Would you live in an unsafe neighborhood to save money?

[wageslave23]

It may or may not be directly related, but lead exposure causes aggression and, subsequently, crime. US still has shamefully many areas served by lead water pipes.

Not all crime is caused by lead, of course - but this is one of the strongest causal links there is. If an area has an endemic violence problem, and was built before the 20th century, chances are that crime is not the only risk you will face.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014498316300109

It wouldn't let me read the whole study.  But that seems like a laughable misunderstanding of causation vs. correlation.  I don't know how you could even control for that.  Randomly assign individuals to live in lead pipe areas vs. non lead pipe areas?

[GodlessCommie]

It wouldn't let me read the whole study.  But that seems like a laughable misunderstanding of causation vs. correlation.  I don't know how you could even control for that.  Randomly assign individuals to live in lead pipe areas vs. non lead pipe areas?

That's not the only study, that's the first study that popped up in the search.  https://www.webmd.com/children/news/20010529/lead-exposure-may-increase-violent-behavior

[LongtimeLurker]

Are demographics taken into account in these studies? Just curious...

[BlueHouse]

I live in a mixed income community in a HCOL area.  Last week, a homeless man aggressively banged on neighborhood doors asking for work or money.  The week prior, a car was put on blocks and all wheels stolen.  On Friday, 10 people overdosed and 3 of them died from a bad batch of heroin.  Last month, there were multiple carjackings, including on my block.  Last year there were 2 murders.  A few of my neighbors have found bullet holes in their windows (as in stray bullets going UP into 3rd or 4th floor windows -- not targeted shots). 
I still feel pretty safe most of the time.  Yes, there's one block I don't walk on in the dark.   But in the daylight, there are kids playing outside and walking to school.  Their parents wait for them or walk with them.  Neighbors go outside and we garden our tiny front yards.  We actually know each other, as opposed to when I lived in suburbs. 

[DaTrill]

Unsafe is rather subjective, but I'm just curious. How bad would it have to be to get you to move and extend your working career? Especially given how much home prices have gone up in the last two years.

Unsafe, as I said, is subjective. If you live in the developed world, then you are probably living in a relatively safe place. Outside of a handful of places in the US, you have little to fear in the way of violence. Nevertheless, if you feel unsafe, it can affect your happiness. And events that happen near you, even if you are disconnected from them, can make you feel unsafe.

Is it strictly a psychological battle, or would you pay more so you feel safer? Just curious.

Never.  The only thing one can't buy is health, so why put this in jeopardy to save a few bucks 

[Raj]

Currently living in what's commonly considered one of the roughly neighborhoods in the GTA area, where the Police patrol fairly frequently and I've heard that encountering people who use Drugs can be rather easy to encounter.

One of the stranger experiences that came of this, was that when I was doing a run to the Grocery Store to get some light Exercise in, I got stopped by a Police Car who questioned why I was running, where I was going, my name and where I lived.

Told them it was for exercise, provided my info and that was that.  Certainly somewhat unsettling but for the most part I find the frequent sight of the Police more reassuring than anything, as it's not like deaths are happening in this neighborhood.

If frequent murders and such was happening, cheap area or not I'd be out of here in a heartbeat.

Honestly, I've never personally had any problems, and I've actively explored all the nearby areas during the day, including the overgrown with wildlife parks and such, with the closest it ever coming is some people openly offering me some harder drugs, which I easily declined.

It's close to a mall, so I can easily get my groceries as well simply by running, and even near the lake if I'm OK with running a few KM which isn't a hardship.

I'm happy with my room-mates as well and have been basically put in charge of the thing as the longest Tenant who speaks English.

It'd take quite a good job to lure me away from where I currently live honestly, especially since it's only 11KM from my Father, who usually drops off cheaper Vegetables once a week and has helped when I've fallen seriously ill, and makes it so visiting my baby brother is easy.