Most Dangerous Cities In The USA

Whether people want to admit it or not, there are still quite a few cities in the United States that continue to struggle with high crime rates.
Therefore, this has left them considered to extremely dangerous for their average citizens at large.

Crime not only harms the direct victims, but the welfare of their communities as a whole, and even that of the perpetrators themselves.

There are many different factors that lead to a city becoming rather dangerous to live or work in.

Some of these are lack of police funding, issues with armed robberies, gang-related violence and a whole lot more.

Although America is getting safer for its citizens, there are still many parts of the country in which crime is a major problem.

Here’s a look into some of the most dangerous cities in the United States:

US Cities the Most Dangerous to Live and Work

At first position on this list is Detroit, with a violent crime rate of 1,988.63 per 100,000 people.

Some of the most prominent crimes in the city are aggravated assault, assault with a deadly weapon, rape, armed robbery, murder and non-negligent manslaughter.

The number of murders and homicides in the city reached their lowest in 47 years as only 298 murders and intentional homicides were reported.

However, in just the first three months of 2015, homicide rates in the city had risen by about 25% as compared to the same period in the last year.

The second most dangerous city in the US is Memphis with about 1,740.51 violent crimes committed per 100,000 people.

Until a few years back, Memphis was the 5th most dangerous city in the United States, after which it came up to the 3rd position in 2014 and then 2nd in 2015.

From what is known, the city had 437 rapes, 124 murders, 7,200 aggravated assaults and 3,133 robberies during the last year.

A major contributing factor to the rise of crimes in the city is a high poverty rate together with increasing unemployment.

On number three in this list is Oakland, CA, with 1,685.39 violent crimes committed per 100,000 people.

Crime rates in the city have decreased as Oakland stood at second position on this list back in 2014. One of the most prominent factors that has contributed to this decrease in crime rate is the creation of new, smaller police districts in the city.

Next in line on this list is St. Louis, MO with 1,678.73 crimes committed per 100,000 people in 2015.

This number is believed to be the lowest of total crimes since 1966 with initiatives like redistricting of police districts, movement from state to local control of the police force and implementation of hotspot policing contributing to this decrease in crimes.

A few other cities that have made it to the list are: 

Milwaukee, WI with a crime rate of 1,338.54,
Cleveland, OH with a crime rate of 1,334.35,
Stockton, CA with its crime rate at a full 1,331.47,
Indianapolis, IN with a crime rate of 1,254.66
Kansas City, KS with a crime rate of 1,251.45 per 100,000 people.

Although crime rates have dropped across the United States for a number of years, crime is still a real and present danger in many US cities.

Hopefully, cities like Detroit and Memphis will find ways to address the underlying causes of crime in their communities, and also more effectively apprehend those who do decide to commit them in order to protect their innocent victims.

US Cities With The Highest Violent Crime Rates

Rank City (over 250,000 people) Violent Crimes Per 100,000 People:

1 Detroit, MI 1,988.63
2 Memphis, TN 1,740.51
3 Oakland, CA 1,685.39
4 St. Louis, MO 1,678.73
5 Milwaukee, WI 1,476.41
6 Baltimore, MD 1,338.54
7 Cleveland, OH 1,334.35
8 Stockton, CA 1,331.47
9 Indianapolis, IN 1,254.66
10 Kansas City, KS 1,251.45
11 Buffalo, NY 1,228.24
12 Atlanta, GA 1,227.43
13 Washington, DC 1,185.32
14 Nashville, TN 1,122.45
15 Toledo, OH 1,091.23
16 Newark, NJ 1,077.71
17 Miami, FL 1,059.96
18 Philadelphia, PA 1,021.45
19 Minneapolis, MN 1,011.96
20 Houston, TX 991.38
21 New Orleans, LA 973.88
22 Cincinnati, OH 905.36
23 Orlando, FL 901.13
24 Chicago, IL 884.29
25 Albuquerque, NM 882.85
26 St. Petersburg, FL 864.93
27 Anchorage, AK 864.57
28 Las Vegas, NV 841.07
29 Tulsa, OK 805.14
30 Pittsburgh, PA 798.08

Source: World Atlas

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