Helpful Hint: Spotcrime New York

When I was apartment hunting, I spent a lot of time fretting over which areas were "good" or "bad," and since everyone I asked had differing opinions on what good and bad meant, I ended up visiting prospective neighborhoods at night and hoping for the best.

(What I eventually found was any area with an average rent within a few hundred bucks of what I was able to spend were well within my comfort zone. And this isn't very surprising, since I'd imagine anyone in any socioeconomic situation would feel about the same.)

However, toward the end of my apartment hunt, I found Spotcrime.com's New York section, which mashes up with Google Maps to list the crimes reported in an area. Just enter your zip code, and away you go. The site pulls its data from a number of blotters, one of which is Twitter-based, so take that for what it's worth. It's probably not the most accurate, but it's a good tool to have in your relocation utility belt.

For instance, in my neighborhood there's been a rash of muggings, probably because more yuppies and hipsters are heading eastward into Bushwick and are making for soft targets. This is why I walk around with a samurai sword at night.