Special report
11/12/2021 1:00 p.m.
The U.S. violent crime rate – an annual, population-adjusted measure of rape, robbery, assault, and homicide – rose 5% in 2020. The increase was driven by a surge in grievous bodily harm, and most importantly, a historic 29% increase in homicides, which made 2020 the deadliest year in the United States since then the middle-1990s.
Despite the largest ever recorded increase in homicides in a year, the overall rate of violent crime in 2020 remains relatively low by historical standards. In 2020, 1.3 million violent crimes were reported in the United States, or 399 for every 100,000 people. For the context, the violent crime rate was between 523 and 758 incidents per 100,000 in the 1990s.
Of course, crime is a local phenomenon that is influenced by a wide variety of factors at the community and even household levels. As a result, violent crime rates in the United States can vary significantly from place to place – and in some cities, violence rates far exceed the national highs seen in decades.
Using data from the FBI’s 2020 Uniform Crime Report, 24/7 Wall St. identified the 50 most dangerous cities in the United States. The cities are ranked according to the violent crime rate – more precisely according to the number of violent crimes reported per 100,000 inhabitants. Only cities with a population of 25,000 or more were taken into account.
The explanations for the high violence in these places are varied and complex. Major current events that have impacted the entire country – such as the COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest driven by thisThe murder of George Floyd – likely played a role in some places. Other factors, such as the lack of economic opportunity, are endemic.
Low-income communities in the United States are disproportionately affected by crime. A source of studyd that indivIndividuals with family incomes less than $ 15,000 per year are three times more likely to be victims of crime than those with family incomes of $ 75,000 or more. In almost every city on this list, the proportion of residents living on an income at poverty level exceeds the national poverty rate of 13.4%. Here’s a look at the city most affected by extreme poverty in each state.
Click here to see America’s Most Dangerous Cities
To determine the 50 most dangerous U.S. cities, Wall St. 24/7 checked the violent crime figures from the FBI’s 2020 Uniform Crime Report. Violent crimes include murder, non-negligent homicide, rape, robbery, and grievous bodily harm. The violent crime rate per 100,000 population was calculated using population data from the FBI.
We included cities with populations greater than 25,000, based on five-year estimates from the US Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey. Limited data was available in the UCR 2020 for areas in Alabama, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, although cities in those states were not excluded from the analysis.
Further information on the number of murders is also available from the FBI UCR 2020. The poverty rates are five-year estimates from the ACS 2019.
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