I remembered the lyric as “Nobody robbed a liquor store on the north side of town.” I had intended to use that to show that the north sides of towns get some musical notice, Jim Croce notwithstanding. A googling, however, informs me that the lyric is “Nobody robbed a liquor store on the **lower part** of town.” I’ll be. I guess living in a city where the north side was the bad side twisted my memory of the song. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/44 "2009-03-14T02:59:39Z")
Champaign, IL has a pretty rough north side (except now all the strip malls & big box stores are even farther north than that). ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/45 "2009-03-14T06:18:48Z")
Nashville’s Bordeaux area is on the north-ish side of town. It has a couple of public housing projects and a nasty crime problem. Unfortunately, it’s not the only area here like that. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/46 "2009-03-14T13:08:41Z")
Lexington, Kentucky’s north side qualifies here too. ---
**Author:** ![cubester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@cubester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cubester)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/47 "2009-03-14T13:54:29Z")
The Northside of Jacksonville, FL is pretty rough. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/48 "2009-03-14T14:40:03Z")
I haven’t lived there in a while, but anyone care to comment on Minneapolis? ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/49 "2009-03-14T15:41:33Z")
> [@Whiteknight](#): > > Baltimore, along with the south, east, and west sides. This is true, but doesn’t paint the whole picture. Compared with other cities I’ve lived in or near Baltimore is the only one where small “rough” neighborhoods are scattered all over the city, some backed right up to the most exclusive neighborhoods. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/50 "2009-03-14T16:09:04Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > Fort Worth had the stockyards on the north side of town, and that is still one of the poorest areas of the city. I was gonna’ say that. When I was in my late teens I lived on the north side. I got burglarized three times in the space of one year and my motorcycle got stolen (as did my girlfriend’s three pygmy goats), but the up side was that it was always easy to score weed. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/51 "2009-03-14T16:17:05Z")
Reno, NV. Sun Valley (which is north of the city) and “the North Valleys” (Lemmon and Golden) are considered a bit rougher and poorer than the rest. ---
**Author:** ![TheScogg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@TheScogg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheScogg)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/52 "2009-03-14T17:16:13Z")
Louisville, Kentucky is basically like this. Generally speaking, things get worse from east to west and from south to north. There are of course multiple execeptions, but this is the general trend. The northwest quadrant, generally refered to as the “West End” is the worst of the bunch. This is the area that mothers from the southern suburbs don’t allow their white children (it’s a very predominantly black area in a suprisingly segregated city). With that said, Louisville is fairly low crime for a city of it’s size. You’re going to find higher crime areas in any city that large. As a saltine white whitey, I’ve driven through the area a few times and never felt threatened, but I was always aware that I could be in danger if I were to walk down the streets alone at night in gang colors. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/53 "2009-03-14T17:25:25Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Charlotte NC has the bad part of town in the north. Hmmm, where? :dubious: I grew up just north of Charlotte in the '80s and '90s until 2003, and my in-laws still live in north Charlotte to this day; I was just there visiting over the holidays. The only place I can think of that you might be referring to is slightly north of Trade on Tryon, maybe, but that’s still very much central Charlotte, not north. ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/54 "2009-03-14T18:40:53Z")
Visalia, California. A nice little town but the section 8 housing and such is on the north side. ---
**Author:** ![beckwall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@beckwall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckwall)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/55 "2009-03-14T19:08:56Z")
Palm Springs. Yes, we have bad neighborhoods here, and the high-crime area seems to be north of downtown. If you count nearby cities, then Desert Hot Springs would definitely be considered the most dangerous place to live here in the Coachella Valley area. ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/56 "2009-03-16T11:01:51Z")
> [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](#): > > I haven’t lived there in a while, but anyone care to comment on Minneapolis? Yep, North Minneapolis is the rougher side of town. I have had 2 attempted muggings directed my way in Minneapolis, but both of those were right downtown on Hennepin. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/57 "2009-03-16T11:15:44Z")
With changing demographics, it’s hard to state categorically exactly where the ‘rough’ sides of towns/cities are anymore. For example, in Melbourne, the northern suburbs were once **notorious** as crime-ridden working-and-underclass areas, but in recent years have become more gentrified with property prices skyrocketting and the poor/marginalised getting pushed further and further out into the suburban fringes. It used to be an indicator of social classism that one could name their address as ‘south’ of the Yarra River (rich and genteel) or ‘north’ (poor and likely of criminal ancestry). While some vestiges of this geographic apartheid still remain (especially for those old blue bloods who live south of the Yarra), for the most part they have gone westward. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Viscera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/258eb7/32.png) [@Viscera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viscera)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/58 "2009-03-17T01:17:46Z")
Omaha. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336/59 "2009-03-17T04:56:25Z")
North Portland (Oregon) is the roughest/poorest part of town, but it’s really not that rough compared to most other cities. I am a third generation North Portlander. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cities-where-the-north-side-is-the-rough-part-of-town/489336.md?page=2)