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Cities With the Highest Murder Rate in Each State

Philadelphia, PA

Philadelphia, PA

In Pennsylvania, it should come as no surprise that the biggest city with the highest murder rate would be Philadelphia. It turns out the City of Brotherly Love could use more love. The population there is 1,586,916 and they reported 311 murders for 2019. This gives Philly a murder rate of 19.6 per capita.

Pittsburgh isn’t too shabby, either, with a murder rate of 15.8 per capita, in a city of 302,544 residents. They reported 48 murders in 2019, putting the city in second place for the Deadliest City Award.

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Cleveland, OH

Cleveland, OH

It should come as no surprise here that Cleveland is the most dangerous city in Ohio. With 384,666 residents and a reported 75 murders for 2019, the murder rate there is 19.4 per capita.

Cincinnati is not far behind, however, with a population of 301,952 residents and 48 reported murders for 2019, their murder rate is 19.2 per capita.

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Atlanta, GA

Atlanta, GA

In Georgia, between 2018 and 2019, 89 murders were reported out of a population of 496,106 residents. That gives Atlanta the title for Murder Capital of Georgia with a murder rate of 17.9.

The runner up in Georgia, is none other than the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan area with 25 murders and a population of 242,265. This gives Savannah a 10.3 per capita murder rate.

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Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee, Wisconsin has a murder rate of 16.2 murders per 100,000 residents. The population there is 595,619 residents and they reported a total of 97 murders between 2018 and 2019.

The state of Wisconsin reported a total of 204 murders for an overall murder rate of 3.9 per capita in 2019.

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St Louis, MO

St Louis, MO

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that St. Louis would be the deadliest city in Missouri. With 306,875 residents and 177 murders reported for 2019, their murder rate is one of the highest at 57.7 per capita.

The only other city in the state that rates mentioning is Independence, Missouri with a 7.66 per capita homicide rate.

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Peoria, IL

Peoria, IL

Anyone would assume that Chicago would be the murder capital of Illinois considering they reported 496 murders in 2019. However, with a population of 2,719,151 residents, that gives the Windy City a murder rate of 18.2 per capita.

The deadliest city in Illinois was actually Peoria, with 22 murders and just 112,595 residents. Peoria’s murder rate is therefore higher at 19.5 per capita.

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Memphis, TN

Memphis, TN

Tennessee is full of big cities, but it wasn’t hard to narrow down the deadliest city in the state. Memphis won this contest hands down with 166 murders giving the city an overwhelming 25.4 per capita murder rate for 2019.

The next biggest city with the highest murder rate in the state is Knoxville with 188,653 residents and 25 murders reported for the year, giving the city a 13.7 per capita murder rate.

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Elizabeth, NJ

Elizabeth, NJ

Although Newark reported 65 murders to Elizabeth’s 54 murders, Newark’s murder rate remains at just 23.02 per capita because the population is at 282,258 residents.

Elizabeth, however, has a murder rate of 41.8 per capita with its population of just 102,915 residents.

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New Orleans, LA

New Orleans, LA

Louisiana has the highest murder rate in the country at 13.3 per capita with a population of more than 4.649 million residents and 598 murders in 2019. New Orleans is the state’s deadliest city with 396,374 residents and 148 murders in 2019.

That gives New Orleans a murder rate of 37.3 per capita. Baton Rouge comes in a close second at 32 per capita in 2019 with 72 murders and a population of about 224,790 residents.

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Baltimore, MD

Baltimore, MD

No surprises, here. Baltimore continues to be Maryland’s deadliest city with 291 murders reported in 2019 and a population of 605,436 residents. That gives Baltimore a murder rate of 48.06 per 100,000 people.

Hagerstown, Maryland comes in at second with 5 murders and a population of 40,384 giving them a murder rate of 12.4 people per capita

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Norfolk, VA

Norfolk, VA

Norfolk, Virginia won the Deadliest City in Virginia Award for 2019 with a reported 24 murders between 2018 and 2019. The population there is approximately 244,347 residents, giving the city a murder rate of 13.5 per capita.

Newport News, Virginia is a very close second with a murder rate of 13.4. The population there was around 178,734 in 2019 when they reported 24 homicides for the year.

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Detroit, MI

Detroit, MI

Another city that is no surprise on this list. Detroit’s murder rate per capita is at 36.1 per capita. In 2019, the city saw 243 murders with a population of 671,275 residents.

Lansing, Michigan, however, takes second place with a reported 5 murders in 2019, giving the city a murder rate of 4.2 people per capita in a population of 117,380.

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Little Rock, AR

Little Rock, AR

The FBI has rated Little Rock, Arkansas the most dangerous city in Arkansas, however it is the only city in the state with more than 100,000 residents. Between 2018 and 2019, the city reported a total of 39 murders with a population of 199,288. This gives Little Rock a murder rate of 19.56 per capita.

The city that has the highest murder rate in the state, however, is West Memphis with a population of just 24,668 residents, the city reported a total of 16 murders in 2019 giving the city a 64.9 per capita murder rate, or a 6.49 in 1,000 chance of being murdered there.

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Fort Wayne, IN

Fort Wayne, IN

Fort Wayne wins the distinction of being the city with the highest murder rate with 267,634 residents giving the city a whopping 13.0 per capita with 35 murders in 2019.

South Bend, Indiana has the second highest murder rate in the state with a population of 102,397 and 13 murders for the year. With a total of 473 homicides in 2019, Indiana’s overall murder rate stands at 7.4 per capita.

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Jackson, MS

Jackson, MS

Between 2018 and 2019, Jackson, Mississippi had reported 94 murders with a population of approximately 166,024 residents giving the city an overwhelming 56.61 per capita murder rate.

However, the city of Brookhaven, Mississippi reported 7 murders in 2018 giving them a 57.7 per capita murder rate with a population of just 12,125 residents.

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Tuscaloosa, AL

Tuscaloosa, AL

The city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama has a population of 101,764 residents. Between 2018 and 2019, 7 murders had been reported, giving the city a murder rate of 6.8 residents per capita likely to be murdered.

This beat the city of Huntsville, Alabama for the top spot in 2019 although 12 murders were reported. The population of 196,620 gives Huntsville a murder rate of 6.1 per capita.

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Anchorage, AK

Anchorage, AK

Anchorage, with a population of 291,992 residents reported 26 murders between 2018 and 2019, giving this city the deadly distinction of having the highest murder rate in the state of 8.9 per capita.

Although Anchorage has the highest population count, the most dangerous city in Alaska is actually Fairbanks with a 12.6 per capita murder rate. Of 31,635 residents, 4 murders were reported, making the chances of being murdered here 1.26 per 1,000 people.

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Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

You would assume that with a total of 137 murders in the city of Phenix, alone, it would have the highest murder rate in the state. However, with a population of 1,653,080 residents, the murder rate there is just 8.3 per capita.

Tucson, however, has a population of just 537,392 and reported 53 murders overall, giving the city the title of most dangerous of 2019 in Arizona with a 9.9 murder rate per capita.

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Bakersfield, CA

Bakersfield, CA

Surprisingly enough, Los Angeles, with a population of more than 4 million residents is not the murder capital of California. Even with 259 murders reported, their murder rate is just 6.4 per capita.

Bakersfield, however, with 385,609 residents and 36 murders reported ranks higher with a murder rate of 9.33 per capita.

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Denver, CO

Denver, CO

Denver is the clear winner here with a population of 720,745 and 63 murders reported in 2019, giving the city a murder rate of 8.7 per capita.

Colorado Springs and Aurora, combined, reported a total of 22 murders for the same time frame and even with smaller populations only stand at a 6 per capita murder rate.

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Hartford, CT

Hartford, CT

Hartford’s population is around 123,117 residents. In 2019, 24 murders were reported giving the city a 19.5 murder rate per capita.

Bridgeport, however, is the second runner up for the title of “Murder Capital of Connecticut” with a population of 146,819 and 14 murders, giving that city a 14 per capita murder rate.

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Wilmington, DE

Wilmington, DE

There are no cities in Delaware with more than 100,000 residents. However, Wilmington and Dover are the state’s biggest and most populous cities.

Wilmington, with a population of 71,157 had 23 murders, giving the city a 32.3 per capita murder rate. Dover, with a population of 37,778 had 4 murders, giving the city a 10.6 per capita murder rate.

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Jacksonville, FL

Jacksonville, FL

Surprisingly enough, the title for most deadly city in Florida for 2019 was not Miami. Jacksonville, with a population of 903,213 residents reported 130 murders for the year giving the city a 14.39 per capita murder rate.

Miami is just below Jacksonville with a murder rate of 12.2 with 55 murders reported in 2019, leaving Orlando in third place at an 11.1 murder rate with 32 murders.

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Honolulu, HI

Honolulu, HI

With a total of 21 murders for 2019, Honolulu is officially the deadliest city in Hawaii with a murder rate of 2.2 per capita murder rate.

The entire state of Hawaii, with a population of more than 1.416 million residents hat a total of 36 murders overall, giving the state a total murder rate of 2.5 per capita.

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Garden City, ID

Garden City, ID

For the state of Idaho, the murder rate is less than 2 per capita. There was a total of 35 murders reported for the 2019 year.

There is no specific data on each city’s specific murder rate, but there is for violent crimes. For 2019, the most violent city was Garden City, Illinois with 2,943 violent crimes reported in a population of just 12,025 giving residents a 56 out of 1,000 chance of becoming a victim.

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Des Moines, IA

Des Moines, IA

With 28 murders reported in Des Moines last year, and a population of 217,277 the murder rate there is 12.9 per capita, making it the biggest city in the state with the highest murder rate.

However, the deadliest small city of Iowa in 2019 was Pleasant City, who reported two murders in a city of just 9,910 residents, giving it a 20.2 murder rate per capita.

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Kansas City, KS

Kansas City, KS

In Kansas, the biggest city with the highest homicide rate is Kansas City. The population there in 2019 was at approximately 152,958 residents with a reported 151 murders putting the murder rate at 9.8 per capita.

Wichita, Kansas comes in a close second with a population of 391,726 residents, they reported 37 murders giving them a 9.4 murder rate per capita.

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Lexington, KY

Lexington, KY

In Lexington last year, the population count was at 325,579 residents. With a reported 27 murders in 2019, it puts their murder rate at 8.2 per capita.

The smallest city with the biggest murder rate in Kentucky, however, is Williamsburg with a population of just 5,299 residents and 3 murders in 2019. That gives them a 56.6 per capita murder rate.

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Portland, ME

Portland, ME

In 2019, only 22 people lost their lives to murder in the state of Maine. The population of Maine, overall, is approximately 1,344,000 residents. This gives the state a murder rate of 1.63 per capita.

The city of Portland, Maine, was the only city with multiple homicides in 2019. The 3 murders in a city of just 66,417 residents raises murder rate to 4.5 murders per capita.

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Springfield, MA

Springfield, MA

Although you would naturally assume Boston would be the murder capital of Massachusetts, the city only reported a total of 48 murders in 2019. That gives Boston a murder rate of just 6.9 per capita.

Springfield, however, reported 17 murders with a population of 155,179 residents, giving that city the distinction of having the highest murder rate in the state at 10.9 per capita.

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Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis, MN

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the murder rate is 6.5 people per capita with a population of about 428,261 residents and 28 murders reported for 2019.

St Paul comes in second, with 309,756 and 15 murders, giving it a murder rate of 4.8 murders per 100,000 people

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Billings, MT

Billings, MT

For the entire state of Montana, the murder rate is 3.2 murders per capita, over all with a population of over one million residents at last census.

However, Billings, Montana does have the distinction of being the deadliest city since they reported 7 murders for 2019 giving them a murder rate of 6.3 per capita.

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Omaha, NE

Omaha, NE

With a population of 469,351 residents and 23 reported murders for 2019, Omaha ranks as the number one deadliest city in the state with a murder rate of 4.9 per capita.

Lincoln, Nebraska comes the closest second with 4 murders total for 2019 in a population of 288,589 residents putting their murder rate at 1.3 per capita.

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North Las Vegas, NV

North Las Vegas, NV

You would think that Las Vegas would be the most dangerous city with 108 murders reported, however, they only rated 6.56 murders per capita with a population of more than 1.6 million.

North Las Vegas, though, with a population of 246,951 and 22 murders reported in 2019 is the deadliest city in Nevada, beating out Reno with a murder rate of 8.9 per capita.

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Manchester, NH

Manchester, NH

For the entirety of 2019, New Hampshire only reported a total of 32 homicides with a population of more than 1.36 million residents putting the state’s murder rate at approximately 2.35 per capita overall.

However, Manchester won the Deadliest City Award for 2019 with a murder rate of 2.6 per capita. They reported three murders within a population of 111,422 residents.

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Albuquerque, NM

Albuquerque, NM

The murder rate in Albuquerque is at 14.4 per person due to the population of 560,235 residents and the 81 murders reported for 2019.

The next deadliest city in New Mexico is Las Cruces, population 102,203. They reported 9 murders in 2019, giving them a murder rate of 8.8 per capita.

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Syracuse, NY

Syracuse, NY

In 2018, the state of New York reported a total of 569 murders overall, giving the state an overall murder rate of 2.9 per capita with more than 19.4 million residents. And although you would assume that New York City would be the deadliest city in the state, their murder rate is at just 3.4 per capita in a city of more than 8.523 million people for 2019.

Syracuse, however, is our winner with a reported 23 murders in 2019 in a population of 143,129 residents, giving the city a murder rate of 16.1 per capita. Buffalo does come in a close second at 15.8 murders per capita.

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High Point, NC

High Point, NC

For 2019, High Point wins the Deadliest City Award for North Carolina. The murder rate there is 16 per capita due to a population of 112,526 residents and 18 reported homicides for 2019.

Greensboro does come in a close second at 15 per capita, with Durham trailing behind with 12.7 murders per capita.

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Fargo, ND

Fargo, ND

As far as safe states go, you couldn’t possibly get safer in a state with just 26 homicides reported for the entire year of 2019. That number is actually up from an average of just 13 homicides per year on average.

The one city in the state with more than 100,000 residents—124,906 to be exact, Fargo, is our winner of the Deadliest City Award for 2019. They reported an overwhelming 6 murders for the year giving the city a murder rate of 4.8 per capita.

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Tulsa, OK

Tulsa, OK

With 50 murders for 2019 in Tulsa, this city takes the title of Murder Capital of Oklahoma. The population for this city is around 403,147 residents putting the murder rate at 12.4 per capita.

Oklahoma City comes in second at 9.9 murders per capita in a population of 652,936 residents and 65 reported murders for the year.

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Portland, OR

Portland, OR

As far as murder rate goes, Oregon may be one of the safest states, with an overall murder rate of 2.5 per 100,000 residents. As a matter of fact, the state’s biggest city, Portland, has the highest murder rate at 3.9 murders per 100,000 people with a population of 657,260.

The city in the state that has the highest murder rate overall is Tillamook with a population of just 5,214 residents and one murder reported in 2019 giving it a murder rate of 19.2 per capita.

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Providence, RI

Providence, RI

For Rhode Island, the murder rate for the entire state is just 1.9 per capita with a population of 180,169 residents. The city reported just 10 murders for 2019, ending the year with a 5.5 per capita murder rate.

Central Falls, Rhode Island, with a population of 19,293 residents has a murder rate of 5.18

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North Charleston, SC

North Charleston, SC

You would think that with Charleston being the most populated city in the state, it would have the highest murder rate. However, North Charleston, South Carolina wins that distinction for 2019.

With a population of just 111,305 residents, the city reported 35 murders for 2019 giving the city a homicide rate of 31.4 per capita. Columbia, South Carolina comes in at second place with a 13.4 per capita murder rate.

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Sioux Falls, SD

Sioux Falls, SD

You’d be rather safe moving to South Dakota, with an overall murder rate of 2.9 per capita. However, Sioux Falls—the city with the highest population—is the city with the highest murder rate.

They reported—wait for it—3 murders for 2019, giving them a murder rate of just 1.6 per capita. The city with the highest rate under 100,000 residents was Mitchell, South Dakota, with 2 murders and a population of 15,800, putting the murder rate there at 12.7 per capita.

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Dallas, TX

Dallas, TX

In a state that likes to do everything big, it comes as no surprise that their murder rates are big as well. In Dallas, the population was at 1,362,465 residents in 2019 when they reported 190 murders for the year, giving the city a 13.9 per capita homicide rate.

Houston came in second with a population of 2,344,966 residents and 268 murders in 2019, giving them a murder rate of 11.4 per capita. In third place was Beaumont, population 119,368. They reported 13 murders for the year, putting them at a murder rate of 10.8 per capita.

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West Valley, UT

West Valley, UT

West Valley, Utah takes the cake, here. With a population of 137,132 residents and 10 murders in one year, it puts this city’s murder rate at 7.3 per capita.

Salt Lake City doesn’t even come close with a population of 202,633, a reported 10 murders, and a murder rate of just 4.5 per capita.

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St. Albans, VT

St. Albans, VT

In 2019, Vermont had the third lowest murder rate in the country at 1.8 per capita, only slightly higher than the 2018 murder rate of 1.6. For the 2018 year, only 2 murders were reported in the state.

However, roadsnacks.net rated St. Albans the most dangerous city in Vermont due to its violent crime rate with a population of just 6,777 and a 1 in 173 chance in becoming a victim of raped, attacked, or killed.

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Everett, WA

Everett, WA

The entire state of Washington has one of the lowest murder rates at 3.1 per capita. The city in the state, however, with the highest murder rate would be Everett. The population there is just 111,091, so with 5 murders, it gives the city a 4.5 per capita murder rate.

The smallest city in Washington with the biggest murder rate, however, is Toppenish with a population of 8,974 and 3 murders reported in 2019, it gives the small city a 33.4 per capita murder rate.

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Huntington, WV

Huntington, WV

In 2019, West Virginia had a total of 67 murders with a population of 1,803,612 residents giving the state a 3.71 murder rate, overall.

Huntington, West Virginia is dubbed the “Murder Capital of West Virginia” for 2019 with a population of 47,933 and 16 murders giving the small city a murder rate of 3.34 people per 1,000 residents.

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Cheyenne, WY

Cheyenne, WY

Cheyenne, Wyoming with a population of 64,730 and 2 murders total, the state’s city with the highest murder rate is 3.1 per capita or .31 chances per 1,000 residents likely to be murdered.

Wyoming’s population of 578,759 residents gives the state one of the lowest populations in the country. This gives the state a violent crime rate overall for the 2019 year of 36.63. However, at last count in 2017, the state had a total of 19 homicides, giving the state a murder rate of 3.4 that year.

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