The distinction could be down to the difference between poor and dangerous. Sometimes it's subtle. If you grew up in a poor neighborhood you can fairly accurate

The distinction could be down to the difference between poor and dangerous. Sometimes it's subtle. If you grew up in a poor neighborhood you can fairly accurately evaluate if someone is dangerous or just poor. If you grew up in middle class suburbia it all appears very dangerous. San Francisco has a lot of poor people, i.e. homeless, and a lot of which have either mental health issues or substance abuse issues. That doesn't necessarily make them dangerous, but the more people like that you see on your walk to work, the more it can contribute to someone's general feelings of being unsafe. Vancouvers East Hastings and LAs public transit system (Blue line at night) are both examples of poor people who are (mostly) not dangerous. You could navigate these areas with very little chance of being assaulted but I doubt many would opt for such a route if given other options. There are areas though which are both poor and dangerous, certain parts of Detroit comes to mind