Thinking about moving? Use these tools to check for crime in communities

Published January 28th, 2015 | By

It takes a lot of planning to move your belongings – or you might even say your whole life – to a new place. You want to be sure the house or apartment is just right for all of your needs and preferences. It also helps to know how close you are to conveniences such as the grocery store or various recreational locations.

But even if you’re moving to a new home within the same city or town, it’s important to also realize that crime can be higher or lower in some areas more than others. Luckily, there are several online tools available to the public that will allow you to view crime data on the state level, and all the way down to where your home is. If you’re planning the next move, you’ll want to know as much as you can about the location. That is where these tools come in.

1. Neighborhood Scout

Powered by Location, Inc, a SaaS (software as a service) company, Neighborhood Scout provides information on property crime rates down to the neighborhood level. If you have read previous Choose Home Security articles, you may have noticed several references to data provided by Neighborhood Scout.

Type in your city (or future city), and Neighborhood Scout will provide annual crime rates, including that per 1,000 residents. The interactive map that comes with each search provides color-coded data on each neighborhood of the city of your choice, so you can better gauge your location.

The below example shows data for Raleigh, North Carolina:

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Apart from security, Neighborhood Scout also gives up-to-date data on real estate, schooling, demographics, and more.

2. Crime Reports

Crime Reports is a fantastic resource for getting to-the-point information about various crimes that have occurred in any given location, and also provides info on the addresses of registered sex offenders.

All you have to do is type in your address (or future address), and a map will be displayed that shows various incidents of crime in and around your location. You’ll be able to view general theft, theft from vehicles, and other incidents. Crime Reports is great for users who rely heavily on direct visual information.

 

CRPittsburgh

Crime Reports

 

Spot Crime

Spot Crime carries a lot of visual similarities to Crime Reports, with some additional differences. The function is the same: you plug in your address, and you’ll get a detailed visual map of various crimes that have occurred in your given location.

While it appears that you need to “sign up” on the website, Spot Crime will also provide alerts for your given area when you plug in your email address.

Spot Crime is an extremely helpful tool, but will require some extra information on your end if you want to get the data that you are looking for. Once you register, you’ll be given a wealth of valuable information on the crime and safety of your address.

4. City Data

When it comes to down and dirty statistics, City Data is the place to go for numbers-driven individuals. Plug in either your city, county, or zip code, and City Data will return a map with crime rates color-coded from very low to very high. From the map, you will be able to view annual stats for various crimes, including burglaries going back to 2000. Some years appear to be missing, but this might range from query to query.

Continue down your search result, and you’ll be provide a seemingly endless array of tables and charts that outline the occurrence of crimes between your city and the nation’s average. You’ll even be able to view charts that detail how many police officers are active duty in your city.

Some examples of data you can view on City Data:

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