Work takes me into various areas and neighborhoods, from the ruff-n-tuff to the gated. There are some easily spotted commonalities that seem to be universal.
Good neighborhoods will be kept generally "neat" i.e. lawns cut, no junk sitting around, etc. Vehicles in the driveways will be in good conditions. On nice days people will be out running for exercise or walking a dog.
Bad neighborhoods are the opposite. Properties are generally unkept. Broken/damaged vehicles will be dominate. People will not be outside in the morning time, but will stagger out around lunch or later, and sit around (not exercising). Another dead giveaway, you can smell the weed smoke floating through the neighborhood. The really bad neighborhoods will have dirty looking hookers walking around and obvious dealers watching everybody.
Basically I think it comes down to if the people have pride or not, and the morals/character that comes with it.
So: nice cars, people exercising, no junk sitting around, manicured lawns, and clean hookers. I can get behind that.