r/Lehigh • u/macaronnie17 • Aug 15 '26
Lehigh Surrounding area (south bethlehem)
hi! i’m attending lehigh university in the fall as a freshman, and i’ve seen a few posts here as well as heard from others that the area around campus/south Bethlehem is considered a “rough” area? i don’t notice that when i was visiting, granted i stayed by the historic street for most of my time, but since my dorm is off campus (abt a 10 minute walk) i wanted to get an honest opinion on the area around it? (im from oakland, and it gets a pretty bad rep as well, so if i could get a scale from like oakland to martha’s vineyard or something i’d appreciate it 😭)
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u/Ragingponage69 Aug 15 '26
The crime rate is relatively low, especially compared to Oakland, there’s just a lot of drug addiction and poverty
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u/Python219 Aug 16 '26
South Bethlehem is a poorer area but I've never felt unsafe. I would always recommend buddy system if you're going far off campus but that is just a general rule of thumb. There are some good restaurants scattered around and my friend group has done late night Insomnia runs pretty frequently with no issues.
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u/alwaysalecbenjamin Aug 15 '26
what dorm are you in to be 10 min off campus? all first year dorms are 5 min walks from center of campus
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u/macaronnie17 Aug 15 '26
brodhead! i think it’s the first year they’re letting freshman in
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u/Morpheus202405 Aug 16 '26
That's only a street across! When I was a student, it took 3-5 min to walk to classes.
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u/ManySubreddits Aug 18 '26
If you’re from Oakland I think Bethlehem will be a cakewalk honestly. It’s very safe, just mostly poor Latino folks like so many post-industrial towns in that region. Honestly I think these Lily-white kids come to Lehigh with their Mercedes Benzes and they’ve never seen a satellite tv dish or a Carmel colored person and they **** their pants.
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u/Emotional_Brick6097 Aug 18 '26
Definitely safe, im a female student and often walk alone at night just fine
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u/Friendly_Sun_9037 Aug 15 '26
It’s really not “rough”. I just graduated and never had an issue walking to places in South Bethlehem in the evening/night time. My friends and I often walked to Hocaa or sizzling bites at night to grab dinner. Lots of Lehigh students are always grabbing food or going to Molly’s over the weekend so you won’t be alone in the streets. Of course, for any location, exercise common sense and precaution. I am guessing you meant Broadhead by off-campus dorm as freshmen but it is not really off-campus. You are in a very convenient location (right next to one of the main bus stops, food places, farmer’s market, library, academic buildings and also CVS and other actual off-campus stores). It is actually one of the better dorm locations as you will be connected to both the campus and outside. If you need to get to mountaintop/goodman or any other academic buildings, it is very convenient to just take the bus. The buses run on the same schedule so weather you live in broadhead or the quad, you will get to mountaintop/goodman at the same time (will just have to get to the bus station 3-4 min earlier). Don’t stress much about it, the crime rate around Lehigh is very low and Lehigh police does a very good job of patrolling. You will be absolutely fine as long as you don’t do something stupid. Enjoy your last few days before school and have an awesome freshman year!