The middle-class habit of buying homes in the burbs instead of closer to work is perhaps the most obvious and largest-scale avoidance behavior that I can think of

Nowadays that's driven more by schools than by crime, but in any case the context is relevant -- which training for dealing with danger can you offer as an alternative? :-/

I am also not sure it's costly in money -- the market reflects demand and as demand shifts so do prices. If the limited resource that you want is the one everyone wants, it's always going to be expensive.