In this article we are going to share the list of U.S. cities that have the highest number of murders in 2020. Click to skip ahead and see the top 10 U.S. cities with the highest number of 2020 murders.
Before describing our methodology and data, let’s take a look at some facts and the long-term murder trends in the United States. According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report here are some facts:
“Homicide rates recently declined to levels last seen in the late 1960’s
Older teens and young adults have the highest homicide victimization and offending rates
The number of homicides of children under age 5 increased through the mid 1990’s, but declined recently
For persons age 65 or older, both the number of homicides and homicide victimization rates declined through 2000 and then stabilized
Most victims and perpetrators in homicides are male
Racial differences exist, with blacks disproportionately represented among homicide victims and offenders
The number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty has declined since the early 1970’s
Few homicides involve multiple offenders and fewer involve multiple victims
Homicides are most often committed with guns, especially handguns
The percentage of homicides cleared by arrest has been declining”
The average homicide rate in the United States was 5.3 murders per 100,000 people in 2016. This rate was as high as 10 per 100,000 in 1980 and 9 per 100,000 in early 90s. Clearly, the average murder rate has been declining on a long term basis. In this article we are going to list the cities based on the total number of murders per day, rather than total number of murders per 100,000 people. Our data is sourced from Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. We will be using 2020 data that are reported by cities that have a population of at least 250,000. Some of these cities report their crime stats in real-time and others are a few months behind. That’s why we are going to calculate the number of murders per day in 2020 and then rank the cities using this data point. Please note that we don’t have 2020 statistics for some of the cities like Detroit, Memphis, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, and Fort Worth.
If you are interested in historical data, please read 35 most dangerous cities in America in 2017.
Here are the U.S. cities with the most number of murders in 2020:
15. Atlanta
There were a total of 96 murders in Atlanta in 2020 through September 5th. This figure was 67 during the same period in 2019. Overall, Atlanta has a daily average of 0.38 murders so far in 2020.
14. San Antonio
There were a total of 83 murders in San Antonio in 2020 through July 31st. This figure was 66 during the same period in 2019. Overall, San Antonio has a daily average of 0.39 murders so far in 2020. We have to warn you that murder rates isn’t uniformly distributed through time. We usually observe higher number of murders during summer months. So, our “number of murders per day” statistic actually is actually downward biased for cities with missing August data.
13. Jacksonville
There were a total of 111 murders in Jacksonville in 2020 through September 11th. This figure was 92 during the same period in 2019. Overall, Jacksonville has a daily average of 0.44 murders so far in 2020.
12. New Orleans
There were a total of 131 murders in New Orleans in 2020 through September 13th. This figure was 84 during the same period in 2019. Overall, New Orleans has a daily average of 0.51 murders so far in 2020.
11. Washington
There were a total of 135 murders in Washington in 2020 through September 13th. This figure was 119 during the same period in 2019. Overall, Washington has a daily average of 0.525 murders so far in 2020.
Click to see the top 10 U.S. cities with the highest number of 2020 murders.
Disclosure: Top 15 U.S. Cities With Highest Number of Murders in 2020 is originally published at Insider Monkey.
