how violent is chicago?

Violence is pretty bad in poor, black neighborhoods.  The rest of the city has no more violence than any other community.

There are lots of web sites that compare crime rates for different cities, zip codes, and other variables.  The Chicago Police Department maintains statistics by neighborhood, and you can go to their site at https://home.chicagopolice.org/statistics-data/cri...

Like all cities in the US, there are parts with high levels of violent crime among gangs and drug dealers. For other people, who don't hang out with gang members, Chicago is quite safe. I know people who have lived there for years and have never had any trouble. 

Depends on where you are, some neighborhoods are more violent than others.