From the Police1 Editors:
Understanding crime trends in the United States is critical for law enforcement professionals, policymakers, and community leaders striving to create safer communities. Crime statistics can provide a broader, data-informed view of the state of those communities. This article, which originally focused on the most dangerous cities in the U.S. in 2016, has been updated with the latest crime data from 2023 and 2024.
It also reflects the revised way that the FBI reports their findings, having moved from their previous UCR compilations through 2019 (found here) to their Crime Data Explorer (found here) .
Crime in the US in 2024
In September 2024, the FBI released their Q2 Quarterly Uniform Crime Report. According to the report, their methodology compared “data from agencies that voluntarily submitted at least three or more common months of data for January through June 2023 and 2024.” The findings show:
- reported violent crime decreased by 10.3%
- murder decreased by 22.7%
- rape decreased by 17.7%
- robbery decreased by 13.6%
- aggravated assault decreased by 8.1%
- reported property crime also decreased by 13.1%.
Crime in the US in 2023
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer also analyzed all of 2023. Overall, according to the report, national violent crime decreased an estimated 3% in 2023 compared to estimates for 2022. Property crime also saw an overall decrease (2.4%) in 2023 versus 2022.
There was also an increase of over 700 agencies contributing data to the 2023 Crime in the Nation report, ensuring the analysis was a comprehensive view across departments and agencies.
U.S. violent crime trends (January 2023 to December 2023)
- murder decreased by 11.6%
- rape decreased by 9.4%
- robbery decreased by 0.3%
- aggravated assault decreased by 2.8%
According to the report: “An estimated 1,218,467 violent crime offenses were committed in 2023, indicating a rate of 363.8 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants, down from the 2022 offense rate of 377.1 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants.”
U.S. property crime trends (January 2023 to December 2023)
- major vehicle theft increased by 12.6%
- burglary decreased by 7.6%
- larceny decreased by 4.4%
Original article below:
By Megan Wells, Police1 Contributor
Each year, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program releases crime rates in the United States.
One of the datasets the FBI releases observes crime rates in U.S. cities with populations over 100,000. The data addresses violent crimes and property crimes, independently. Violent crimes include murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson, or instances where there is no force or threat of force against the victims.
We’ve taken the 2016 dataset and solved for the crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants, for each type of crime. According to the data collected, here are the most dangerous cities in America, with populations over 100,000 for both property and violent crimes.
Data source: FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program
Top 10 most dangerous cities in the U.S., by violent crimes:
1. St. Louis, Missouri
- Population: 317,095
- Total violent crime: 2,781
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 877.02
2. Memphis, Tennessee
- Population: 657,936
- Total violent crime: 5,733
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 871.36
3. Rockford, Illinois
- Population: 148,178
- Total violent crime: 1,238
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 835.48
4. Baltimore, Maryland
- Population: 621,252
- Total violent crime: 5,176
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 833.16
5. Detroit, Michigan
- Population: 673,225
- Total violent crime: 5,409
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 803.45
6. Kansas City, Missouri
- Population: 473,373
- Total violent crime: 3,668
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 774.86
7. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Population: 600,400
- Total violent crime: 4,427
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 737.34
8. Little Rock, Arkansas
- Population: 198,647
- Total violent crime: 1,415
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 712.32
9. Stockton, California
- Population: 304,890
- Total violent crime: 2,158
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 707.80
10. Oakland, California
- Population: 419,481
- Total violent crime: 2,952
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 703.73
Top 10 most dangerous cities in the U.S., by property crimes:
1. Springfield, Missouri
- Population: 166,860
- Total property crime: 6,283
- Property crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 3,765.43
2. Spokane, Washington
- Population: 212,698
- Total property crime: 8,000
- Property crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 3,761.20
3. Tacoma, Washington
- Population: 206,884
- Total property crime: 6,795
- Property crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 3,284.45
4. Little Rock, Arkansas
- Population: 198,647
- Total property crime: 6,476
- Property crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 3,260.05
5. Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Population: 559,721
- Total property crime: 17,888
- Property crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 3,195.88
6. Pueblo, Colorado
- Population: 108,810
- Total property crime: 3,439
- Property crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 3,160.56
7. Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Population: 178,598
- Total property crime: 5,366
- Property crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 3,004.51
8. Tucson, Arizona
- Population: 529,675
- Total property crime: 15,773
- Property crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 2,977.86
9. Renton, Washington
- Population: 100,015
- Total property crime: 2,921
- Property crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 2,920.56
10. Kent, Washington
- Population: 127,259
- Total property crime: 3,669
- Property crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants: 2,883.10
Click to access the full data set, which includes 264 cities.
This article, originally published on February 02, 2017, has been updated with new information and a related video.
