Most Dangerous Cities in the United States 2026

Violent crime suggests that a person or persons behave in a manner that threatens, attempts, or actually inflicts physical harm on another person or property. Violent crime includes both crimes where the violent act is the objective and crimes where violence is the means to an end. The seriousness of the crime is altered by whether or not a weapon was used, the severity of injuries to the victim(s), and whether or not the perpetrator has a criminal record. Violent crimes include, but are not limited to, sexual assault, manslaughter, homicide, airplane hijacking, terrorism, rape, shootings, and kidnapping.

National Crime Statistics

The violent crime rate in the United States is about 369 incidents per 100,000 people in 2018. This is the lowest it has been in more than 30 years; however, violent crime is still widespread. Violent crime is not evenly distributed throughout the country and is typically more common in urban areas. Specifically, some cities are more dangerous than others.

Most Dangerous Cities in America

To determine which cities in the United States the most dangerous, 24/7 Wall Street looked at data from the FBI’s 2018 Uniform Crime Report, including each city’s murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Only cities with populations of 100,000 people or more were evaluated. The poverty rate and unemployment rate were also evaluated for each city, as these economic factors often correlate with crime rates. The 50 most dangerous cities in the United States were determined from this data.

Top 10 Most Dangerous Cities

Based on this information, the ten most dangerous cities in the United States are:

1. Detroit, MI
2. Memphis, TN
3. Birmingham, AL
4. Baltimore, MD
5. St. Louis, MO
6. Kansas City, MO
7. Cleveland, OH
8. Little Rock, AR
9. Milwaukee, WI
10. Stockton, CA

Spotlight on Detroit

The most dangerous city in the United States is Detroit, Michigan. Detroit has a violent crime rate of 2,007.8 incidents per 100,000 people with a total of 261 homicides in 2018. Detroit is the only midsize or large city in the United States with a violent crime rate of over 2,000. With a population of less than 700,000 people today, Detroit reported about 13,500 violent crimes in 2018 – a rate higher than cities with double the population. Detroit’s scarce economic opportunities have led to an annual unemployment rate of 9.0% and 37.9% of residents living below the poverty line.

Notable City Comparisons

Even with a population of about 8.5 million people, New York City is not even in the 50 most dangerous cities in the United States. New York City has 295 homicides in 2018, which is less than Philadelphia’s 351 despite having a population five times the size of Philadelphia. Philadelphia takes the number 40 spot on the most dangerous cities list. Chicago had the highest number of homicides in 2018 with 563; almost double that of New York, which has triple the population as Chicago.

Understanding Crime Statistics

A city with a high violent crime rate does not indicate that the entire city is unsafe. Within each city, violence is hyper-local, meaning that violence is usually more common in specific neighborhoods or “block-by-block.”

The most dangerous city in the United States usually changes from year to year. The data that is taken into consideration when determining which state is the most dangerous revolves around two aspects of a city.

The first concept that researchers tend to look at is the violent crime rate of a given area. The second detail that is looked at is how likely it is that a random passerby will be a victim of some type of crime. The most recent city to be named the most dangerous in 2019 is Bessemer, which is in the state of Alabama.

Additional Considerations

Some of the most dangerous parts of the world cannot even be considered in this list of top one hundred most dangerous US cities because, due to their population sizes, they cannot be classified as cities. So, just because a location is not listed in the queue of most dangerous United States cities does not make it safe necessarily. You should always look into the area that you plan to visit. On that note, here is a list of the top one hundred most dangerous cities in the United States as of 2019…

• Bessemer, Alabama
• East St. Louis, Illinois
• Monroe, Louisiana
• St. Louis, Missouri
• Detroit, Michigan
• Baltimore, Maryland
• Memphis, Tennessee
• Camden, New Jersey
• Flint, Michigan
• Pine Bluff, Arkansas
• Danville, Illinois
• Gadsden, Alabama
• Kansas City, Missouri
• Wilmington, Delaware
• Little Rock, Arkansas
• Rockford, Illinois
• Saginaw, Michigan
• Chester, Pennsylvania
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
• San Bernardino, California
• Cleveland, Ohio
• Alexandria, Louisiana
• Stockton, California
• Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Riviera Beach, Florida
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Springfield, Missouri
• East Point, Georgia
• Oakland, California
• Lake Worth, Florida
• Florence, South Carolina
• Trenton, New Jersey
• Texarkana, Texas
• Shawnee, Oklahoma
• Newburgh, New York
• Muskogee, Oklahoma
• Wheeling, West Virginia
• Charleston, West Virginia
• Kalamazoo, Michigan
• Anchorage, Alaska
• Compton, California
• Jackson, Missouri
• Canton, Ohio
• Nashville, Tennessee
• Clinton, Iowa
• Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
• Albany, Georgia
• Niagara Falls, New York
• Farmington, New Mexico
• Lansing, Michigan
• New Orleans, Louisiana
• Houston, Texas
• Atlantic City, New Jersey
• Daytona Beach, Florida
• Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Chicago, Illinois
• Hartford, Connecticut
• Holyoke, Massachusetts
• Pontiac, Michigan
• Springfield, Illinois
• York, Pennsylvania
• Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Beaumont, Texas
• Salisbury, Maryland
• Pueblo, Colorado
• Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• South Bend, Indiana
• Wichita, Kansas
• North Las Vegas, Nevada
• Buffalo, New York
• Washington, D.C.
• Battle Creek, Michigan
• Jackson, Tennessee
• Fall River, Massachusetts
• Huntington, West Virginia
• Modesto, California
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Shreveport, Louisiana
• Homestead, Florida
• Miami Beach, Florida
• Brockton, Massachusetts
• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Fort Myers, Florida
• Chicago Heights, Illinois
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Juneau, Alaska
• Burlington, Iowa
• Richmond, California
• North Charleston, South Carolina
• Lauderhill, Florida
• Port Huron, Michigan
• Jacksonville, Arkansas
• Newark, New Jersey
• Huntsville, Alabama
• Rochester, New York
• Knoxville, Tennessee
• Albany, New York

Definitions & Methodology