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"I‘m from Germany and planning to study in the United States next year and I‘ve somehow always been interested in geographic and cultural insides of the USA," redditor u/jhffmn21, the author of the popular r/AskReddit thread, shared with Bored Panda.
"Here in Germany, we have like 4-5 big cities and I guess almost every citizen has been to at least 3 of them," they said. "The thought that there are so many huge cities in the USA and so many Americans have never seen most of them is absolutely crazy to me."
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According to the author of the thread, the idea of the vastness of the United States made them want to see what other people's opinons were. They "wanted to get insides and information about the urban life in the US."
For a moment, the OP considered asking a different variation of the question on r/AskReddit. However, they changed their mind when they considered what would appeal to more readers.
"I guess the question, 'What’s the best big city and why?' wouldn’t have gone viral because it’s not that controversial and emotional as the opposite one," they told us.
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"I was very happy to see that so many people replied and this brought me to watch videos from Nick Johnson on YouTube, for example, about the worst American ghettos. These replies also helped me in terms of finding a perfect university and knowing which cities I probably shouldn’t visit."
As for what their ideal city might look like, here's what u/jhffmn21 had to say: "In my opinion, a great city should be safe (for the most part), have lots of bars and restaurants, a good nightlife, sights, diversity and a solid economy with enough jobs for their inhabitants. I‘m really looking forward to coming to the States and hopefully see as many big cities as possible."
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Very recently, Bored Panda wrote about the red flags that indicate a bad neighborhood. Some of them include dirty roads, old cars, run-down infrastructure, a very noticeable homeless population, as well as lots of check-cashing stores.
Meanwhile, good neighborhoods tend to have clean streets and well-manicured lawns, good schools, high-end stores, and a general sense of beauty in terms of architecture.
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At the time of writing, the OP’s thread on r/AskReddit had 28.3k upvotes. Their question really got American redditors thinking. And though there are plenty of wonderful places to live in the US, it doesn’t mean that crime is non-existent. Some parts of the country are very dangerous. Forbes notes that crime is getting worse in the US. Homicides increased by 7% in 2021. Meanwhile, gun violence is on the rise, with deadly shootings 80% more common in large cities.
Earlier in 2022, Forbes published a list of the most dangerous cities in the United States, in terms of the cost of crime, based on MoneyGeek’s research. Here’s the top 10:
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Jackson, Mississippi
- Detroit, Michigan
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Kansas City, Missouri
- Shreveport, Louisiana
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However, it really isn’t all doom and gloom. According to Forbes, here are the 20 safest cities to live in:
20 Safest Cities in the US (with a population over 100,000)
- Naperville, Illinois
- Cary, North Carolina
- Murrieta, California
- Carmel, Indiana
- Frisco, Texas
- Amherst Town, New York
- Cape Coral, Florida
- Irvine, California
- Thousand Oaks, California
- McKinney, Texas
- Allen, Texas
- Lee’s Summit, Missouri
- Coral Springs, Florida
- Bend, Oregon
- Woodbridge Township, New Jersey
- Temecula, California
- Santa Clarita, California
- Daly City, California
- Meridian, Idaho
- Centennial, Colorado
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