Published: Aug 18, 2023
Duration: 00:26:37
Category: Education
Trending searches: us crime rate by year
Can you imagine living in a small town
where there’s a one in 9 chance of you being the victim of a serious crime, a town
where even popular vloggers get shot dead? That’s an actual place in the USA where
it seems nobody is untouched by violence. We’ll talk about this town later, but let’s
start with places that are only very dangerous, as opposed to unbelievably,
ridiculously, incredibly dangerous. 15. Battle Creek, Michigan
We’ll clarify something first; to fit the criteria of this show, we’ll say
by small, we mean less than a population of 50,000 people. The data we’ll use is from
the FBI. When the FBI counts violent crime, it means murder and nonnegligent manslaughter,
sexual misconduct, robbery, and aggravated assault. The US Bureau of Statistics describes
non-negligent manslaughter as “intentionally and without legal justification causing the death of
another when acting under extreme provocation.” Ok, let’s start.
For a show about violent crime, we couldn’t pick a better place to start than
a town named Battle Creek. The name relates to an incident in 1824 when a couple of Native
American men had a violent altercation with some white settlers, but what Battle Creek is
more well known for is the fact it’s the home of the Kellogg Company. That’s why it became known
as Cereal City. We’re surprised Kellog never named a cereal Capped n’ Crunch, or possibly Unlucky
Charms, because they would be fitting names. In Michigan, there are 4.95 crimes
per 1,000 people, but in Battle Creek, there are 12.08 crimes per 1000. The entire
population of Battle Creek is just over 50,000, so its barely made this list. You have a
one in 83 chance of being the victim of violent crime there. The most recent data reported 7
murders, 57 instances of sexual misconducts, 38 robberies, and 530 assaults. Many
towns with 200,000 have zero murders and zero reports of sexual misconduct,
although you might get the odd assault. Michigan has quite a few crime hotspots,
such as Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Flint, but those places aren’t classified as small towns.
They would struggle to compete with Battle Creek, anyway. Flint is home to 95,212 people and
had 1,284 violent crimes. Detroit’s population is 663,502, and it saw 13,040 violent crimes,
while Grand Rapids has just over 200,000 people, and it experienced 1,286 violent crimes.
We’ll leave you with a recent headline concerning Battle Creek, which tells
us, “14-year-old charged in the shooting death of Battle Creek Central student.”
Battle Creek can hold its own in the crime stakes, but as you’ll see later, there are
much worse small towns out there. 14. Paragould, Arkansas
The US violent crime rate shot up over the last few years, likely because
of the chaos caused by the pandemic. The murder and nonnegligent manslaughter rate in 2019
was just 5.1 per 100,000 people. In 2014, it was just 4.4. But in 2020, it climbed to 6.7,
and in 2021 to 6.9 per 100,000. The numbers aren’t all in yet for 2022, but it’s looking like it
was similar to 2021, a violent year, although not as bad as the naughty 90s and extreme 80s.
In Paragould, Arkansas, a town with a population of just 29,000, murder is not common. In fact,
the FBI statistics say there were no murders when they collected the data the last time, but
there were 26 reports of sexual misconduct, 8 robberies, and 328 assaults. Like Battle Creek,
if you live there, you have a one in 83 chance of becoming the victim of a violent crime.
A recent news report warned residents, “The Paragould Police Department is urging
you to be safe as more crime has plagued the city.” It talked about one day recently
when there were two shootings and a stabbing within 24 hours. Police said residents had been
calling them asking, “Should we be concerned?” Maybe, but residents of this next
place should be more concerned. 13. Dillingham, Alaska
Only about 2,300 people live in Dillingham, Alaska, where people do
a lot of fishing and, it seems, fighting. The thing with such small towns out in the
middle of nowhere is if there’s a criminal element to them, residents are very likely to
become a victim of those elements. In fact, reports state that in the northern part
of this town, residents have a one in 28 chance of becoming a victim of crime, but
if they live in the western bit of the town, it’s more like a one in 10 chance.
As crime statistics go, that’s grim. It’s grimmer when you learn that in 2007 it had
the highest per capita sexual misconduct rate in the US at one incident for every 103.9 people.
The latest crime news story we could find told us a 59-year-old man in 2023 got 13 years
in prison for exactly this type of crime. Per capita income for Dillingham is just
$21,537, well below the US average of $68,309. In Dillingham, 10.1% of families and
11.7% of the population live under the poverty line. As the Brits say, it’s grim up north.
You’ll hear more about British violence later. In this next town, the thing you
ought to fear is a bullet in the head. 12. Spartanburg, South Carolina
Spartanburg in name, maybe Spartanburg in nature, or at least the Sparta part of the word.
This town of around 38,000 people used to be famous for its textile mills, but that
was before deindustrialization happened. There were 585 violent crimes in this town
when the FBI released its data and a further 2,356 property crimes. That’s a lot for a
place this small. It means there are 15.23 violent crimes for every 1000 people and 61.35
property crimes for 1000 people. In general, if you live there, there’s a one in 66 chance
you’ll become the victim of a violent crime. There were 8 murders, 77 robberies, 27 reports
of sexual misconduct, and 473 assaults, according to the last data. The local police
chief recently said the opioid problem has been a big issue where crime is concerned, but he also
said people were not locking their cars enough, and firearms were being stolen from them.
Believe it or not, though, even with these dazzling crime statistics, the crime problem in
Spartanburg has improved over the last decade. Still, in 2022, 130 firearms were stolen,
and 78 were taken from vehicles. The chief also had this to say, “The opioid
problem is significant here in the city, and oftentimes it starts with prescription drugs,
but then it eventually flows into your heroin, your cocaine, you know that type of thing.
The fentanyl, which is extremely deadly.” Things could be worse.
11. Henderson, North Carolina For a place of just 15,000 people, Henderson
has quite a few famous people to its name. The musician Ben E. King and the talk show
host Charlie Rose both came from Henderson, living in what is a small place
of just 8.2 square miles (21 km2). On paper, it sounds like a lovely part of
America. Still, with the average income being just $23,745 and about one-quarter of
the population living below the poverty line, Henderson has its fair share of problems. The
data tells us there were 246 violent crimes as well as 639 property crimes the last time
the FBI collated its crime statistics list. In this small town, not much bigger than
what most of the world would call a village, there were 5 murders, 8 reports of sexual
misconduct, 39 robberies, and 194 assaults. If you live there, you have a one in 61 chance
of becoming the victim of a violent crime. That’s the same as North Carolina’s Laurinburg,
a town of 15,000 people that’s also one of the poorest places in the US. There was more murder
there (10) but fewer robberies. While poverty and violence correlate a lot, and we mean a lot, crime
rates are more complicated than people not having money. The per capita income in Emporia, Kansas,
is a lowly $17,485. 22.2% of the people live below the poverty line, including 22.9% of those
under age 18, the ones statistically more likely to murder someone. In Emporia, you have a one
in 667 chance of becoming the victim of violent crime. That’s the national average, believe it
or not. Many small towns are like that, but as you’ll see in this show, often, where there’s
poverty, there’s violence, just not all the time. Let’s put these numbers into perspective. In the
US, you have one in 11.5 million chance of being killed by a shark. Your chance of dying from a
terrorist attack is 1 in 45 million. The odds you’ll die in a plane crash are 1 in 205,552,
and the odds of being killed by lightning are 1 in 114,195. Meanwhile, the odds of winning
the Powerball lottery are one in 292 million. One of the most recent crime news stories we could
find was from March 2023, which reported, “A woman and two men have been charged with murder in the
shooting deaths of two men in a car last month.” You might think, well, all small towns
have news about murders. In fact, no, they don’t. Just 1% of US counties are
responsible for a massive 42% of America’s murders. Most towns don’t experience the
ultra-violence you’ll hear about today, which is about to get much worse.
10. Sauk Village, Illinois At just four square miles (10.35 km2), with a
population not even of 10,000, you’d think not much can happen in Sauk Village (about 28 miles
from downtown Chicago). You’d be wrong. Crime statistics make this place sound like the 1980s
classic dystopia movie, Escape from New York. If Snake Plissken were in Sauk Village, he’d
hide in a cupboard and cry himself to sleep. With that tiny population, it still had 529
violent crimes, according to the latest data. It had 170 property crimes, so this place is more
about violence than stealing. It sounds crazy, but the numbers mean residents have a one in 18 chance
of being a victim of violent crime and a one in 14 chance of being the victim of violent or property
crime. That’s compared to a one in 253 chance in the rest of Illinois for violent crime only.
Sauk might want to open some anger management clinics in town since it was reported there
were 490 incidents of aggravated assault. If you added up the number of assaults
in the USA’s top 100 safest towns, the number would still be less than the number
of assaults in Sauk. There were just two murders, but still, there are only 10,000 people.
Just recently, a news headline stated, “Young man shot dead in front yard.” You can
see signs around Sauk that claim it’s a village of “Pride and Progress,” but with 27% of people
living below the poverty line and 52% of people under 18 living below the poverty line, maybe
the progress needs to get into second gear. 9. Española, New Mexico
This town’s claim to fame is the fact it’s home to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where
the atomic bomb was made at the end of the world war. It’s now famous for crime. Again, it’s a tiny
place, only 8.34 sq miles (21.61 km2). Just over 10,000 people are living there, in
what looks like the middle of nowhere. The biggest contributor to this crime problem
is drugs, lots and lots of drugs. There are over 1.2 million violent crimes in the US
every year or thereabouts. Española only had 353 of them, plus 383 property crimes, but
then again, it’s just a blip on the landscape. If you come from there, you have a one in 30
chance of becoming a victim of violent crime, compared to a one in 127 chance if you come
from New Mexico in general. A crime occurs roughly every seven hours in Española.
Not all neighborhoods are alike. Reports state that if you live in the East, you have a
one in 13 chance of being the victim of crime. The type of neighborhood you live in means a lot
when it comes to violent crime. News reports about murders often feature places of poverty.
Drug trafficking is turning the place inside out. The Los Angeles Times asked
in 2023, “Can this town save itself from fentanyl addiction?” This is how the writer
described his time in the downtown area: “Kids played in trailer parks. Contractors loaded
pickups. Cars came and went from a methadone clinic. Men wearing hoodies and expectant gazes
drifted toward a house with barred windows.” And this is what a resident told that writer, “I’ve
had knives pointed at me. Pipes swung at me. It’s insane how much has changed in the last year. It’s
scary. We have generational drug use. Generational trauma. Half the kids I went to school with didn’t
have parents. They were dead or in jail or gone.” 8. Anniston, Alabama
Before we talk about Anniston, here are some general US crime statistics.
In 2021, there were 14.6 gun deaths per 100,000 people in the US. That amounted to
48,830 total gun deaths (all causes), 23% more than in 2019. The numbers in 2022
aren’t completely clear yet, since it takes time to get these things straightened out,
but the data seems to show the numbers for 2022 were very similar to the 2021 numbers.
Some US states have much higher rates of gun deaths than others. Mississippi
in 2021 was 33.9 per 100,000 people. Next in order were Louisiana (29.1), New
Mexico (27.8), Alabama (26.4), and Wyoming (26.1). By comparison, the UK had
0.3 gun deaths per 100,000, according to recent data. Some other countries
we looked at were Mexico (16 deaths per 100,000), Canada (2.1), Australia (1.0), France (2.7),
Germany (0.9), Finland (2.4), and Spain (0.6). The US easily has the highest rate of gun
ownership in the world, at about 120 guns for every 100 people. The vast majority
are black-market guns. Interestingly, FBI estimates say the number of guns bought in
the USA in 2018 was only about 13 million, and 13 million again in 2019. Still, in 2020, that shot
up to 22 million. It was about 19 million in 2021 and 16 million in 2022. From 2000 to 2010, gun
sales never went above 10 million per year. Guns might not kill people, as the saying goes, but
they definitely help, especially the illegal ones. An ATF report said 54% of traced crime
guns were legally bought but stolen and used in a crime. More than a million
guns were stolen from 2017 to 2021, although the report said many people don’t report
it, so the number will be much higher. In 2021, 4,740 murders were gun murders, but the
FBI said the type of firearm wasn’t known; the agency didn’t find a gun. Then you have many
so-called ghost guns, weapons that don’t have a serial number and thus are untraceable.
Ok, so Anniston, Alabama, has just over 21,000 people, but there were 162 violent
crimes, and property crimes numbered 1,094. There were 7 murders, 7 reports of sexual
misconduct, 30 robberies, and 118 assaults. So, in relative terms on this list, assaults
weren’t too high, but murders and property crimes were very high for such a small
place. Your chance of being the victim of a violent crime is just one in 131, but where
property crimes are concerned, it’s one in 19. Recent news reports in 2023 include a man
found dead in a ditch believed to have been murdered and a headline that read, “Three
arrested in kidnapping, attempted murder case.” 7. Kotzebue Alaska
In Kotzebue, a town with just over 3,000 people 30 miles from
the Arctic Circle, you have about a one in 30 chance of being the victim of a violent crime.
That’s almost as bad as it gets. The most recent data says there were 111 violent crimes over the
course of a year. There were also two murders. Looking at recent news reports, which
include assaults, kidnapping, murder, and violent crimes against children,
there’s certainly a lot going on for 3000 people. IFremont, California
has a population of 235,881 people, yet no reported murders. In Frisco, Texas, no
reported murders for 162,917 people. Vancouver, Washington, was free of murder even though
its population was stated to be 174,912. Let’s now see what’s going
on in small-town Illinois. 6. East St. Louis, Illinois
In Illinois, we could talk about Alton (pop. 30,000+), a once-thriving
industrial town where you have a one in 177 chance of becoming the victim of a violent
crime, according to the latest statistics. Danville in Illinois is also crime-ridden, with
a one in 66 chance of facing violent crime, while Mount Vernon and Champaign get high
scores, as do Springfield, Rockford, and Chicago, but they don’t meet our small-town criteria.
We’ve chosen East St. Louis, Illinois, population 18,000 and a bit. Most of Illinois’s small
towns have zero murders, or maybe one or two, perhaps five at the most, so when we saw that
East St. Louis had 36 murders the last time the FBI made its list, we knew we had to include
it in this show. It’s said only 25 percent of those murders are charged in a criminal
court. The US national average is 60 percent. East St. Louis is another deindustrialized
place on this list, where the mostly African-American (97.7%) people live on some of
the worst wages you’ll find in the United States. The per capita income there is a piddling
$11,169, with the median household income just $21,324. 31.8% of families live below the
poverty line, but 48.6% of people under 18 live in poverty. Reports say these kids have the worst
school system in the state, or at least they said that just a few years ago. In 2020, 54.13%
of households were run by a single parent. In 2021, throughout the US. 4,920 murders
were committed by males aged 20 to 29, way higher than any other age range. People
aged 10 to 19 and 30 to 29, accounted for 2,497 and 2,924 murders, respectively.
There are even warnings about this place, telling tourists to be careful, just like
you’d find on websites about Afghanistan or certain parts of Iraq. When the data
was published, on top of the 36 murders, there were 27 reports of sexual misconduct, 32
robberies, and 173 assaults. Murders are sky high, but assaults are quite low, so there’s only a one
in 95 chance of being the victim of violent crime. Early March 2023, the mayor announced there’d
only been six homicides in the first two months of the year. “It's not East St. Louis anymore.
It's East Safe Louis,” he said. Actually, six murders in January and February
for a tiny town is still really high. This headline from May is similar to
many headlines from this part of the US, “Coroner identifies two men slain in East St.
Louis home.” Another new story said a boy aged 11 was shot when two women argued over clothes.
Despite the efforts to clean this town up, it seems that East St. Louis
is still a very violent place. This next place isn’t too great, either.
5. West Memphis, Arkansas West Memphis, perhaps famous for locking
up innocent young men, is also known for its violence. Over the years, it’s typically been
right down at the bottom of safety indexes. Right now, the latest data is saying you have a 1 in
37 chance of being a victim of violent crime, which, again, is a startling statistic.
You have a one in 93 chance of dying in a vehicle accident in the US, so our
advice is don’t drive in West Memphis. The data says there were 648 violent crimes
and 953 property crimes in a town with just 26,000 people. It’s very different from St. Louis,
though, where there were 7 murders, 33 reports of sexual misconduct, 50 robberies, and 558 assaults.
One of the latest news headlines said, “West Memphis residents concerned about recent
crime.” Other articles talked about a man being found in a burning car, suspected of being shot
- a man who’d earlier survived what was described as a “brutal carjacking.” Another story featured
a 15-year-old boy shot down in a hail of bullets outside an apartment complex.
4. Pine Bluff, Arkansas We should also talk about Pine
Bluff in Arkansas, where for 41,000 people, there were a shocking 23 murders,
36 reports of sexual misconduct, 56 robberies, and 710 assaults. In terms of your chance of being
a victim of violent crime, it totals to one in 49. Some interesting facts about Arkansas are that it
has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the US, along with Mississippi. About 40 percent
of black children live in poverty, along with 34 percent of Hispanic children and 17 percent of
white children. An incredible 247,000 children in Arkansas live in single-parent households. It has
the third-highest incarceration rate at 559 per 100,000, behind Louisiana at 564 per 100,000,
and on top, Mississippi at 575 per 100,000. On top of the 825 violent crimes in Pine
Bluff, there were 2,348 property crimes, which means a one in 17 chance of becoming
a victim of a property crime. As we’ve said, in the US, there are about 6.2 murders per
100,000, which is high in global terms, but in Pine Bluff, there are 56.5 murders per 100,000
people, which is high for the Medieval Age, and makes cartel-infested Mexico look safe.
Pine Bluff has a violent history. In 1866, there was a mass lynching here of
twenty-four African Americans. In the 1960s, civil rights demonstrators protesting about
segregation were shot. According to Forbes, in the 2000s, it was on the top ten list
of poorest places in the USA. These days, 45.6% of people under age 18 live in poverty.
As we were making this show, a news story headline was, “Two juveniles held without bond for capital
murder.” Right below it was a story saying, “Since March, there have been four people
under 18 years shot and killed in the city.” Another headline was, “2 dead, 2 injured in
Pine Bluff shooting; 21-year-old suspect in custody.” These were just the recent stories.
US soldiers in war zones often don’t see that much action in the space of a few weeks.
That still doesn’t beat this next place. 3. Florida City
Next up is Florida City. We imagine you knew we wouldn’t get through
this show and not have anywhere in Florida on the list. In fact, there are lots of small towns
in Florida that have very high crime rates, including Opa Locka, where you have a one in 48
chance of being the victim of a violent crime. In Cocoa, where there are just 19,000 people, you
have a one in 91 chance, which is still very high. But the winner in the sunshine state is Florida
City, a place where 13,000 people get by on wages that would struggle to feed a large dog
for a year. The per capita income here is just $8,270. 43.3% of Florida City residents
and 41.7% of families live below the poverty line. It’s 57.1% for those under the age of 18.
Poverty is a rampant problem here, and while poverty isn’t the direct cause of violence, it
certainly exists a lot where people resort to hurting other people. In recent years, Florida
City has claimed the first place on the list of the most violent places in the USA, but not
this year. There were 337 violent crimes here and 682 property crimes, so you have a one in 38
chance of being the victim of a violent crime and a one in 19 chance of reporting a property crime.
A recent news story is about a man who did some awful things to his three children
that resulted in one of them having to be airlifted to a hospital. The man told
the cops he was on Molly, which is strange, given Molly is supposed to make people feel
loved-up. We guess not in Florida City. Ok, last two.
2. Monroe, Louisiana In Monroe, where there are about
47,000 people, there were 19 murders, 9 reports of sexual misconduct, 111 robberies,
and a whopping 1,105 assaults. Yet again, people live on way less money than most people in
the US do. Per capita income is $24,061, but 36.8% of Monroe’s folks live at or below the poverty
line. That goes up to 54.1% for people under 18. There’s a one in 38 chance you’ll become a victim
of violent crime and an unbelievable one in 18 chance you’ll be the victim of a property crime.
Even for Louisiana, where crime is famously high, these are really shocking numbers. Just to
give you some more perspective, in the UK, in Greater Manchester, a place whose
murderous gangs once earned the city the nickname “Gunchester,” there were only 46
homicides reported in 2022. The population is 2.8 million - 620,000 people are living in poverty.
In West Yorkshire, home to large industrial rough-and-tumble cities such as Leeds and Bradford
and what the press called the “crime-ridden” town of Huddersfield, there’s a total population of
2.3 million. Still, there were only 33 homicides for the entire year throughout all the cities,
towns, and villages in West Yorkshire, compared to Monroe’s 19. In New South Wales, in Australia,
population 8 million, home to the capital Sydney and its 5 million-plus population, there were 94
victims of homicide throughout the entire state. Recent Monroe news stories include a man charged
with murdering four people in a house fire, a young man shot dead, and a woman who stabbed her
father after watching the movie Chucky. In fact, there are lots of murder stories for 2023, so
this could be a really bad year for Monroe. A local news outlet said in February, “Over the
past few days, the City of Monroe has been plagued with shootings, leaving several
victims behind, some of whom have died.” 1. Bessemer, Alabama
In Alabama, there are plenty of places just a bit too big to get on our
crime list, such as Mobile, (one in 36 chance of being a victim of violent crime), Birmingham
(one in 48), tiny Calera (one in 45). Still, it’s Bessemer that can be the not-very-proud
town that takes the biscuit for crime. There were 850 violent crimes reported and an
absolutely staggering 2,032 property crimes in a town that only has 26,000 people. This means
you have a one in 30 chance of being the victim of a violent crime but a one in 13 chance of
becoming the victim of a property crime. You have a one in 9 chance of being the victim of
one of these crimes in Bessemer. We guess the residents here always have a topic to discuss when
they meet for a drink… if they can afford a drink. The median household income is just $23,066, and
$28,230 for a family. The per capita income for Bessemer is just $12,232. Just so you know, per
capita means the average, while the median is in the middle. 24.2% of families and 27.2% of
the entire town live below the poverty line, including 37.8% of people under the age of 18.
This is a place that once had thriving industries, including mining and steelmaking, but those days
are well gone. It’s now famous for being a number one crime hotspot and for once being home to
a chicken named Matilda, who won the World's Oldest Living Chicken prize from Guinness
World Records in 2004. She was stolen six times on her way to victory…Just kidding, but
it wouldn’t be surprising, given the statistics. One of the popular types of YouTube channels
these days features people running around with a camera exposing the poorest places in the
US. A 46-year-old man did that in Bessemer in 2021 and was shot to death outside a motel.
His channel of choice was actually TikTok, where he had 325,000 followers. His wallet
was missing when his body was discovered. Other very recent news stories from
Bessemer include someone being murdered by a 22-year-old man over a DoorDash order,
as well as a murder of a 20-year-old and a bunch of other violent attacks.
That’s the end of the list today. We know there are other towns we could have
mentioned, but you can tell us about those in the comments section. Be safe out there, people!
Now you need to watch “How Belgium Became the Cocaine Capital of the World.” Or, have a look
at “Real Reason Why 50% of Murders Happen Here.”