When the time comes to talk about the most dangerous cities in the United States, it seems someone is always quick to try to assign blame. It’s the unemployment rate. It’s the Republicans. It’s the Democrats. It’s about money. It’s about population. The truth is, when talking about crime, there is rarely an easy answer. There is rarely one factor the blame can be pinned on. For that reason, I didn’t just include the violent crime rate for every city on this list. I also included the median income for households in that city. I included whether or not the city’s state went red (voted Republican) or blue (voted democrat) in the last election. I also included the unemployment rate for each city. I did this to illustrate a point. There really isn’t a common thread running through all of these cities. Although there are a few with high unemployment rates, most of them didn’t even crack the top ten for cities with the highest unemployment rates in the US. They’re not all Republican leaning cities. They’re not all Democrat leaning cities. Crime can happen anywhere and it can get out of control anywhere. Let’s talk a little bit more about that before we dive in.
This list was compiled based on information from a recently released report on violent crime from the FBI. Violent crime, according to the FBI, includes: murder, voluntary manslaughter (referred to as non-negligent manslaughter by the FBI), forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Violent crime does not include robbery in which violence was not used, involuntary manslaughter (one person killed another person but there was no intent to kill, usually involves negligence in some way) or statutory rape and other sex crimes that did not involve the use of violence. That means that the violent crime numbers on this list were all purposeful acts of violence against another person. The violent crime rate listed comes via the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports database and are calculated per 100,000 people. Only cities with a population greater than 100,000 were considered for this list. It’s important to point out that in many of the cities, particularly Detroit and Philadelphia, where gang violence is a huge problem, these violent crimes are often not random acts of violence but are instead acts of violence between known individuals although innocent lives are sometimes lost in crossfire. In any event, it’s certainly interesting to look at the most dangerous cities in the US, especially when you have all the basic facts close at hand.
25: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Red or Blue State: Red State
Population: 230, 139
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 066
Median Income: $30, 368
Unemployment Rate: 5.4%
24: Orlando, Florida
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 238, 300
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 073
Median Income: $39, 881
Unemployment Rate: 7.6%
23: Springfield, Illinois
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 117, 076
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 096
Median Income: $39, 388
Unemployment Rate: 7.2%
22: Indianapolis, Indiana
Red or Blue State: Red State
Population: 827, 609
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 101
Median Income: $40, 154
Unemployment Rate: 8.0%
21: Washington, D.C.
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 617, 996
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 130
Median Income: $63, 124
Unemployment Rate: 5.2%
20: Newark, New Jersey
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 277, 540
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 166
Median Income: $35, 659
Unemployment Rate: 8.5%
19: Nashville, Tennessee
Red or Blue State: Red State
Population: 609, 644
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 181
Median Income: $46, 280
Unemployment Rate: 6.1%
18: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 1, 536, 471
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 193
Median Income: $34, 207
Unemployment Rate: 8.4
17: Miami, Florida
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 408, 750
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 198
Median Income: $45, 407
Unemployment Rate: 8.1%
16: Kansas City, Missouri
Red or Blue State: Red State
Population: 146, 453
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 200
Median Income: $53, 376
Unemployment Rate: 6.4%
15: Buffalo, New York
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 261, 025
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 238
Median Income: $24, 536
Unemployment Rate: 8.6%
14: Hartford, Connecticut
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 124, 867
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 311
Median Income: $20, 820
Unemployment Rate: 7.8%
13: New Haven, Connecticut
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 129, 585
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 344
Median Income: $29, 604
Unemployment Rate: 8.1%
12: Cleveland, Ohio
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 393, 806
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 366
Median Income: $25, 928
Unemployment Rate: 6.5%
11: Rockford, Illinois
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 152, 222
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 373
Median Income: $55, 667
Unemployment Rate: 11.2%
10: Stockton, California
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 29, 357
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 408
Median Income: $35, 453
Unemployment Rate: 14.2%
09: Baltimore, Maryland
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 619, 493
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 417
Median Income: $38, 271
Unemployment Rate: 7.0%
08: Atlanta, Georgia
Red or Blue State: Red State
Population: 432, 427
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 433
Median Income: $45, 171
Unemployment Rate: 8.4%
07: Birmingham, Alabama
Red or Blue State: Red State
Population: 212, 413
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 483
Median Income: $26, 735
Unemployment Rate: 5.8%
06: Little Rock, Arkansas
Red or Blue State: Red State
Population: 195, 314
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 490
Median Income: $37, 572
Unemployment Rate: 6.3%
05: Memphis, Tennessee
Red or Blue State: Red State
Population: 652, 050
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 584
Median Income: $34, 960
Unemployment Rate: 8.6%
04: Oakland, California
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 395, 817
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 683
Median Income: $48, 596
Unemployment Rate: 7.3%
03: St. Louis, Missouri
Red or Blue State: Red State
Population: 318, 069
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 1, 857
Median Income: $51, 164
Unemployment Rate: 7.0%
02: Detroit, Michigan
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 706, 585
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 2, 137
Median Income: $25, 787
Unemployment Rate: 10.2%
01: Flint, Michigan
Red or Blue State: Blue State
Population: 101, 558
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 2, 337
Median Income: $28, 015
Unemployment Rate: 9.1%
