OVER-THE-RHINE - Two streets in this Cincinnati neighborhood have earned the city the top spot in a national ranking of the 25 most dangerous neighborhoods by a personal finance and consumer Web site.
According to walletpop.com, Central Parkway and Liberty Street in Over-the-Rhine are the center of the worst neighborhood, with a violent crime rate of 266.94 per 1,000 population and 457 predicted annual violent crimes.
There is a 1 in 4 chance in becoming a crime victim in that area in one year's time, the site reports.
Spokesmen for Cincinnati police and Mayor Mark Mallory did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rounding out the top five were Chicago (State St./Garfield Blvd.); Miami (7th Ave./North River Dr.); Jacksonville, Fla. (Beaver St./Broad St.) and Baltimore, (North Ave./Belair Rd.).
The only other Ohio city on the list is Cleveland (Cedar Ave./55th St.).
According to walletpop.com, the ranking was compiled by NeighborhoodsScout.com, which gathers FBI data from 2005, 2006 and 2007 submitted by all 17,000 local law enforcement agencies and came up with the highest predicted rates of violent crime in America.
Recent changes in the neighborhoods may not be reflected in the findings, according to the Web site.
Neighborhoods instead of cities were ranked because cities with the highest crime rates can have relatively safe neighborhoods, so it is less useful to generalize about an entire city, the site states.
The data can be used by homebuyers, developers and insurance and other companies to evaluate neighborhoods.