Cities were compared using crime rates per 100,000 residents, a standard analytical practice, in order to objectively and fairly compare places of different sizes.
Using the FBI report, they obtained the number of crimes committed in each place across seven categories in 2012:
- Murders
- Rapes
- Robberies
- Assaults
- Burglaries
- Thefts
- Vehicle Thefts
We used these numbers to rank each place in four main criteria per 100,000 residents: murders, violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery, assault), property crimes (burglary, theft, vehicle theft), and total crimes.
No matter where you go, there’s going to be crime—from the big cities, to the small towns, to everything in-between. It’s the latter were going to be taking a look at in our latest crime ranking, which is a follow-up to a post here on the Movoto Real Estate Blog since January of this year.
In that ranking, we highlighted the safest mid-sized cities in the country. This one is the other, tarnished side of that coin: the most dangerous mid-sized cities in America. If you read the aforementioned post, the number one place in our top 10 will come as no surprise. It was Little Rock, AR, and it was joined by nine other high-crime cities across the nation:
1. Little Rock, AR
Image: aizi-home
Little Rock ranked second overall in terms of total crime, with 9,378 crimes per 100,000 in 2012. The chance of being a victim of one of those crimes stood at 1 in 21. The city’s rank for property crime was only slightly better at third, with 8,062 per 100,000 (1 in 24 odds) during the same period.
It was also ranked third for murder, with 23 per 100,000 and odds of 1 in 8,524. For violent crime, Little Rock placed fifth overall. There were 1,316 violent crimes per 100,000 people there in 2012, which translated to a 1 in 149 chance of being the victim of one.
2. Flint, MI
Image: places.findthehome
Flint’s ranking for total crime was slightly better at fourth overall with 8,284 per 100,000 or 1 in 12 odds. What kept this city from placing higher was its property crime rank, which stood at 18th overall with 5,555 non-violent crimes per 100,000.
3. Jackson, MS
Image: downtown-jackson
Mississippi’s capital has a bit of a split personality when it comes to violent crime. On the one hand, it ranked 20th overall for violent crimes per 100,000 with 948; far from great, but at least not in the top 10. On the other hand, Jackson ranked second for murders per 100,000 with 36 during the same period. The odds of homicide were 1 in 4,887.
For property crime, this city ranked seventh overall, with 6,575 per 100,000 or 1 in 27 odds. In terms of total crimes, it stood at seventh, with its 7,523 crimes per 100,000 translating to a 1 in 23 chance of falling victim to one in 2012.
4. Dayton, OH
Image: robinfeld.photoshelter
Total crime stood at 12th with 6,874 per 100,000 (1 in 21 odds), while property crime and violent crime ranked 13th and 16th, respectively. There were 5,900 property crimes and 974 violent crimes per 100,000 in 2012. Compare this to Akron, OH, which was the 15th most dangerous place in our ranking and 887 property crimes per 100,00 during the same period.
5. Springfield, MO
Image: brscpa
For 2012, Springfield saw a staggering 10,003 crimes per 100,000 residents, with 1 in 21 odds of being the victim of one. It also ranked first for property crimes, with 9,011 per 100,000 during the same period. Springfield placed fifth overall mainly because it ranked 32nd for murder, with 10 per 100,000 or a 1 in 21,216 chance. That silver lining was tempered some by a 15th place rank for violent crime, based on 992 per 100,000.
6. Knoxville, TN
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For the former, it ranked sixth, with 7,649 per 100,000 and 1 in 24 odds. For the latter, it was fifth, having seen 6,676 property crimes per 100,000. Violent crimes in Knoxville were fortunately not as prevalent, with 973 per 100,000 residents in 2012, a figure that earned the city a 17th place rank for that criterion.
7. New Haven, CT
Image: d-forensics
It may have “haven” in its name, but New Haven isn’t a safe harbor from crime, especially the violent kind. Based on the FBI’s data for 2012, this city of nearly 130,000 ranked second out of those we looked at for violent crime, with 1,439 per 100,000 residents. That’s 1 in 214 odds of being the victim of one.
Proportionally, murders here were low, placing New Haven at 16th for that criterion with 13 homicides per 100,000 and tying it with the next spot on our top 10 in that regard. The city also placed 16th in terms of total crime, reporting 6,455 per 100,000 in 2012, an odds of 1 in 20. Property crime wasn’t nearly as big a factor as violent crime, as the 5,016 of the former per 100,000 placed New Haven at 33rd for non-violent offenses.
8. Lawton, OK
Image: pinterest
As for its other crime rates, Lawton thankfully fared better. It was 22nd for total crime, with 6,203 per 100,000 and a 1 in 16 chance of crime. For violent crime, it ranked 23rd, having witnessed 931 during 2012. Finally, it ranked 26th overall for property crime with 5,272 per 100,000 people.
9. Richmond, CA
Image: photography.tutsplus
Richmond ranked worst for violent crime, where it was eighth overall with 1,093 per 100,000 residents in 2012, or 1 in 214 odds of being a victim of this type of crime. Murder played a large factor in that number, however, with the city’s 17 homicides per 100,000 placing it at 10th overall for that criterion, a spot it shares with Dayon and the next place you’ll read about.
10. West Palm Beach, FL
Image: wikimedia
West Palm Beach ranked 25th for both total crime and property crime, with 6,079 and 5,277 per 100,000, respectively. The overall chance of being a victim of crime there in 2012 was 1 in 17. Finally, this city ranked 30th for violent crime, with 802 per 100,000.
USA Records Organization_USKINGS are still collecting more information from many sources and it is our pleasure listening to everybody's comments to have a full evaluation of the USA Around You: “The 10 Most Dangerous Mid-Sized Cities In the US“
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