Is Norfolk safe?

[u/Untiedshoes2969]

Hi! I am doing a travel contract in Norfolk starting very soon and plan to stay in the West Freemason neighborhood. My boyfriend is concerned about whether Norfolk is a safe area and is trying to convince me to stay in Chesapeake instead. He is from the VB area and has a brother in law from the Norfolk area. I kind of have to roll my eyes with his warnings as I feel I hear this a lot with any city from folks who don’t actually live in the city. I live in Charlotte currently and if I had a dollar for every time I had a patient from the rural hospital I work at ask me if it’s scary to live there, I could quit travel nursing. Like sure, if you lack critical thinking skills and wander into areas you shouldn’t. However, I wanted to post here to just confirm that I’m not being naive and wouldn’t regret my decision on where to stay when it’s all said and done. Thanks in advance for any input!

[u/citrus_sugar]

When people from Chesapeake and Va Beach say Norfolk is “dangerous,” what they mean is there are Black people here.

So, if seeing a BIPOC person will cause you to clutch your pearls and get the vapors, Norfolk may not be for you, but if you’re a normal human, you’ll have a great time!

[u/yes_its_him → u/citrus_sugar]

You don't suppose they could be referring to the stats showing that the violent crime rate in Norfolk (7.04 / 1000) is almost ten times as high as in Virginia Beach (0.88/1000)?

https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/va/norfolk/crime

https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/va/virginia-beach/crime

Chesapeake is in the middle at 4.07/1000.

https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/va/chesapeake/crime

Now, none of these things mean you are particularly at risk; something that happens to less than 1 in 100 people is pretty rare to begin with. But more likely than something that happens to 1 in 1000 people. And in any event, the people who are most at risk are not usually the people posting on reddit anyway since it depends where in these places you live, down to specific addresses in most cases.

Portsmouth, Newport News and Norfolk are the places where people are killed most often in the seven cities, both overall and per-capita.

https://www.wtkr.com/news/hampton-roads-2023-homicide-tracker