As with everything else, there are exceptions to the rule, but I can certainly attest to this as far as my city is concerned. East Knoxville definitely has our most prominent (and infamous) ghettos, but even so, the further out into East Knoxville you go, there's . . . really not much out there - even further out is mostly a lot of open country and farm land. South Knoxville's not much better either, it's almost like the neglected middle child of the city; the Tennessee River slices right through town, so once you cross the river into South Knoxville, it's almost like a whole other world: very desolate with a lot of older, rundown neighborhoods (not ghettos, mind you). North Knoxville is almost Mayberry-esque: small town communities with lots of residential suburbs and such. West Knoxville is where all the action is going, lots of retail and big businesses out there, and even the residential neighborhoods are upscale and swanky.