Most Dangerous Neighborhoods: See Where Bucktown, Wicker Park Rank

Murders and gang activity may have graced headlines in Chicago more often in 2012, but what areas of Chicago are the most dangerous?

Patch broke down all 77 Chicago communities to see where the most and least amount of reported criminal activity happened in the last year. Everything from murders to thefts were tallied in the count, and when it comes to how crime-ridden Chicago is, some of the results may surprise you.

With more than 6,700 reported crimes, the Logan Square community – which includes the entire Bucktown neighborhood – ranked as the 18th most crime-ridden. In addiont, West Town – which includes all of the Wicker Park neighborhood – ranked 8th most crime-ridden with more than 9,400 reports.

In total, the Bucktown and Wicker Park neighborhoods account for more than 4,500 of those crimes, with the Wicker Park police beat coming in as the 100th most crime-ridden beat of Chicago's more than 275 beats. 

That’s compared to Chicago’s largest community of Austin directly to the west that had more than 21,400 crimes, taking first place. 

However, when it comes to violent crimes in the last month, another story unfolds. Fuller Park on the South Side took the lead with 4.2 violent crimes for every 1,000 people living there, according to the Chicago Tribune. West Garfield Park directly next to Austin took second with 3.2 violent crimes for every 1,000 residents. In dead last is Mount Greenwood.

While it can't be broken down by neighborhood or police beat, West Town and Logan Square tie for 46th in violent crime out of the 77 communities, with 0.4 crimes per 1,000 residents.

Top Five Most Crime-Ridden Chicago Communities:

1. Austin – 21,411
2. South Shore – 11,394
3. Near North Side – 11,231
4. Humboldt Park – 11,143
5. North Lawndale – 10,146

Top Five Safest Chicago Communities:

77. Edison Park – 311
76. Burnside – 520
75. Forest Glen – 540
74. Mount Greenwood – 709
73. Hegewisch - 727

Neighboring community North Center came in 53rd with nearly 1,850 incidents, Lincoln Park ranked 27 with almost 5,000 crimes and Lake View ranked 15th with more than 7,600 reports.

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