The 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in America.. Did your hood make the list...

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What's it like to live and work in the most dangerous neighborhood in America? Theodore Parker can tell you.

He's the pastor at St. Cecilia's Rectory, a church of about 350 parishioners in northwest Detroit. The rectory is just down the street from the area that NeighborhoodScout has named the country's most dangerous. People there have a one in seven chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime this year. It doesn't get much worse than that in this country.

"It feels neglected," Parker said in an interview with MSN moneyNOW. "I would say it feels sort of nervous, if a neighborhood can feel nervous."

Parker said he still finds it unnerving when gunshots ring through the street, and he doesn't know whether to get on the floor or hide behind a desk. Parishioners have gotten robbed while riding the bus to church. Years ago, someone stole all the brass knobs on the church's doors.

Buildings in the neighborhood are empty, often ransacked. Some city streetlights don't turn on at night, and when he goes out, Parker drives through stretches of dark, empty blocks.

NeighborhoodScout, a real-estate neighborhood search website, combed through mountains of FBI data to develop its list of the 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in America. Most of the cities shared similar characteristics: high poverty rates, high vacancy rates and a large percentage of households run by single mothers.

The neighborhood south of St. Cecilia's has nearly a 36% vacancy rate. Just 0.9% of its adult residents graduated from college. Some 43% of the children live below the federal poverty level.

Parker has quick answers when asked what could improve his neighborhood. A decent grocery store, for starters -- the city is a "food desert," he adds. A positive city government would help, one that wouldn't have closed the library down the street last fall. Finally, he asked for something most of America takes for granted: decent housing.

"Housing that was reasonable where people could actually live," he said. "That would be a wonderful asset for the city."

Read on to see the remaining 24 neighborhoods that NeighborhoodScout says are the most dangerous in America.
25) Washington Park (Chicago, IL)
24) Near Northwest Springdale (Tulsa, OK)
23) Downtown (Memphis, TN)
22) Columbus Square (St. Louis, MO)
21) East Broadway & Ingram (West Memphis, AR)
20) North Indianapolis (Indianapolis, IN)
19) East Atherton & South Dort (Flint, MI)
18) North of Waverly Place Historic District (Nashville, TN)
17) Northeast of North Indianapolis (Indianapolis, IN)
16) North Auburn Gresham (Chicago, IL)
15) Dowling & McGowen (Houston, TX)
14) NW of Kishwaukee & 15th (Rockford, IL)
13) North Lawndale (Chicago, IL)
12) Fountain Park (St. Louis, MO)
11) Near Gaston Park (Memphis, TN)
10) Near SE Cathedral District (Saginaw, MI)
09) Joyland and parts of High Point, South Atlanta and Lakewood Heights (Atlanta, GA)
08) Woodside (Greenville, SC)
07) Barton-McFarland (Detroit, MI)
06) Sunnyside (Houston, TX)
05) Washington Heights (Spartanburg, SC)
04) Northeast Auburn Gresham (Chicago, IL)
03) Ravendale and LaSalle College Park (Detroit, MI)
02) Islandview (Detroit, MI)
01) East of Barton-McFarland (Detroit, MI)
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