The Americas still record high rates of homicide, so creating the top 30 most dangerous cities in the US 2023 list was challenging. With an estimated 46 homicides per 100,000 men between the ages of 18 and 19, young men are particularly vulnerable. This is far higher than the risk that their counterparts in other regions suffer. Additionally, homicides in the Americas use firearms significantly more frequently than homicides in other regions of the world. It is the reason why some of these cities are on the list of the 30 most dangerous cities in the world.
A crime is defined as an intentional act. According to estimates, only 40.9% of violent crimes and 32.5% of property crimes committed in homes were reported to the police, with the remainder being undetected. A significant proportion of violent and property crimes in the United States go unreported to law enforcement, and even those that do often remain unsolved. In any location, the employment rate is a major determinant of the crime rate. Many Americans are becoming more and more concerned about crime. Their worries are only going to intensify in the wake of recent events like the mass shooting in Maine that left 18 dead and 13 injured.
In the 32 research cities that provided homicide data, there were 515 fewer homicides in 2023 than there were in 2022, a 10% decrease. Trends in property crime have been more inconsistent. Compared to 2019, there were more nonresidential burglaries and fewer residential burglaries and larcenies in 2023. Drug-related crimes decreased by 27% over this period, whereas motor vehicle thefts more than doubled (+105%). At the conclusion of this study is a dashboard that shows it is crucial to know not only the highest crime rate cities in the US but also percent changes from 2019 to 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Though there are some significant outliers, overall, crime rates are gradually declining to pre-COVID levels as the country gets further away from the pandemic’s peak. Homicide rates in the studied cities—as well as in many other cities—have decreased. The progress has been inconsistent, though, and data from other sources—such as household surveys of violent victimization—indicate greater rates and more pronounced swings in the crime data than do reports to law enforcement.
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However, other statistics are also necessary to determine which US cities are the most dangerous. One such statistic is the crime rate. In certain regions, a multitude of different factors contribute to the sensation of insecurity. In addition to users’ confidence and experience in certain cities, it is crucial to calculate the homicide and crime rates and which are the most dangerous cities in the US per capita. However, as they are not useful for compiling the list, we have not considered natural disasters this time. There is no list of the cities that are most vulnerable to terrorism, even though the United States is dealing with an increasing problem of terrorism that will probably get worse over the coming year. Based on a CSIS data set of terrorist incidents, the only thing we know for sure is that white supremacists provide the greatest threat. Anarchists and religious fanatics influenced by al-Qaeda and the Islamic State may also pose a concern.
To make a list of the most dangerous cities in the US, we started our research on the FBI’s list of the most dangerous cities in 2024. They looked at the number of violent and household crimes as well as the number of violent crimes per 1000 people. We compared this list with the 2023 crime trends list and the list of the places with the most murders. Because they often have the highest number of homicides and other crimes, some cities have been at the top of all our lists for an extended period of time. The number of murderers, violent crimes, and repeats on these lists helped us decide how to rank them. This is our list of the US’s most dangerous towns.