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Best advice I can give you is to visit the place/area during the day and later at night. Should give you a good idea of the area will be like. Also make sure the street isn't a cut through and is well lit, that can be annoying if you have on street parking.

You can also call the Worcester PD non emergent number and ask them. There are also resources online that will show you police reports / crimes for that street and area.

Keep in mind this is a city, so you'll always want to have your head on a swivel no matter what. But as cities go Worcester is far from the worst. (I use to live in Springfield).

Depending on which end you’re on, it can be a bit sketchy. But people live there, people raise kids there, you’ll be fine.

I don't think there's any area on Houghton Street that is outright dangerous. However, there is a definite distinction between the side toward Heywood Street, which is much more characterized by single-family homes and the side toward Grafton Street, which is much more densely-populated.

I assume you'll be towards the Grafton Street end, since you're renting an apartment. That section tends to be lower income, which often means social problems, and there is public housing on Addison Street, right off of Houghton. This is a turnoff for some people, but, honestly, I've walked around the area at all times and never ran into any problems with anyone. The bigger issue I'd worry about is your building: make sure the apartment is a decent apartment, no pests, etc.

ETA: I hope you have a car, because if you are going to one of the universities, the commute would be pretty bad by Worcester public transit. It's free, but you would take a long time to get to Clark or WPI from Houghton Street if you're relying on bus. If you're not driving, you should consider somewhere closer to the school.

Houghton St is fine, day or night.

Agreed. It's not the west side or burncoat or anything but it's fine. Better than many parts of Main South.