<p>Another thing to keep in mind is that safety, perceived and actual, varies as one moves west from the lake. The crime rate tends to spike a bit especially when one crosses Woodlawn, although not hugely - bikes tend to disappear everywhere in Hyde Park, and random street crime takes place throughout.</p>
<p>Hyde Park, Kenwood and Woodlawn (the three “official” Chicago neighborhoods with a U. Chicago presence…) are all urban neighborhoods with their share of random crimes. Saying that, serious felonies (assaults, rapes, murders, armed robberies etc.) are mercifully rare, but do occur. And show me a place that is any different. </p>
<p>Just to use an example, I now live in NW DC, in an area widely perceived as upper middle income and safe. Yet we dare not leave anything of value in a car parked on the street lest it be stolen. And two weeks ago, a few blocks away, a couple was murdered in a botched robbery. Stuff happens.</p>
<p>IMHO, if you can’t get comfortable regarding living in a multicultural urban environment, then U. Chicago (and Penn, Columbia and maybe Harvard) are not the schools for you. There are lots of alternative environments where you might feel safer, even though you are probably not safer.</p>