City Statistics Reveal Good and Bad

Are things really getting as bad in west and central Anaheim as some critics say, or are a few angry people making things sound worse than they actually are?

While it’s tough to say precisely because many of the latest citywide statistics are not broken down by neighborhoods, there is evidence that supports both sides.

According to the state Justice Department, Anaheim had the third worst crime rate in 1992 among Orange County’s seven largest cities in the number of major crimes per 1,000 people. Only Santa Ana and Garden Grove did worse than Anaheim’s rate of 24.3 major crimes per 1,000 residents. But, according to those same statistics, major crime in Anaheim was down 5% compared to 1991.

Today, there are about 18,800 businesses in Anaheim, according to city records, the same as there were a year ago.

The median home price in west and central Anaheim is down about 10% from a year ago, compared to a 1% drop countywide, according to Dataquick Information Services, which provides real estate statistics to The Times. The median home price in the area in July was about $170,000.