[gigatexal]

Yes. In Portland where I lived we didn’t make enough to live in the nicer parts of town so we lived in the north east near Gresham and crime was a problem out there. Lots of gang violence.

My comment was a bit flippant. But it was something I thought about from time to time. Here not at all.

[channel_t]

As a fellow east Portlander who stayed in Berlin a couple Summers ago and absolutely fell in love with the place, I really appreciate the story and applaud your successful relocation.

[sneak]

Well, for some additional anecdata: I've been mugged/attacked twice as much in Berlin (where I live) than I was in Detroit (where I grew up).

I think perhaps the perception of risk in the US is blown way out of proportion due to the media frenzy around shootings, which are still pretty rare overall in the US. If you consume mass media, you will generally overestimate the risk by several orders of magnitude. (This is, for example, why many Europeans believe the stereotype that the US is so dangerous, when the vast majority of it is actually much safer wrt violent crime than most large cities in Europe.)

If you were afraid there, you should be afraid here. (I personally don't think you should be afraid in either place.)

[gigatexal]

I could hear the sirens and the shots in the backyard of my house. :/ though my perception of their frequency could be biased.

I’m sorry to hear you were mugged and twice, too! That’s crazy. Not crazy that crime happens just that it blows away my thesis that I’m more or less free from having to think about it living here in Berlin.

I did have a fancy road bike I bought in Hamburg stolen. But I think that’s more or less me being stupid.

[Nimitz14]

Ridiculous statement. The homocide rate is so much higher in the US. Hard to believe anything you say.

[sneak]

It's much higher in about five specific counties in the US. The vast majority of the US has less violent crime overall (guns, plus everything else) than most large cities in Europe. For a simple example in Berlin you get pepper sprayed by stick-up kids, whereas in the US mountain west there isn't much mugging at all (due to the fact that a mugger is about 50/50 to get a wallet or a bullet in response).

The mistake is to think of the US as uniform. Most of it is extremely peaceful.

[legulere]

Lowest homicide rate in a US State is 1.5 in Maine, average is 5. Germany has 0.9 on average.

In general poverty (which is more common in the US) leads to violence and other crimes. Bringing weapons into conflicts usually escalated them and leads to worse outcomes.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_terr...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_terr...