Aren't you in TX? I've been there a lot and there was plenty of middle ground....
Can confirm. The suburbs at least in Houston fit into the middle ground. They have hood aspects, but most people around there got money. And closer to downtown there's mixed neighborhoods that are more lower mid income and those areas usually have smaller amounts of people that cause trouble. You basically don't want to live within 2-5 miles of a corner store with people posted up outside
Just make sure your child has productive things to do, whether it's sports, gaming, making music (ideal to present them their own recording environment at home), crafting, etc. And teach that nikka some values. Tell him lessons and true stories, but don't try to scare him out of anything. Just thoughtful shyt that might randomly pass through his mind
Music was always my favorite hobby before/after gaming, and I'm glad i had my own booth set-up at the crib. Otherwise I'd have to be out in the field unnecessarily til nikkas dipped out to hit the stu. Didn't need to be in some of the shyt my people was into.