Is Newburgh, New York dangerous?

Yes and no. I used to do Habitat work on what were considered the worst streets in the city, and nobody ever bothered me, even when I was walking to my car alone. The streets look rough, but if you smile at people most will smile back. That said, the city does have gangs, and there are certainly streets you don't want to walk down at night. Basic rule of thumb: if you don't go looking for trouble, you won't find it.

Parts of Newburgh are really nice, but it has a gang problem. This article, from about a year ago, is really interesting. http://nymag.com/news/crimelaw/newburgh-2011-10/ I drive through Newburgh quite often and have stopped there for lunch, but didn't know it was this bad.