Quote:
Originally Posted by ukw
Looks similar to Baltimore. Is it still an economically depressed, crime-ridden, bleak city as per its reputation?
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The local unemployment rate is down to 3.8%, which is the lowest it has been in at least 30 years. Population losses have stabilized in the last 5 years, and most of the neighborhoods are experiencing a level of restoration/renovation never seen before. Home prices are still relatively low, but in popular city neighborhoods prices have doubled in the last 5 years with high demand.
In the Metro area, crime is below the national average with Amherst among the top 1 or 2 safest places in the US. In the City itself, its violent crime rate has dropped (it was in the worst 10 cities a few years ago) but is still above the national average at around 22nd worst of the top 100 cities, between Houston and Philadelphia (or about half the rate of St. Louis or Baltimore).
In relative terms, the city is doing much better than most of its Rust Belt counterparts, but still lags nationally. There are still bleak parts of the city, but a large part of it has become brighter and more dynamic in just the past few years.
I tried to capture some of this in the other photo threads.