fact is, violent crime is way down since the 1990s. Not saying current levels are acceptable, but it sure isn't as bad as it is perceived.
An entire order of magnitude makes one stop and think.
If I offered you a drive in two different cars, and one was an order of magnitude more likely to burst into flames - which one would you choose?
I live in Oakland, CA. A very dangerous place according to statistics. In reality, much of the crime here is in the "bad" parts of town, which I rarely travel to/through. I said "much". There are occasional murders outside the bad parts. They're rare, though.
Even people that live outside of Oakland but fairly close (Concord, 40 minutes by car) have this idea that gunslingers run amok in Oakland and it's incredibly unsafe. That is, until they actually come here a lot (for work, say).
I walk about 1 hour per day in Oakland (that's my commute from home to work). I've been doing this for 13 years. I've never seen one act of violence.
So, statistics can be misleading.
"Safe enough vs incredibly safe" isn't as interesting a comparison as we tend to make it out to be.
(But still, there are lots of U.S. areas where I would prefer not to live...)