The US is remarkably dangerous compared to the rest of the Western world. The murder rate is four to five times higher than most countries in Europe, with more violent crime per capita to boot too. Sure, you've got a lot of safe towns/cities within the country, but there are a lot of places where crime has skyrocketed, partly due to poverty and lack of employment opportunities.
We will look at the 25 most dangerous cities in the US. We'll talk about the rate of crime there. Now, don't get us wrong. While the crime in these places is higher than normal, they are not especially terrible places to live. You need to have your wits about you.
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Bessemer, Alabama used to be a thriving manufacturing city. However, many of the jobs have now moved away from the city. This has caused poverty to shoot up and, of course, when poverty goes up, crime goes up too. The latest stats indicate that you have a 1 in 55 chance of being the victim of violent crime in Bessemer. This is 5x higher than the Alabama average!
The murder rate is astonishingly high too. The rate per 1,000 is 0.40, compared to the US average of 0.06. In fact, if you can think of a crime outside of financial fraud, chances are that it is more likely to happen to you in Bessemer than in most places in the US.
In 2023, Monroe in Louisiana celebrated a little bit. They were no longer the top place in the country to become a victim of violent crime. They were now second. We suppose all improvements are good improvements, right? Although, some studies still place Monroe at the top of the pile.
If you live in Monroe your whole life, your chances of becoming the victim of a violent crime are a whopping 1 in 36. Thankfully, the murder rate is a little bit lower than Bessemer. Just 0.38 in 1,000! Small benefits, right? The violent crime is higher, but at least they’re not murdering people as frequently here. The high rise in violent crime here has been attributed to a drug epidemic, poverty, and a spate of illegal firearm sales.
For a long while, Memphis was seen as one of the most dangerous places to live in the US. It has improved a little bit, but it is still one of the most dangerous cities with over 500,000 residents. Contrary to the popular song ‘Walking in Memphis’, you really don’t want to go walking in Memphis. There are 182 gangs in the city, with a whopping 8,400 gang members.
In 2023, this resulted in the highest murder rate in the city for over a decade. Barely anywhere is ‘safe’ in Memphis too. Weirdly, Memphis is one of the few cities that managed to get worse. For a while, it looked like Memphis was on track to becoming a bit safer. The trend then completely reversed, partly due to lower police funding (in just 4 years, 25% of police officers left the job and weren’t replaced).
Also Read: Top Attractions & Things To Do in Memphis
There are two cities on this list where people will say ‘oh, yeah. I knew the crime rate was high there’. Detroit is one of them. Here, you’ve got a 1 in 49 chance of being the victim of a violent crime, and a 1 in 22 chance of being the victim of a property crime (theft, property destruction, etc.). Which is massively higher than Michigan as a whole.
Probably no surprise to know that the crime in Detroit is thanks to a load of gangs and poverty, an issue that the city is having an issue cleaning up. At the moment, Detroit is only safer than 1% of the cities in the US, and we doubt this will change in the near future.
Also Read: Best Things To Do in Detroit
Around 30% of people in Pine Bluff live below the poverty line. The education in Arkansas isn’t great as a whole, either (thanks to the isolation in many places). Weirdly, Pine Bluff is one of the ‘safer’ places to live when it comes to violent crime, at least on this list.
You have just a 1 in 69 chance of being the victim of a violent crime if you live here your whole life. Although, since the rate is 1 in 155 for Arkansas as a whole, it doesn’t look ‘too’ good, but we’re comparing it to the other most dangerous cities in the US. The main issue is property crime, thanks to poverty. You’ve got a 1 in 19 chance here, and those are not good odds.
Cleveland is a mixing pot of reasons why crime can be high. It has huge unemployment, low education standards, an unhealthy population, and higher than normal drugs and alcohol dependency. Some studies have indicated that laws are not really being made that can limit crime either, and that the current laws do not reflect the community’s needs, although going into depth on that report is out of the scope of this page.
We can tell you that the crime rate in Cleveland is 150% higher than the US average, with about 32% of all crimes being violent, although thankfully that is gang activity, so most people will avoid it.
Also Read: Top Tourist Attractions in Cleveland
We won’t lie - St. Louis, architecturally, is one of the most beautiful cities in the US. It is also a very easy place to reach, with huge, major roads heading through the city. Although, that is very much the downfall of St. Louis. It is a large metropolitan area, and it is within easy reach of other large metropolitan areas with some decent highways. This means that it is often a focal point for people drug and gun smuggling.
St. Louis also has a lot of gangs, although the gangs are not really large. This means that there is a lot of fighting for territory between them. The murder rate in St. Louis is more than 10x the US average, and the robbery rate is 5x the US average. The only thing that St. Louis is ‘in-line’ with on the US average is rape rates. So, this does demonstrate that most of the crime in St. Louis is focused on those gangs.
Also Read: Top Attractions & Things To Do in St. Louis
Houston is another area with high crime thanks to its location. When it comes to people trafficking in the US, Houston cannot be beaten. It is also a major hub for all sorts of drugs. If MDMA, heroin, cocaine, and meth is consumed in the US, there is a high chance it has come through Houston.
The chances of being the victim of a violent crime in Houston is 1 in 18. However, the local government is keen to point out that unless you’re in a gang, Houston is quite a safe place to be. Sure, you probably wouldn’t want to be walking around alone at night, but most of the risk is not there unless you’re in a gang.
Also Read: Top Tourist Attractions in Houston
For a long while, New Orleans was seen as the ‘murder capital’ of the US. It was also one of the most violent cities in the US. However, the city as a whole has started to reduce violent crime at a faster rate than any other place. It could eventually be deemed ‘safe’. Nowadays, you’ll see a lot more police on the streets, more arrests, and less shooting incidents. Unfortunately, gangs and low poverty do mean that New Orleans crime is still high. It is quite hard to avoid crime too, since New Orleans is a fairly small city, so there is no one massively safe area.
Also Read: Top Tourist Attractions in New Orleans
There are some that argue that Myrtle Beach crime stats are a bit unfair, and we agree. Crime stats do indicate that Myrtle Beach is probably more dangerous than it is. The problem with Myrtle Beach is that it is a very small place, with 40,000 residents. However, tourism to Myrtle Beach is massive. According to statistics, 20 million people visit the city each year. Crime happens. It will always happen in major tourist hubs.
Of course, the crime stats only reflect the number of residents and ignore the tourists, which makes Myrtle Beach seem way more dangerous than it is. There are around 50 violent crimes per 1,000 residents here. This makes it more dangerous than the South Carolina average, and the US average. However, if the major tourism was considered in the stats, we would say Myrtle Beach may end up being one of the safer places in the country. Still, you could say that about many other dangerous cities in the US too.
Also Read: Top Tourist Attractions in Myrtle Beach
The crime rate in Denver is rising, and it is a major cause of concern for the residents. While Denver does have a lower than normal murder rate, property crimes, thefts, car theft, etc. are on the rise and do not show any sign of slowing down. Violent crime here doubled between 2012 and 2023, which is very uncommon. Denver may be in a beautiful part of the country, but poverty is driving crime rates up, and there is no indication it’ll slow down.
The violent crime rate in Minneapolis is 170% higher than the average in Minnesota, and 93% higher than the US average. If you remember back to the pandemic era, it was Minneapolis where George Floyd was murdered by the police. This sparked protests. As a result, there is now a major mistrust of the police in Minneapolis, and this is reflected in the crime stats.
It is almost as if the police have lost control of the city. It is happening across the whole city too. Areas that were previously safe now seem to be getting carjackings frequently, and the number of illegal weapons entering the city is skyhigh. There are some that are even saying that Minneapolis may end up getting back its old nickname ‘murderopolis’.
Also Read: Top Tourist Attractions in Minneapolis
Some people have suggested that Portland has had a ‘crime wave’, with crime shooting up in the city, this is despite stats proving that this is not the case. Although, that’s not to say that Portland isn’t a dangerous city in the US. It just isn’t as dangerous as some people paint it. Portland crime is actually rising at a slower rate than most places, with a 10% rise between 2020 and 2024, a lot of cities rose at a rate well in excess of this.
Part of the reason why crime has risen in recent years is because Portland actually defunded the police in 2020, due to the George Floyd protests. A lot of crimes, particularly drug crimes, then went ignored. In fact, many people argued that drugs were basically decriminalized due to this. Police funding has gone back up, though. It’ll be interesting to see how this changes things in Portland.
Also Read: Top Tourist Attractions in Portland
The crime rate in Albuquerque is 75% higher than the rest of New Mexico, and 170% higher than US averages. In recent years, the murder rate in the city has risen by a drastic 71%. This is despite other major cities seeing a drop in the murder rate. Gangs, drug smuggling, etc. all contribute to the higher than average crime rate. There are very few ‘safe’ areas too. Everywhere you go in Albuquerque has crime.
Also Read: Top Tourist Attractions in Albuquerque
While Baltimore has always been a fairly dangerous place, the city saw a huge increase in crime after the death of Freddie Gray at the hands of the police (he was seriously injured in custody, with a severed spine eventually killing him).
Despite the population of Baltimore falling, the number of murders has risen sharply. In fact, in 2019, Baltimore recorded its highest number of murders per capita ever, and the number doesn’t seem to be going down. Although, Baltimore does have quite a few ‘safe’ locations, though. 80% of all crimes happen in just 25% of the city. Crime is mostly due to poverty and gangs.
Also Read: Top Tourist Attractions in Baltimore
Rockford isn’t really the first place in Illinois you’d think of when it comes to crime and, in comparison to Chicago it isn’t massively dangerous. However, Rockford has a major problem of being located right in between Milwaukee and Chicago. This means that Rockford has long been a good place for drug and weapon smugglers. The result is many gangs in the area and a load of crime. It probably doesn’t help that Rockford has high poverty too.
Milwaukee is third in the nation for violent crimes, although the stats have started to trend downward. Crime is so bad here, that even major public officials have been the victim of car theft, etc. and, we would assume, they live among the safer areas of Milwaukee. Gangs are to blame for much of the crime, as does out-of-control poverty. The police barely even touch certain areas of Milwaukee, leaving crime to run rampant.
Also Read: Top Tourist Attractions in Milwaukee
The crime rate in Stockton is 65% higher than the California average, and 81% higher than the US average. There are 18 murders per 1,000 residents here. Violent crime is significantly higher than both the US and California average. Much of the drive in crime was a result of agricultural profits, a major employer around Stockton, falling. This created deprived areas, driving the crime rate up.
Alaska, as a whole, has significantly more crime than the US. This is thanks to the isolation of the area, with police presence being minimal. Most crimes, to be honest, can’t even be investigated here. Couple this with the fact that Alaska is dark, and depressing during the winter months. This always leads to more crime. While Anchorage does have things a little bit better than other places in Alaska, it still remains one of the most dangerous cities in the US thanks to an out-of-control drug epidemic.
Also Read: Top Attractions in Anchorage, Alaska
The violent crime and homicide rate in Wichita is on the rise, but much of this has been driven by gangs. Although, the residents of Wichita do argue that their city is safer than the stats suggest. It is very much a gang-run city, and if you are not in a gang or associating with the wrong people, then you should be fine.
Also Read: Top Tourist Attractions in Wichita
Violent crime and property crime in Peoria is much higher than the US average. Your chance of being a victim of a violent crime here is 1 in 84, but property crime is 1 in 32. Obviously, the fact that Peoria is close to Chicago doesn’t help, but it is poverty that is driving much of the crime here.
Lubbock, Texas isn't a massively dangerous place, at least not in comparison to some of the other dangerous cities on this list. Much of the crime in Lubbock will be petty crime, which the student population will drive. Here, you've got a 1 in 93 chance of being a victim of violent crime (which, as you know by now, is nowhere near the highest on this list), but a huge 1 in 24 chance of being the victim of a petty crime, which is double the Texas average.
Buffalo has twice the national rate for almost all crimes, particularly violent and property crimes. Most argue that the stats have been heavily manipulated to make Buffalo seem more dangerous than other places in the state, but it doesn’t really matter if that is the case. Crime is still a regular occurrence here although, thankfully, most of that is gang-related, so the chances of the average person being a victim are slim.
Also Read: Best Things To Do In And Around Niagara Falls
Tulsa is in the top 10% of most violent places in the US, although a lot of this is down to gangs operating throughout the area. It has a huge murder rate, and robberies can be quite common. Although, thankfully, much of this seems to be concentrated on certain areas.
Also Read: Top Tourist Attractions in Tulsa
Chicago is the other city that we know most of you will recognize as being 'crime ridden'. Try as they might, the local government has been unable to get the gangs of Chicago under control. They’re absolutely everywhere. There’s also a significant number of areas in Chicago that are seriously deprived.
The result is that Chicago is one of the most dangerous cities in the US, with 37 crimes per 1,000 residents. Although, as with many places, the average person rarely becomes the victim of violent crime. Much of the violent crime in Chicago is thanks to gangs, who mostly target other gangs.
Also Read: Top Tourist Attractions in Chicago
So, there you have it. A list of the most dangerous cities in the US. While the crime rate in these places is high, do bear in mind that the average person isn't really going to be 'unsafe' if they take precautions i.e. not associating with gangs, and not walking alone at night. As we said at the start - the US may be more dangerous than other places in the Western world, but it isn't massively dangerous if you're careful. Most people will never be the victim of a major crime anywhere in the US.