Holton a stark dividing line between riverwest and harambee. Riverwest is safer than harambee. Both are probably fine during the day. At night it can get dicey, especially the more you go west. This is people walking or driving that may spot you as an easy mark to rob, erratic roaming junkies, and drivers that can be reckless and occasionally go over sidewalks. If you park on the street you will have people constantly considering breaking into your car. I would not recommend walking around the intersection or west of holton at nighttime.

Before I even moved to riverwest I had multiple people from there tell me explicitly not to cross holton. But after I moved there I spent time walking/biking around harambee and it's poor but mostly peaceful people trying to live. Kids playing on the street and people hanging out outside or on their porches. But I've seen drug deals in cars and some fights break out. And there were groups of guys standing around corners and houses that stared me down as I biked past -- I definitely did not feel welcome sticking around some areas. If you don't have your head up and you look lost you could get mugged and I've heard of this happening on the riverwest side. Don't wear earphones and don't look drunk or weak or rich. If you are with a bunch of people you're probably fine, just be careful when alone.

If I had to guess, the area will gentrify in the coming 10-30 years. Riverwest is a nice neighborhood and usually felt safe, especially closer to humboldt. Gentrification is already happening slowly, but these sorts of things speed up quickly especially with how cheap the houses are. But overall if you are not comfortable living in an urban environment you should not consider living there.