St. Pete and Clearwater

[Donald Crockett]

Looking around on line at various areas of the nation over the last several weeks, it seems that we are likely to find properties that meet our criteria in and around St. Petersburg and Clearwater FL. However the crime rate in St. Pete concerns me for all the obvious reasons like future property values, increased costs, and whether I'll become a statistic while I'm down there doing business to name just a few. 

I think there's parts of the town that I would not consider, and there's also areas that are somewhat up-scale but not in our disred price range. We're looking for C or better neighborhoods. 

 My questions are, is the crime pretty much confined to certain areas and neighborhoods or is it more pervasive? Is it possible to find a good, safe St. Pete neighborhood where rent/value is good? What's the local take on St. Pete? Nice place to live or not? What about Clearwater? The crime rate seems significantly lower there than St. Pete.

[Nick C.]

This is far from all encompassing, but a quick rule of thumb is stay away from anything south of downtown. South St Pete is where the majority of the crime is. 

Clearwater is an odd area, I'd stay away from downtown. 

I would live in St Pete, anywhere along the beach is obviously nice, as is Historic Kenwood and Old Northeast. Also anything towards the bay, Shore Acres, Snell Isle, etc.