Worst suburbs in Chicagoland (Calumet City, Dolton: section 8, rental, homes)

[allen2323]

Originally Posted by Chuckity

Not in any particular order ...

Phoenix
Ford Heights
Harvey
Calumet City
Riverdale
Maywood

That pretty much covers it.

Although maybe not classiffied as actual suburbs but many would consider these places to be in the chicagoland area. I would have to vote Rockford, Gary, Hammond indiana, and East Chicago indiana as the worst places by far, do to there large sizes and overall crappiness. Runners up would be Ford Heights and Robbins, because they both have small populations. Ford heights less than 3,500 residents and Robbins less than 6,500 residents. The other towns that you listed don't even compare to the crappy places that I mentioned.

[oak999]

Originally Posted by allen2323

Although maybe not classiffied as actual suburbs but many would consider these places to be in the chicagoland area. I would have to vote Rockford, Gary, Hammond indiana, and East Chicago indiana as the worst places by far do to there large sizes and overall crappiness. Runners up would be Ford Heights and Robbins, because they both have small populations. Ford heights less than 3,500 residents and Robbins less than 6,500 residents. The other towns listed don't even compare to the crappy places that I mentioned.

I would agree for poor towns. Ford Heights is the worse for the poorest suburb. Oak Forest would be the worst for the middle income (or at least down there).

[Chuckity]

Originally Posted by allen2323

Although maybe not classiffied as actual suburbs but many would consider these places to be in the chicagoland area. I would have to vote Rockford, Gary, Hammond indiana, and East Chicago indiana as the worst places by far, do to there large sizes and overall crappiness. Runners up would be Ford Heights and Robbins, because they both have small populations. Ford heights less than 3,500 residents and Robbins less than 6,500 residents. The other towns that you listed don't even compare to the crappy places that I mentioned.

Well, Rockford has at least 3 Starbucks and Gary has Indiana University & Hammond has Purdue, so I don't think any of those can be on the list.

[mas23]

Originally Posted by urza216

Does Phoenix have a shopping mall or a Starbucks? Nope.

North Chicago is prabobly worse than Calumet City. But then again, all I know about North Chicago is what I've read online.

Ive been to both a couple of times. IMO N. Chicago was a little worse.

[mas23]

Originally Posted by allen2323

Although maybe not classiffied as actual suburbs but many would consider these places to be in the chicagoland area. I would have to vote Rockford, Gary, Hammond indiana, and East Chicago indiana as the worst places by far, do to there large sizes and overall crappiness. Runners up would be Ford Heights and Robbins, because they both have small populations. Ford heights less than 3,500 residents and Robbins less than 6,500 residents. The other towns that you listed don't even compare to the crappy places that I mentioned.

NW indiana is usually considered the suburbs but not rockford...

[urza216]

I would be less afraid to walk the late night streets of Hammond than Harvey. Some parts of Hammond are pretty clean, believe it or not.

[allen2323]

Originally Posted by Chuckity

Well, Rockford has at least 3 Starbucks and Gary has Indiana University & Hammond has Purdue, so I don't think any of those can be on the list.

That doesn't mean anything. The public high schools in all of the areas that I mentioned have graduation rates around or below 50 percent. Gary consistantly has more than 50 murders per year and is by far the poorest large area outside of chicago with a median household income of $25,458 . Gary also has a 37.5% poverty rate. East chicago and hammond are one step up from gary. Rockford is the best of the crappy large areas that I named but is still a crappy place. It is a large town with over 150,000 residents, so yes there are some businesses in rockford and it has a middle class part of town. But, it is overall a very crappy large area.

[urza216]

Here's an older 27-page thread with an original post dated July 2008.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/chica...eputation.html

Lots of people seem to think the north and west suburbs can get pretty bad too. Outside of Maywood and North Chicago, I mean.

[Chicagoland60426]

Phoenix is less populated than the high school I went to.lol Phoenix will never have a shopping mall because its too damn small for one thing. North Chicago is probably the worst in Lake County, but that is not saying a whole lot b/c Lake is well off to begin with. Its either 1st or 2nd in terms of wealth among Illinois counties. The southern half of Lake are a cluster or upper middle to upper class suburbs such as Lake Forest, Highland Park, Lake Bluff, and Deerfield. North Chicago crime index is actually below national average. I never been there either, but it doesn't seem that bad on paper.

Harvey is among the most gritty of them and I notice a lot of homeless and change peddlers here. I seen even kids subjected to change peddling. No other suburb or area code where I been hit up for a quarter or dollar on the daily. Harvey reached a high 22% unemployment rate a couple of years ago. Its getting better little by little, though that triple murder 2 weeks ago dampered progress. It was worse some years ago that certain blocks were under 24/7 surveillance and house raids due to a heavy amount of drug activity, gangs, and shootings. Prostitutes were more out about and Cornett Village(Harvey's now mostly vacant housing projects) was really bad.

[css9450]

Originally Posted by lickylicky

Has anyone mentioned Dolton? That place is craptastic.

Its amazing how fast that one went down. Thirty years ago Dolton was pretty nice.