NeighborhoodScout, a web-based platform from Location, Inc. that delivers custom crime risk and real estate market reports, trends and forecasts, and analytics on school quality for any address, today released its annual list of the Top 30 Murder Capitals of America for 2019.
The research list, which covers every city in America with 25,000 or more people, reveals those with the highest number of murders per 1,000 residents. Murder is the willful (non-negligent) killing of one human being by another. Data used for this research are the number of murders reported by all local law enforcement to have occurred in each city, and the population of each city, divided by 1,000. This calculation provides a murder rate per 1,000 residents, offering an accurate, normalized comparison of cities of different sizes.
NeighborhoodScout uses the most recent crime data the FBI classifies as ‘final, non-preliminary.’ Based on the 2017-year total data which was released in final, non-preliminary form in September 2018, this report reveals interesting facts and patterns about crime and murder in America. Among the findings:
- The murder capital of America isn’t Chicago. But it is in Illinois. With more than one murder per 1,000 residents, this year’s murder capital has a murder rate 22 times the national average, and nearly 5 times Chicago’s murder rate. You may never have heard of it, until now.
- The murder capital of Florida isn’t Miami, but a city of 35,000 that is a scant 8 miles from the famous Mar-a-Lago Club.
- Alaska, the nation’s largest and least densely populated state, now has a city with one of the highest murder rates anywhere in America.
- The vacation destination with the highest murder rate in America is located on the New Jersey shore.
“The cities with the highest murder rates reveal the connection between economic hardship and violence, particularly murder,” said Dr. Andrew Schiller, CEO and founder of Location, Inc. and NeighborhoodScout. “Murder rates are highest in communities where economies were once larger and more robust but have since seen contracted, causing stress and hardship that often leads to violence and murder. This can be for a subset of a city’s residents, like in Baltimore or Kansas City, or for nearly an entire city, such as Gary or East St. Louis. Limited economic opportunity plays a role in such communities and highlights the divide between the safe bedroom communities within large metro areas near major urban centers like Boston, Chicago, and New York, and the high-crime cities that often had significant industrial economies that have lost jobs and livelihoods.”
NeighborhoodScout® Top 30 Murder Capitals of America – 2019* | ||
2019 Rank | City, State | 2018 Rank |
#10 | N/A | |
#9 | #9 | |
#8 | #10 | |
#7 | #13 | |
#6 | N/A | |
#5 | #7 | |
* Cities with 25,000 or more people nationwide | ||
Visit NeighborhoodScout.com to read the FAQ on how NeighborhoodScout ranks the cities with the highest murder rates in America, or contact us for more information.
About Location, Inc.
Location, Inc. is a leader in geographic data sciences, providing street-and address-level location intelligence and predictive analytics for businesses across the U.S. and Canada via web-based reports and streaming data. Since 2000, the company has amassed highly accurate and comprehensive catalogue of spatial data products, with complete, national coverage and sub-ZIP Code granularity. A pioneer in building micro-spatial data products, Location, Inc. specializes in real estate market insights and projections, and crime and hazard risk products for the real estate, insurance and finance sectors. More than 75 million people and businesses have leveraged the company’s data products to make informed location decisions, fuel major investments, mitigate risk, protect assets, and uncover opportunity. For more information, visit www.locationinc.com.
