Most Dangerous Cities in America 2026
Every year, millions of Americans consult crime statistics before deciding where to live, work, invest, or travel. In 2026, the backdrop for that decision-making is historically unusual: the United States is experiencing what the Council on Criminal Justice describes as potentially the most dramatic and sustained decline in violent crime ever recorded — with homicides falling 21% in 2025 compared to 2024 across 35 major tracked cities, following back-to-back record national declines of 10% in 2023 and 14.9% in 2024. Yet despite this extraordinary nationwide trajectory, a distinct cluster of American cities continues to experience violent crime rates that are three to seven times the national average, with homicide rates that rival the most dangerous cities in the world. These cities — concentrated overwhelmingly in the South, the Midwest’s industrial core, and the Southwest — tell a story that national averages cannot: that the burden of lethal violence in America is not evenly distributed, and that the gap between the nation’s most dangerous and safest cities has never been wider.
The national violent crime rate in 2024 stood at 359.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, the lowest recorded figure in roughly 20 years, according to the FBI’s Reported Crimes in the Nation 2024 data released in August 2025. Yet in Memphis, Tennessee — the most dangerous large city in America by violent crime rate — that rate was 2,501 per 100,000, nearly seven times the national average. In Jackson, Mississippi, the city with the highest per-capita homicide rate of any city with a population above 130,000, the murder rate reached an estimated 53+ per 100,000 — more than ten times the national figure of 5.0. This article brings together the most current verified data from the FBI, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Council on Criminal Justice, and local law enforcement agencies to deliver the definitive, data-driven guide to the most dangerous cities in the United States in 2026.
Key Facts: Most Dangerous Cities in the U.S. 2026
QUICK FACTS: U.S. Cities — Violent Crime Snapshot 2026
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Fact Value
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
National violent crime rate (2024, FBI) 359.1 per 100,000
Lowest national rate since ~2004 (roughly 20 years)
Most dangerous large city (violent crime) Memphis, TN — 2,501/100k
Most dangerous city by homicide rate Jackson, MS — 53+ per 100k
National homicide rate (2024, FBI) 5.0 per 100,000
2024 murder decline nationwide -14.9%
2025 homicide decline (35 cities, CCJ) -21%
No. of cities above 1,000 violent crimes/100k 10+ cities
No. of cities declining 2024 → 2025 31 of 35 tracked cities
Top 10 most dangerous cities (250k+ pop.) Memphis, Oakland, Detroit,
Baltimore, Cleveland,
Kansas City, Milwaukee,
St. Louis, Albuquerque,
Minneapolis
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
| Fact | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| National violent crime rate (2024) | 359.1 per 100,000 | FBI UCR 2024 |
| Most dangerous large city (violent crime) | Memphis, TN — 2,501 per 100,000 | FBI UCR 2024 / USAFacts |
| Most dangerous city by homicide rate | Jackson, MS — ~53+ per 100,000 | WLBT / CCJ 2026 |
| 2nd most dangerous (violent crime) | Oakland, CA — 1,925 per 100,000 | FBI UCR / USAFacts 2024 |
| 3rd most dangerous (violent crime) | Detroit, MI — 1,781 per 100,000 | FBI UCR / USAFacts 2024 |
| National murder rate (2024, FBI) | 5.0 per 100,000 | FBI UCR 2024 |
| Memphis murder rate (2024) | ~40 per 100,000 | Memphis Police Dept. |
| Baltimore homicide rate (2024) | 35.2 per 100,000 | CCJ Year-End 2024 Update |
| Detroit homicide rate (2024) | 37.0 per 100,000 | CCJ Year-End 2024 Update |
| St. Louis homicide rate (2024) | 48.6 per 100,000 | CCJ Year-End 2024 Update |
| National homicide decline (2023→2024) | -14.9% | FBI UCR 2024 |
| Homicide decline across 35 cities (2025) | -21% | CCJ Year-End 2025 Update |
| Cities with homicides still above 2019 levels | More than 60% (of CCJ sample) | CCJ Mid-Year 2025 |
| Kansas City violent crime rate (2024) | 1,547 per 100,000 | The Hill / FBI 2024 |
| Milwaukee violent crime rate (2024) | 1,431 per 100,000 | The Hill / FBI 2024 |
| Albuquerque violent crime rate (2024) | 1,182 per 100,000 | FBI UCR 2024 |
| Baltimore homicide clearance rate (2024) | 68.2% | Baltimore Mayor’s Office |
| Washington D.C. homicide rate (2023→2024) | 39 → 26 per 100,000 (-32%) | Stateline / FBI 2024 |
| Memphis 2025 improvement (murders) | -26% vs. 2024 | Memphis Police Dept. 2025 Year-End |
| Baltimore 2025 improvement (homicides) | -30% vs. 2024 | NPR / CCJ Jan 2026 |
Data Sources: FBI Reported Crimes in the Nation 2024 (August 2025); Council on Criminal Justice Year-End 2024 and 2025 Updates; USAFacts, “How Does Crime Compare by City?” (November 2025); Stateline analysis of FBI data (October 2025); The Hill, FBI data analysis (September 2025)
The facts table above captures a paradox that defines American crime statistics in 2026: a nation experiencing its best overall crime numbers in decades, simultaneously home to cities where residents face homicide rates exceeding those of many active conflict zones. Memphis’s violent crime rate of 2,501 per 100,000 means roughly 1 in every 40 residents was a victim of a violent crime in 2024 alone — and despite the city’s impressive 26% reduction in murders in 2025, it still leads all major American cities in violent crime rate. St. Louis’s homicide rate of 48.6 per 100,000 in 2024 — even after a 33% decline from its 2019 peak of 72.1 — is nearly ten times the national average. And while 31 of 35 cities tracked by the CCJ saw homicide declines in 2025, more than 60% of those same cities still had higher homicide rates than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic. The decline is real, historic, and meaningful. The baseline it is declining from, in the most dangerous American cities, remains staggering.
Top 10 Most Dangerous Cities in the U.S. 2026 | Violent Crime Rate Rankings
TOP 10 MOST DANGEROUS CITIES (250,000+ POPULATION) — VIOLENT CRIME RATE PER 100,000 (2024)
Source: FBI UCR 2024 / Stateline / USAFacts
Memphis, TN ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ 2,501
Oakland, CA █████████████████████████████████████████████ 1,925
Detroit, MI ████████████████████████████████████████ 1,781
Baltimore, MD ████████████████████████████████████████ 1,700 (est.)
Cleveland, OH ███████████████████████████████████████ 1,665 (est.)
Kansas City, MO ████████████████████████████████████ 1,547
Milwaukee, WI ████████████████████████████████████ 1,431
St. Louis, MO █████████████████████████████████ 1,400 (est.)
Albuquerque, NM ██████████████████████████████ 1,182
Minneapolis, MN ████████████████████████████ 1,108 (est.)
National Avg ██████ 359.1
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500
Violent crimes per 100,000 residents
| Rank | City | Violent Crime Rate (per 100,000, 2024) | Homicide Rate (per 100,000, 2024) |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Memphis, TN | 2,501 | ~40 |
| #2 | Oakland, CA | 1,925 | ~22 |
| #3 | Detroit, MI | 1,781 | ~37 |
| #4 | Baltimore, MD | ~1,700 (est.) | 35.2 |
| #5 | Cleveland, OH | ~1,665 (est.) | ~28 |
| #6 | Kansas City, MO | 1,547 | ~25 |
| #7 | Milwaukee, WI | 1,431 | ~28 |
| #8 | St. Louis, MO | ~1,400 (est.) | 48.6 |
| #9 | Albuquerque, NM | 1,182 | ~16 |
| #10 | Minneapolis, MN | ~1,108 (est.) | ~14 |
| — | National Average | 359.1 | 5.0 |
Data Sources: FBI UCR 2024 (August 2025); Stateline analysis, “Trump Isn’t Sending Troops to Cities With Highest Crime Rates” (October 2025); USAFacts, “How Does Crime Compare by City?” (November 2025); Council on Criminal Justice Year-End 2024 Update (January 2026). Note: estimates marked (est.) use multiple source cross-reference where direct FBI city-level 2024 data was not fully submitted.
The Top 10 most dangerous U.S. cities ranking for 2026 confirms patterns that researchers have documented for years, while also revealing the dramatic scale of the gap between these cities and the national baseline. Every single city in this top ten has a violent crime rate more than three times the national average of 359.1 per 100,000, and the top four — Memphis, Oakland, Detroit, and Baltimore — all exceed 1,700 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. What is equally striking is the geographic composition: all ten cities are located in either the South (Memphis, Baltimore), the Midwest (Detroit, Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Minneapolis), or the Southwest (Albuquerque, Oakland). Not a single city in the Northeast or Pacific Northwest appears in the top ten, despite the media attention those regions often receive around crime debates. The Stateline ranking, based on FBI data and limited to cities with populations of 250,000 or more, is widely considered the most methodologically sound comparative dataset available for 2024. St. Louis’s homicide rate of 48.6 per 100,000 — among the highest homicide-specific rates in the top ten — is nearly ten times the national figure despite significant recent improvement, while Albuquerque’s 1,182 violent crimes per 100,000 reflects the particular challenges of New Mexico’s largest city, which ranks among the worst in both violent crime and property crime simultaneously.
Most Dangerous Cities by Homicide Rate in the U.S. 2026
HOMICIDE RATE — SELECTED U.S. CITIES (Per 100,000 Residents, 2024)
Source: CCJ, WLBT, FBI, Local Police Departments
Jackson, MS ████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ~53
St. Louis, MO ████████████████████████████████████████████████ 48.6
Baltimore, MD ████████████████████████████████████ 35.2
Detroit, MI ████████████████████████████████████ 37.0
Memphis, TN ██████████████████████████████████████ ~40
New Orleans, LA████████████████████████████ ~34 (est.)
Cleveland, OH ████████████████████████████ ~28
Milwaukee, WI ████████████████████████ ~28
Kansas City, MO█████████████████████████ ~25
Birmingham, AL ██████████████████████████ ~29 (2024)
Chicago, IL ████████████████████ ~19
Washington DC ████████████████████ 26
National Avg █████ 5.0
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0 10 20 30 40 50 55
Homicide rate per 100,000 residents
| City | Homicide Rate per 100,000 (2024) | Total Homicides (2024) | Trend vs. 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jackson, MS | ~53 | ~111 | Down ~3% from 2023 |
| St. Louis, MO | 48.6 | ~148 | -33% from 2019 peak (72.1) |
| Memphis, TN | ~40 | ~510 | Down year-over-year |
| Detroit, MI | 37.0 | ~355 | Lowest since 2013 |
| Baltimore, MD | 35.2 | ~197 | -23% from 2023; lowest since 1970s |
| Birmingham, AL | ~29 | 151 | Decline beginning 2025 |
| Cleveland, OH | ~28 | ~100 | Elevated vs. national avg. |
| Milwaukee, WI | ~28 | ~135 | Slight increase 2024–2025 |
| Washington, D.C. | 26 | ~163 | -32% decline 2023→2024 |
| Kansas City, MO | ~25 | 144 | 12% increase in nonfatal shootings |
| New Orleans, LA | ~34 (est.) | ~110 (est.) | Significant improvement since 2022 peak |
| Chicago, IL | ~19 | ~530 | Declining; 13th nationally by rate |
| National Average | 5.0 | 15,795 | -14.9% |
Data Sources: WLBT / 3 On Your Side Analysis, “Jackson Remains Deadliest City in Nation” (January 2026); Council on Criminal Justice Year-End 2024 Update (January 2026); Council on Criminal Justice Year-End 2025 Update (March 2026); The Hill, FBI data analysis (September 2025); Baltimore Police Department 2025 Mid-Year Crime Report
The homicide rate ranking tells a strikingly different story than the broader violent crime ranking — and understanding why reveals something important about the geography of American violence. Jackson, Mississippi — a city of roughly 160,000 residents — holds the highest homicide rate of any U.S. city with a population above 130,000, at an estimated 53+ per 100,000, according to WLBT’s January 2026 analysis cross-referencing local police data and county health records. To put that figure in perspective: Jackson’s homicide rate is more than ten times the national average and comparable to rates found in some of the world’s most violence-afflicted cities in Latin America. The city closed 2024 with 111 confirmed homicides, and while that represents a slight improvement from 155 in 2021, it is still the third consecutive year above the 100-homicide mark — an unprecedented run for a city its size. St. Louis follows at 48.6 per 100,000 for 2024 — down dramatically from its 72.1 peak in 2019 but still nearly ten times the national rate. The critical insight here is that Chicago, which receives far more national media attention than any other city on crime, ranked 13th nationally by homicide rate in 2022 and roughly the same position in 2024 — with a rate of approximately 19 per 100,000 that, while disturbing in absolute terms, places it well below Jackson, St. Louis, Baltimore, Detroit, Memphis, Birmingham, and several other cities that receive far less coverage.
#1 Memphis, Tennessee — Most Dangerous Large City in the U.S. 2026
MEMPHIS CRIME PROFILE 2024 vs. NATIONAL AVERAGE
Source: FBI UCR 2024 / Memphis Police Department
Violent Crime Rate:
Memphis ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ 2,501/100k
National ████████ 359.1/100k
(6.9x higher)
Murder Rate:
Memphis ████████████████████████████████████████████ ~40/100k
National █████ 5.0/100k
Aggravated Assault:
Memphis ████████████████████████████████████████████████████ 2,042/100k
National ██████████ 232/100k
| Crime Category | Memphis Rate (2024) | National Average (2024) | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Violent Crime | 2,501 per 100,000 | 359.1 per 100,000 | ~7x national avg. |
| Murder / Non-negligent manslaughter | ~40 per 100,000 | 5.0 per 100,000 | ~8x national avg. |
| Aggravated Assault | ~2,042 per 100,000 | ~232 per 100,000 | ~8.8x national avg. |
| Gun involvement in assaults (2024) | 72.4% of cases | ~45% national est. | Significantly elevated |
| 2025 murder decline | -26% vs. 2024 | — | Memphis Police Dept. |
| 2025 overall Part I crime decline | -27% vs. 2024 | — | Memphis Police Dept. |
| 2025 carjacking decline | -48% vs. 2024 | — | Memphis Police Dept. |
| Population (approx.) | ~620,000 | — | Shelby County metro |
Data Sources: FBI UCR 2024; USAFacts, “How Does Crime Compare by City?” (November 2025); BlackAmericaWeb, “Most Dangerous Cities in the U.S. 2026” (April 2026); GetSafeAndSound, “20 Most Dangerous Cities in the U.S.” (March 2026)
Memphis, Tennessee has occupied the top position on the violent crime rankings for large American cities for multiple consecutive years, and 2024 was no different. With a violent crime rate of 2,501 per 100,000 — nearly seven times the national average of 359.1 — Memphis’s crime problem is not a marginal deviation from national norms but a structural crisis rooted in decades of concentrated poverty, residential segregation, and inadequate investment in violence prevention infrastructure. The most common crime in the city is aggravated assault at approximately 2,042 per 100,000 — a figure that eclipses the entire violent crime rate of most American cities. Gun involvement in assaults reached 72.4% of cases in 2024, significantly above national norms, underscoring that Memphis’s violence problem is inseparable from its gun proliferation challenge. The city also recorded one of the highest aggravated assault rates in the entire nation among cities of any size, driven partly by a concentration of poverty in neighborhoods like Whitehaven, Orange Mound, and Frayser, where property crime rates exceed 5,800 per 100,000 in the most affected areas.
The 2025 picture in Memphis, however, is genuinely encouraging. The Memphis Police Department’s year-end 2025 report documented a 26% drop in murders, a 22% reduction in aggravated assaults, a 31% decline in robberies, and a 48% plunge in carjackings compared to 2024 — representing a broad-based improvement across nearly every violent crime category. Nearly 500 fewer Memphians were injured in shootings in 2025 compared to 2024, a human impact figure that goes far beyond statistics. Despite this progress, Memphis still leads all major U.S. cities in violent crime rate in the most recent available full-year FBI data, and researchers note that single-year improvements — however significant — must be sustained over multiple years to constitute genuine structural change in a city where elevated crime has been the norm for more than two decades.
#2–#4: Oakland, Detroit, and Baltimore in the U.S. 2026
VIOLENT CRIME RATES: OAKLAND, DETROIT, BALTIMORE vs. NATIONAL (2024)
Source: FBI UCR / CCJ / USAFacts
Oakland, CA ████████████████████████████████████████████████ 1,925 violent/100k
██████████████████████████████████████ 2,279 motor vehicle theft/100k
Detroit, MI ████████████████████████████████████████████ 1,781 violent/100k
Homicide rate: ████████████████████████████████ 37.0/100k
Baltimore,MD ████████████████████████████████████████ ~1,700 violent/100k
Homicide rate: ████████████████████████████████ 35.2/100k
2025 clearance: ████████████████████████████████████████ 68.2%
National Avg ████████ 359.1/100k
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500
| City | Violent Crime Rate (2024) | Homicide Rate (2024) | 2025 Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oakland, CA | 1,925 per 100,000 | ~22 per 100,000 | Mixed; property crime improving |
| Detroit, MI | 1,781 per 100,000 | 37.0 per 100,000 | Lowest homicides in 50+ years (2025) |
| Baltimore, MD | ~1,700 per 100,000 (est.) | 35.2 per 100,000 | -30% homicides in 2025; historic low |
| Oakland motor vehicle theft | 2,279 per 100,000 | — | Improving nationally in 2025 |
| Baltimore homicide clearance (2024) | — | — | 68.2% (up from 40.3% in 2020) |
| Detroit homicides (2025) | — | — | Fewest in more than 50 years |
Data Sources: FBI UCR 2024; USAFacts November 2025; Council on Criminal Justice Year-End 2024 (January 2026); Baltimore Police Department 2025 Mid-Year Report; Newsweek / Detroit Mayor’s Office (August 2025); NPR, “Baltimore’s Crime Rate Dropped Dramatically in 2025” (January 2026)
Oakland, California holds the second-highest violent crime rate among major U.S. cities at 1,925 per 100,000 — five times the national average — and leads the nation in several property crime categories, including motor vehicle theft at 2,279 per 100,000 and robbery among mid-sized cities. The city’s homicide rate of approximately 22 per 100,000 is less extreme than Baltimore or Detroit in relative terms, but its total crime burden, combining violent and property offenses, produces one of the most challenging urban crime environments in America. Oakland’s property crime rate of approximately 7,230 per 100,000 — more than four times the national average — is driven partly by organized retail theft networks and carjacking clusters in East and West Oakland, though the national property crime rate hit its lowest level since 1961 in 2024, and 2025 data indicates further improvement.
Detroit, Michigan — at 1,781 per 100,000 for violent crime and 37.0 per 100,000 for homicide in 2024 — is in the midst of arguably the most significant turnaround of any high-crime American city in the modern era. Detroit’s 2024 homicide rate was the lowest the city had experienced since 2013, and the Mayor’s Office told Newsweek in August 2025 that Detroit was recording the fewest homicides, shootings, and carjackings in more than 50 years. The city’s recovery is rooted in a combination of sustained community violence intervention programs, improved police-community relations, and the gradual economic stabilization that has followed Detroit’s landmark 2013 bankruptcy. Baltimore, Maryland tells a similarly dramatic recovery story. From a peak of 348 homicides in 2019 and a homicide rate well above 50 per 100,000, Baltimore closed 2024 with 197 homicides at a rate of 35.2 per 100,000 — between its 2013 and 2014 rates — and has continued declining sharply in 2025, with homicides down nearly 30% from 2024, per NPR’s January 2026 report. Baltimore’s homicide clearance rate — the share of murders that result in an arrest — climbed from 40.3% in 2020 to 68.2% in 2024, a transformation that researchers attribute directly to targeted violence reduction strategies and improved detective resource deployment.
Most Dangerous Cities by Property Crime in the U.S. 2026
PROPERTY CRIME RATE — TOP CITIES (Per 100,000 Residents, 2024)
Source: FBI UCR 2024 / SafeHome / USAFacts
Oakland, CA ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ 7,230
Albuquerque, NM █████████████████████████████████████████████████ 6,400 (est.)
Memphis, TN ████████████████████████████████████████████████ 5,800+ (some nbhds)
Tulsa, OK ████████████████████████████████████████ 4,900 (est.)
Cleveland, OH ████████████████████████████████████████ ~4,800 (est.)
Houston, TX ████████████████████████████████████ est. elevated
National Avg ████████████████ 1,835.1
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 7,500
Property crimes per 100,000 residents
| City | Property Crime Rate (2024, est.) | Key Property Crime Driver |
|---|---|---|
| Oakland, CA | ~7,230 per 100,000 | Motor vehicle theft (2,279/100k), robbery, larceny |
| Albuquerque, NM | ~6,400 per 100,000 (est.) | Auto theft, burglary, larceny |
| Memphis, TN | 5,800+ (worst neighborhoods) | Burglary, motor vehicle theft |
| Tulsa, OK | ~4,900 (est.) | Property crime concentrated; drug corridors |
| Cleveland, OH | ~4,800 (est.) | Highest burglary rate among mid-sized cities |
| National Average (2024) | 1,835.1 per 100,000 | FBI UCR (lowest since 1961) |
| National property crime decline (2024) | -8.1% vs. 2023 | FBI UCR 2024 |
| National motor vehicle theft decline (2024) | -18.6% | FBI UCR 2024 |
| National motor vehicle theft decline (2025) | -27% | CCJ Year-End 2025 Update |
Data Sources: FBI UCR 2024; BlackAmericaWeb, “Most Dangerous Cities in the U.S. 2026” (April 2026); SafeHome.org, “2025 Crime Rates in U.S. Cities Report” (October 2025); CCJ Year-End 2025 Update (March 2026); USAFacts November 2025
While homicide and violent crime naturally dominate rankings of dangerous cities, property crime is statistically far more likely to affect the average American resident — and several cities that don’t always make the top violent crime lists are among the nation’s most challenging environments for property safety. Oakland, California leads the nation in total property crime at an estimated 7,230 per 100,000 — more than four times the national average of 1,835.1 per 100,000, which itself is the lowest recorded figure since 1961. Oakland’s property crime crisis is largely driven by organized criminal networks engaged in motor vehicle theft (2,279 per 100,000), robbery, and large-scale retail theft operations that have driven numerous businesses out of the city’s downtown core in recent years. Albuquerque, New Mexico follows closely with an estimated 6,400 per 100,000, sustained by high rates of auto theft that have made it one of the most challenging environments for car owners in the country. The good news is that the national trajectory is sharply downward: motor vehicle theft fell 18.6% nationally in 2024 and a further 27% in 2025, representing one of the most dramatic crime-category reversals in the FBI’s modern reporting history. Cleveland holds the unenviable distinction of recording the highest burglary rate among mid-sized U.S. cities, combining that with elevated violent crime rates to create a particularly broad and pervasive safety challenge across the city’s residential and commercial neighborhoods.
Improving Cities: Biggest Declines in Homicides in the U.S. 2026
BIGGEST HOMICIDE RATE DECLINES IN 2025 vs. 2024 (35-City CCJ Sample)
Source: Council on Criminal Justice Year-End 2025 Update (March 2026)
Washington DC █████████████████████████████████████████ -40% (2024→2025)
Omaha, NE █████████████████████████████████████████ -40%
Denver, CO ████████████████████████████████████████ -41%
Baltimore, MD ████████████████████████████████████████ ~-30% (broader 2025 data)
Birmingham, AL █████████████████████████████████ -40% (151 → ~91)
St. Louis, MO ██████████████████████████ -22% (mid-year 2025)
Detroit, MI ██████████████████████████ 50-yr low (2025)
Memphis, TN ████████████████████ -26%
Little Rock, AR ████ +16% (INCREASED — outlier)
Milwaukee, WI ██ +8% (INCREASED — outlier)
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-50% -40% -30% -20% -10% 0% +10% +20%
Percentage change in homicide rate (2024→2025)
| City | Homicide Trend (2024→2025) | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Denver, CO | -41% | Largest percentage decrease in CCJ sample |
| Washington, D.C. | -40% | Down from 26/100k in 2024; historic improvement |
| Omaha, NE | -40% | Largest CCJ-tracked decline tied with Denver/DC |
| Baltimore, MD | -30% (full year 2025 est.) | Largest 2019→2025 drop: -60% |
| Birmingham, AL | ~-40% | 151 homicides → ~91 in 2025 |
| St. Louis, MO | -22% (mid-year 2025) | Lowest mid-year numbers in over a decade |
| Detroit, MI | Record-low (2025) | Fewest homicides, shootings, carjackings in 50+ years |
| Memphis, TN | -26% | Still leads nation in violent crime rate |
| Little Rock, AR | +16% | Largest increase in CCJ 2025 sample |
| Milwaukee, WI | +8% | Only Great Lakes city trending wrong way in 2025 |
| Cities below 2019 homicide levels (2025) | 27 of 35 cities | CCJ Year-End 2025 Update |
Data Sources: Council on Criminal Justice, “Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Year-End 2025 Update” (March 2026); NPR, “Baltimore’s Crime Rate Dropped Dramatically in 2025” (January 2026); SafeHome.org, “2025 Crime Rates in U.S. Cities Report” (October 2025); Memphis Police Department 2025 Year-End Report
The improving cities data tells a story that is as important as the rankings of the most dangerous: American cities are, at scale, becoming significantly safer, and several of the most historically violent cities in the nation are experiencing generational turning points. Denver, Washington D.C., and Omaha all achieved approximately 40% homicide declines from 2024 to 2025, while Baltimore’s trajectory since 2019 stands out as perhaps the most remarkable crime reduction story in the United States — homicides fell 60% from 2019 to 2025, transforming a city that had experienced 300+ murders per year for much of the 2010s into one that recorded fewer than 140 homicides in 2025 by year-end. Baltimore’s success is widely attributed to a combination of its Group Violence Reduction Strategy targeting the small number of individuals most at risk of violence, Safe Streets community violence intervention programs employing violence interrupters with neighborhood credibility, and a sustained focus on improving the homicide clearance rate — which climbed from 40.3% in 2020 to 68.2% in 2024 — sending a powerful deterrence signal. St. Louis and Detroit are writing similar recovery stories, with St. Louis recording its lowest mid-year murder numbers in over a decade in 2025, and Detroit achieving the fewest homicides, shootings, and carjackings in more than 50 years.
The two cities that bucked the improvement trend most sharply — Little Rock, Arkansas (+16%) and Milwaukee, Wisconsin (+8%) — illustrate that the national decline is not universal. Little Rock, in particular, represents an outlier that criminologists are watching closely: while 31 of 35 CCJ-tracked cities declined in 2025, Little Rock’s increase was the largest single-city homicide increase in the entire CCJ dataset for that year.
Safest Large Cities in the U.S. 2026 | Comparison
SAFEST LARGE CITIES (100,000+ POPULATION) — VIOLENT CRIME RATE 2024
Source: FBI UCR 2024 / USAFacts November 2025
Carmel, IN █ 66 per 100k
Irvine, CA ██ 72 per 100k
Gilbert, AZ ██ 87 per 100k
Virginia Beach ███ 108 per 100k
Plano, TX ███ 115 per 100k
San Jose, CA ████████ 277 per 100k
New York, NY ████████ ~280 per 100k (est.)
Los Angeles, CA █████████████████████ 627 per 100k
National Avg ████████ 359.1
Memphis, TN ████████████████████████████████████████████████ 2,501 per 100k (ref.)
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500
Violent crimes per 100,000
| City | Violent Crime Rate (2024) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Carmel, IN | 66 per 100,000 | Lowest of any 100,000+ population city |
| Irvine, CA | ~72 per 100,000 | Consistently one of the safest large U.S. cities |
| Gilbert, AZ | ~87 per 100,000 | Suburban Phoenix; rapid population growth |
| Virginia Beach, VA | ~108 per 100,000 | Military presence; strong community programs |
| Plano, TX | ~115 per 100,000 | Dallas suburb; high income, low poverty rate |
| San Jose, CA | ~277 per 100,000 | Largest city below national average |
| New York, NY | ~280 per 100,000 (est.) | Ranks #32 nationally; relatively moderate rate |
| Los Angeles, CA | ~627 per 100,000 | Above national avg. but improving |
| National Average | 359.1 per 100,000 | FBI UCR 2024 |
Data Sources: FBI UCR 2024; USAFacts, “How Does Crime Compare by City?” (November 2025); Security.org, “Which U.S. Cities Are the Most Dangerous?” (October 2025)
The safest large cities data provides crucial context for understanding the full spectrum of urban safety in America in 2026. Carmel, Indiana — a suburb of Indianapolis with a population of roughly 100,000 — recorded a violent crime rate of just 66 per 100,000 in 2024, the lowest of any city meeting the 100,000 population threshold in FBI data. That figure is nearly 38 times lower than Memphis’s rate of 2,501 — an extraordinary differential that reflects the enormous variation in urban safety across American communities. Irvine, California and Gilbert, Arizona round out the top three safest, both recording violent crime rates below 100 per 100,000 despite being large, rapidly growing cities. One of the most notable findings in the 2024 data is the performance of New York City: at an estimated 280 per 100,000 violent crime rate, New York ranks 32nd nationally among cities with populations above 250,000 — well below the national average and dramatically lower than its reputation as a dangerous city would suggest. Los Angeles, at approximately 627 per 100,000, sits above the national average but is improving — its homicide rate dropped from 8 to 7 per 100,000 from 2023 to 2024 — and ranks far safer than Sun Belt cities like Memphis or Jackson by almost every metric.
U.S. City Crime Trends 2025 | Overall Picture
U.S. CITY CRIME TRENDS — 2025 vs. 2024 (CCJ Year-End 2025 Update, 35 Cities)
Homicides ████████████████████████████████████████████████████ -21%
Gun Assaults ████████████████████████████████████████████ -22%
Robbery ████████████████████████████████████████████████████ -23%
Carjackings ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ -43%
Aggravated Assault ██████████████████████████ -9%
Sexual Assault █████████████████████████████████████████ -10%
Motor Vehicle Theft█████████████████████████████████████████████████ -27%
Domestic Violence ▬▬▬ +3%
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-50% -40% -30% -20% -10% 0% +5%
Percent change 2024→2025
| Crime Category | 2025 Change vs. 2024 | 2025 vs. 2019 (pre-pandemic) |
|---|---|---|
| Homicides | -21% | -14% below 2019 in study cities |
| Gun assaults | -22% | -4% below 2019 |
| Robbery | -23% | -30% below 2019 |
| Carjackings | -43% | -3% below 2019 |
| Sexual assaults | -10% | -28% below 2019 |
| Aggravated assaults | -9% | -5% below 2019 |
| Motor vehicle theft | -27% | Still above 2019 nationally |
| Residential burglary | -17% | -36% below 2019 |
| Domestic violence | +3% | Above 2019 — only major category increasing |
| Cities with 2025 homicides below 2019 | 27 of 35 (77%) | CCJ Year-End 2025 |
Data Sources: Council on Criminal Justice, “Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Year-End 2025 Update” (March 2026); CCJ Mid-Year 2025 Update (July 2025)
The 2025 crime trend data from the Council on Criminal Justice — tracking 35 major American cities through their year-end 2025 update, published in March 2026 — is the most comprehensive city-level crime picture available as of June 2026. Every major violent crime category declined significantly: homicides -21%, gun assaults -22%, robbery -23%, carjackings -43%, sexual assaults -10%, and aggravated assaults -9%. Property crime mirrored these trends, with motor vehicle theft — which had surged during the pandemic and reached crisis levels in 2022 and 2023 — falling 27% in 2025 after an 18.6% decline in 2024, representing a two-year cumulative decline of roughly 40%. Residential burglaries are now 36% below their 2019 pre-pandemic levels, a remarkable sustained improvement. The one stubborn exception is domestic violence, which rose approximately 3% in 2025 — the only major crime category moving in the wrong direction nationally, and a finding that experts connect to pandemic-era deterioration in household economic conditions and mental health access that has not yet fully resolved.
The 2019-to-2025 comparison is equally revealing. 77% of the 35 CCJ-tracked cities had lower homicide rates in 2025 than in 2019 — meaning that the pandemic surge has been not merely reversed but more than reversed in the majority of tracked cities. Robbery is down 30% compared to 2019; sexual assaults are down 28%. Baltimore’s decline since 2019 stands at 60%, the largest in the entire dataset. Only a handful of cities — led by Milwaukee (+42% vs. 2019) and Colorado Springs (+94% vs. 2019) — still had 2025 homicide rates meaningfully above pre-pandemic baselines, representing outliers in an otherwise sweeping national improvement story.
Frequently Asked Questions: Most Dangerous Cities in the U.S. 2026
Q: What is the most dangerous city in the United States in 2026? Based on the most recent confirmed FBI 2024 data, Memphis, Tennessee is the most dangerous large city (250,000+ population) by violent crime rate at 2,501 violent crimes per 100,000 — nearly seven times the national average of 359.1. By homicide rate specifically, Jackson, Mississippi holds the top position at an estimated 53+ homicides per 100,000 among cities with populations above 130,000, per WLBT and CCJ analysis published in January 2026.
Q: Is crime actually going down in dangerous cities in 2026? Yes — dramatically so. The Council on Criminal Justice’s Year-End 2025 Update found homicides fell 21% in 2025 compared to 2024 across 35 major tracked cities, following a 14.9% national decline in 2024 and a 10% decline in 2023. Memphis saw a 26% drop in murders in 2025, Baltimore a 30% drop, and Detroit achieved its lowest homicide count in more than 50 years in 2025. However, more than 60% of tracked cities still had higher homicide rates in 2025 than in pre-pandemic 2019.
Q: Which cities have shown the most improvement in 2025? The largest homicide declines in 2025 among CCJ-tracked cities were: Denver (-41%), Washington D.C. (-40%), Omaha (-40%), and Baltimore (approximately -30%). Over the longer 2019–2025 period, Baltimore (-60%), Philadelphia, and St. Louis showed the most dramatic sustained improvements, per CCJ’s year-end 2025 report.
Q: Is Chicago really America’s most dangerous city? No — this is one of the most persistent misconceptions in American crime discourse. Chicago ranks approximately 13th nationally by homicide rate, with roughly 19 per 100,000 in 2024. Cities with far higher per-capita homicide rates include Jackson (~53), St. Louis (48.6), Memphis (~40), Detroit (37.0), Baltimore (35.2), Birmingham (~29), Cleveland (~28), Milwaukee (~28), and Washington D.C. (26). Chicago records high absolute numbers of homicides because of its large population — but per capita, it is far from the most dangerous large American city.
Q: What is the safest large city in the United States? Carmel, Indiana recorded the lowest violent crime rate of any U.S. city with a population over 100,000 in 2024, at just 66 per 100,000 — 38 times lower than Memphis. Irvine, California (72/100k) and Gilbert, Arizona (~87/100k) follow closely.
Disclaimer: The data research report we present here is based on information found from various sources. We are not liable for any financial loss, errors, or damages of any kind that may result from the use of the information herein. We acknowledge that though we try to report accurately, we cannot verify the absolute facts of everything that has been represented.
