August 19, 2026 - Anniston, AL tops the most dangerous U.S. cities list with 3,434 violent crimes per capita. East St. Louis, IL has the highest murder rate.

Crime rate can be one of the deciding factors of where families settle down. Based on each city's murder and property crime rates per 100,000 people, determined by FBI crime reports, these are the most dangerous places to live in the United States. For more information on how we rank, read the Best Places to Live methodology.

June 19, 2026 - The FBI website recommends against using its data for ranking because these rankings lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting cities and counties, along with their residents. The FBI website also recommends against using its data to judge how effective law enforcement agencies are, since there are many factors other than law enforcement that influence crime rates...

2 weeks ago - Washington, D.C.'s violent crime ... Little Rock, Arkansas rose between 2024 and 2025. Memphis, Tennessee, Oakland, California, St. Louis, Missouri, and Birmingham, Alabama were among the top cities for both violent and property ...

We cover violent crime (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) and property crime (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson) for thousands of cities nationwide. All crime rates are expressed per 100,000 residents, ensuring fair comparison regardless of city size. Our Safety Score system rates each city on a 1-to-100 percentile scale, where a score of N means the city has less crime than about N% of all US cities we track.

April 21, 2026 - St. Louis city, Missouri, had higher murder rates in its home county than any other major city.

May 14, 2026 - Not recommended for LGBTQ+ individuals who prioritize legal protections and community. Murder rate in St. Louis is among highest in United States · “Split in two -one of America’s most dangerous cities, and one of its most underrated livable ones, depending entirely on which six blocks you’re standing on.” · St. Louis confounds people. It consistently sits near the top of violent crime rankings -a murder rate of approximately 54 per 100,000 residents is the highest of any mid-sized U.S.

Complete rankings of US cities by violent crime rate, based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data. These 333 cities all have populations over 100,000. →Memphis tops the list at 2,501 violent crimes per 100K — a rate more typical of a war zone than an American city.

3 weeks ago - Louis, Missouri has the highest violent crime rate in the United States of 2,082 incidents per 100,000 people. The murder rate is 64.9 per 100,000, with a total of 205 people murdered in 2017.

March 23, 2026 - Research published in Justice Quarterly found that “downtown/tourist districts in Memphis, New Orleans, and Baltimore showed violent crime rates 40-70% lower than citywide figures.” This geographic concentration means citywide statistics significantly overstate risk for visitors to commercial districts while understating danger in specific residential neighborhoods. Based on the most recent FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data and supplementary municipal police department statistics, the following cities exhibit the highest violent crime rates per 100,000 residents. These rankings reflect 2023-2025 data, representing the latest available comprehensive statistics. Key Takeaway: The top 10 most dangerous cities show violent crime rates ranging from 1,556 to 2,437 per 100,000—between 4× and 6.4× the national average of 359.1 per 100,000.

July 16, 2026 - Key Factors: Economic hardship, gang activity, and a lack of investment in social services contribute to San Bernardino’s high violent and property crime rate. Recent Trends: Efforts to address economic inequality and improve community-police relations have shown promise in reducing violent crime, but long-term solutions[7] require sustained investment and collaboration. ... Key Factors: Poverty, drug trafficking, and a proliferation of illegal firearms contribute to Philadelphia’s status as one of the most violent cities in the US.

July 29, 2026 - That reflects the city's scale, not an unusually high crime rate. Houston has an estimated crime cost per resident of about $4,002. Its total annual cost of roughly $9.3 billion ranks second in the country. Chicago has an estimated crime cost per resident of about $3,309 and roughly $8.7 billion in total annual crime costs, the third highest in the country. ... To rank the safest and most dangerous cities in the United States, MoneyGeek used the latest available FBI city-level crime data, covering crimes reported in 2024.

The number of offenses per 100,000 population is derived by first dividing a jurisdiction’s population by 100,000 and then dividing the number of offenses by the resulting figure. Crime or arrest rates are derived from law enforcement agencies for which 12 months of complete offense or arrest data were submitted.

→Houston has the highest violent crime rate: 1148.2 per 100K ... New York City is America's great crime success story. Once the poster child for urban violence in the 1990s, NYC now has a violent crime rate of 671.0 per 100K — 105% above the national average.

May 21, 2026 - Sherman Park, parts of Metcalfe Park, and the corridor along North 27th Street carry far more of the violent crime weight. The city is also a national outlier on the 2025 trend (homicides up while neighbors fell), which earns it the special spotlight in the “Trending Up” section later in this article. According to the RIT Center for Public Safety Initiatives, Detroit recorded 203 homicides in 2024 with a homicide rate of 32.1 per 100,000 residents, placing it near the top of the cities in that comparison.

September 12, 2025 - Memphis, the second-biggest city ... tops the list with 2,501 violent crimes per 100,000 people, according to data from the FBI. The city has recorded 145 murder victims in the first eight months of the year. Last year, it experienced 40.6 homicides per 100,000, placing it fourth among cities with at least 100,000 residents. Trump, citing high rates of crime, said Memphis would be placed “early on the list” of cities federal forces could target ...

3 weeks ago - Chicago had the highest number of homicides in 2018 with 563; almost double that of New York, which has triple the population as Chicago. A city with a high violent crime rate does not indicate that the entire city is unsafe.

2 weeks ago - Violent crime in the U.S. declined slightly, but property crime rose by 7%, with Baltimore now the deadliest large city and Seattle leading in burglary rates.

August 11, 2026 - According to various rankings, cities like Cary, North Carolina, Fort Mill, South Carolina, and certain suburbs of major metros consistently rank among the safest cities in the U.S. These cities report low homicides, minimal property crimes, ...