10 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods In Durham, NC [2023]

Source: Public domain

Durham’s neighborhoods conjure up too many stereotypes to count. You’ve got hipster areas, preppy places, neighborhoods where college kids thrive, and of course, ghettos.

It seems as if there’s a neighborhood for everyone in Durham.

And while the city consistently ranks as one of the best places to live in North Carolina thanks in part to tons of entertainment and jobs, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine in Durham. Some neighborhoods aren’t as safe as others.

So the question arises, which Durham neighborhoods are the most dangerous and which are the safest?

Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Durham hoods need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Durham area if you will. Realistically, you can’t expect all the neighborhoods to be amazing, although Parkside ranks way above the rest.

We examined 41 of Durham’s neighborhoods to find out the most dangerous places to live. These places don’t quite measure up to Durham’s reputation.

The Most Dangerous Neighborhoods In Durham For 2023

Campus Hill
Southeast Durham Joint Community Council
Plum Street
Duke University
Y. E. Smith Community Organization
Duke Forest
Duke Homestead
Northeast Central Durham
Wellons Village
Stadium Heights

So what’s the worst neighborhood to live in Durham for 2023? According to the most recent census data, Campus Hill looks to be the worst neighborhood in Durham.

Read on to see how we determined the places around Durham that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don’t blame the messenger.

For more North Carolina reading, check out:

Table Of Contents: Top 10 | Methodology | Summary | Table

The 10 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods In Durham For 2023

1. Campus Hill

Population: 488

Median Home Value: $113,703 (8th worst)
Median Income: $27,722 (6th worst)

2. Southeast Durham Joint Community Council

Population: 715

Median Home Value: $115,922 (9th worst)
Median Income: $30,008 (11th worst)

3. Plum Street

Population: 262

Median Home Value: $83,749 (4th worst)
Median Income: $23,602 (worst)

4. Duke University

Population: 8,814

Median Home Value: $299,859 (34th worst)
Median Income: $25,247 (3rd worst)

5. Y. E. Smith Community Organization

Population: 2,043

Median Home Value: $81,073 (worst)
Median Income: $32,460 (13th worst)

6. Duke Forest

Population: 2,753

Median Home Value: $245,167 (26th worst)
Median Income: $33,147 (14th worst)

7. Duke Homestead

Population: 1,226

Median Home Value: $132,833 (10th worst)
Median Income: $48,778 (29th worst)

8. Northeast Central Durham

Population: 3,521

Median Home Value: $83,731 (3rd worst)
Median Income: $25,537 (4th worst)

9. Wellons Village

Population: 1,636

Median Home Value: $82,410 (2nd worst)
Median Income: $28,669 (8th worst)

10. Stadium Heights

Population: 1,207

Median Home Value: $209,480 (20th worst)
Median Income: $38,955 (2worst)

Methodology: How we determined the most dangerous Durham neighborhoods in 2023

To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what places have the least amount of those things. We plugged the following criteria into Saturday Night Science to get the worst neighborhoods in Durham:

High crime (Estimated)
High unemployment (Less jobs)
Low median income (Less pay)
Low population density (No things to do)
Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)

Then, we ranked each neighborhood in Durham, North Carolina for each of these criteria from worst to best.

Next, we averaged the individual rankings for each criterion into a “Worst Score.”

The neighborhood with the lowest “Worst Score” ranks as the most dangerous neighborhood of Durham.

The article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. We updated this article for 2023. This report is our time ranking the worst neighborhoods to live in Durham.

Skip to the end to see the list of all 41 neighborhoods ranked from worst to best.

Summary: The Worst Neighborhoods Around Durham

Well, there you have it — the worst of the neighborhoods in Durham with Campus Hill landing at the bottom of the pack.

As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Durham aren’t all bad. Parkside takes the cake as the best place to live in Durham.

We ranked the neighborhoods from worst to best in the chart below.