I live in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. Not a suburb, the actual city. I go to school at Wayne State and live just off the campus (so it is technically midtown) and have for about three years. Detroit's bark is worse than its bite - we have such an awful stigma but really it's not any less safe than any other big city. I've lived down here for three years and have never been mugged, attacked, had my apartment burglarized, or had my car broken into (although my boyfriend's was - but he left valuables showing, and that's just a no-no in any city). Nothing. You just have to be smart, and the precautions I take here are the same I'd take in any city: don't walk alone at night, stick to the main roads, walk in well-lit and densely populated areas, don't leave your iPod on your car seat, etc etc.
I grew up in Farmington Hills (a suburb of Detroit) and lots of people are *gasp* "do you really feel SAFE living down...there?" Like I'm living in some third world country. Please.