Memphis’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 Memphis.
And while the city consistently ranks as one of the best places to live in Tennessee thanks in part to tons of entertainment and jobs, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine in Memphis. Some neighborhoods aren’t as safe as others.
So the question arises, which Memphis neighborhoods are the most dangerous and which are the safest?
Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Memphis hoods need a little tender loving care. We examined 13 of Memphis’s neighborhoods to find out the most dangerous places to live.
$37,738 median income
$30,093 median income
$39,603 median income
$30,027 median income
$32,973 median income
$49,911 median income
$40,518 median income
$41,580 median income
$54,588 median income
$60,304 median income
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Tennessee’s statewide median.
Tennessee statewide median: $333,651
Tennessee statewide median: $69,595
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the most dangerous Memphis neighborhoods in 2026
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 Memphis:
- 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 Memphis, Tennessee 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 Memphis.
The article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. We updated this article for 2026. Skip to the end to see the list of all 13 neighborhoods ranked from worst to best.
The full plate
Most dangerous neighborhoods to live in Memphis for 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by neighborhood name.
| Rank | Neighborhood | Population | Home Value | Median Income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parkway Village-Oakhaven | 38,591 | $74,096 | $37,738 |
| 2 | Shelby Forest-Frayser | 34,345 | $63,796 | $30,093 |
| 3 | White Haven-Coro Lake | 87,467 | $78,449 | $39,603 |
| 4 | Downtown | 48,022 | $112,443 | $30,027 |
| 5 | Berclair-Highland Heights | 32,735 | $61,048 | $32,973 |
| 6 | Hickory Ridge-South Riverdale | 66,172 | $105,147 | $49,911 |
| 7 | Midtown | 61,886 | $128,531 | $40,518 |
| 7 | Raleigh | 58,688 | $81,134 | $41,580 |
| 9 | Eads-Fisherville | 3,796 | $154,400 | $54,588 |
| 10 | East Memphis-Colonial-Yorkshire | 104,210 | $147,292 | $60,304 |
| 11 | Windyke-Southwind | 2,234 | $286,500 | $119,571 |
| 12 | Cordova-Appling | 70,645 | $168,247 | $68,405 |
| 13 | River Oaks-Kirby-Balmoral | 44,686 | $184,124 | $82,462 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. All 13 Memphis neighborhoods.
Summary
Summary: The worst neighborhoods around Memphis
Well, there you have it — the worst of the neighborhoods in Memphis with Parkway Village-Oakhaven landing at the bottom of the pack.
The worst neighborhoods in Memphis are Parkway Village-Oakhaven, Shelby Forest-Frayser, White Haven-Coro Lake, Downtown, Berclair-Highland Heights, Hickory Ridge-South Riverdale, Midtown, Raleigh, Eads-Fisherville, and East Memphis-Colonial-Yorkshire.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Memphis aren’t all bad. River Oaks-Kirby-Balmoral takes the cake as the best place to live in Memphis.
We ranked the neighborhoods from worst to best in the chart below. Not sold on Tennessee? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Worst Neighborhoods In Memphis FAQs
What is the most dangerous neighborhood in Memphis?
Parkway Village-Oakhaven ranks as the worst neighborhood in Memphis for 2026, according to Saturday Night Science. Shelby Forest-Frayser and White Haven-Coro Lake are next on the list.
What are the worst neighborhoods in Memphis?
The worst-ranked neighborhoods in Memphis are Parkway Village-Oakhaven, Shelby Forest-Frayser, White Haven-Coro Lake, Downtown, Berclair-Highland Heights, Hickory Ridge-South Riverdale, Midtown, Raleigh, Eads-Fisherville, and East Memphis-Colonial-Yorkshire. We scored all 13 neighborhoods in the city.
Why does Parkway Village-Oakhaven rank as the worst?
Parkway Village-Oakhaven posts the roughest combined numbers in Memphis: a median household income of $37,738 and a median home value of $74,096, with crime, unemployment, and density folded into the score.
Are these neighborhoods dangerous everywhere?
No. The scores are neighborhood-wide averages, and conditions change block by block and hour by hour. Plenty of people live in these neighborhoods without incident; the numbers just say the odds run tougher.
How do you rank the worst neighborhoods?
Each neighborhood is scored on crime, unemployment, income, density, and home values, using Census tract and FBI data. The worst combined score tops the list.
