10 Most Dangerous Cities in the US

Find out which metro areas reported the fewest crimes in our Safest Big Cities report.

Violent crime continues to haunt the headlines and, unfortunately, it’s not just clickbait. For the first time since 2016, violent crime rose nationwide—and the country’s biggest cities can sometimes be a stark reflection of that trend.

Memphis, the city that tops our list, has seen a series of violent incidents including the abduction and murder of a kindergarten teacher and a shooting rampage across the city that left four dead and three wounded.

These tragic events weren’t part of our ranking calculation, but Memphis’s climb to the number one spot indicates a pattern of escalating crime in Elvis Presley’s hometown. The Bluff City crept from number three in 2020 to number two in last year’s report; it landed on top with the highest collective crime rates this year.

We used the most recent complete crime data from the FBI to identify which big US cities reported the most crimes.¹ Collectively, violent crime rose across the board year over year, but property crime in the metro areas we analyzed continued its downward trend, reflecting nationwide patterns.

The good news is that violent crime in the US has declined over 47% since peaking in 1991, according to FBI data. We’re hopeful the recent upward tick is more of a blip than a long-term trend.

If you live in a major metro area or plan to visit one, here's a deeper dive into the big cities with the highest rates of crime incidents—including demographic information and other community insights.

• What it's like to live in the most dangerous big cities
• How did crime change year over year?
• Interesting findings
• Crime rates
• Income and education data
• City budgets
• How to make a safe home anywhere
• Find the safest cities in each state

When looking at crime rates and trends across the most populated areas of the US, we decided it made more sense to compare metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) instead of standalone big cities.

MSAs include major "anchor cities" and outlying communities with high social and economic integration. So it paints a more accurate picture of both crime and the socioeconomic factors impacting the quality of life for residents.

We started with per capita crime rates for each MSA, based on FBI crime and population data. This data isn't perfect—it's self-reported by law enforcement agencies yearly—but it's the most comprehensive US crime data available.

We look at both property and violent crime—calculating the rate of each per 1,000 people. That's where the ranking comes from—if a metro area reports the lowest weighted and normalized violent and property crime rates per 1,000 residents, it lands at the top of the list. Those with higher crime rates fall to the bottom, with the lowest 10 making up the list of “most dangerous” big cities.

If a metro area didn't submit a complete report to the FBI or doesn't meet our population threshold of at least 300,000 people, we don't consider it for ranking.

We also explore median household income, employment, education, and annual budgets for more context about the "safest" and "most dangerous" metros. This contextual data doesn't factor into our scoring.

Read our complete safest cities reporting methodology.

Big-city life can be fast paced, exciting, and full of challenges. More people, more problems (am I right?). To give context outside of crime rates, we dug into socioeconomic and lifestyle factors among the most dangerous cities in the US—like poverty rate, high school graduation rate, and median household income.

Here’s how the most dangerous metros measure up in some key areas:

• On average, people from the states home to our most dangerous metros are more worried (49%) about crime and safety than nationwide (47%).

• The most dangerous metros are home to almost 350,000 fewer people than the safest metros, on average (430,000 versus 787,000).
• Only 2 of the most dangerous metros have populations over 1 million, with 1.3 million in Memphis being the largest. The safest metros have 3 cities over 2 million, with 4.8 million in the Boston area being the largest.

• 80% of the most dangerous metros have more people living below the poverty line than the national average.

• The average median household income among the most dangerous metros is $58,692—that's 13% below the national average.

• The most dangerous metros spend around 74% more on public safety than the safest big cities.
• These cities spend an average of 33% of their city budgets on public safety, versus only 19% in the safest metros.

• About 88% of people who live in the most dangerous big cities have a high school diploma or higher—that's on par with the national average—and 4 metros come in with high school graduation rates over 90%.
• Last year, the most dangerous metros had 2.5% fewer graduates than the US average.

• The average unemployment rate among the most dangerous cities (4.0%) is about 30% higher than the safest metros (2.8%).

In step with national trends, violent crime rates increased year over year in both the safest and most dangerous metro areas, while property crime rates dropped across the board.

America's violent crime rate increased for the first time since 2016—from 3.7 incidents per 1,000 people last year to 4.0—a 5% increase. Although the average violent crime rate among the most dangerous metros increased from 7.9 to 8.5—8% higher than the previous year—these cities still saw a smaller jump than the safest metros. Violent crime in the safest metros rose 18% year over year, from 1.7 incidents per 1,000 people to 2.0.

On the other side of the coin, property crime continued a sustained decline—dropping 69% since 1991. The national property crime rate dropped from 21.1 to 19.6 year over year—a 7% decrease. Among the most dangerous metros, property crime fell 4% collectively, from 35.5 incidents per 1,000 people to 34.2.  The drop in the average property crime rate among the safest metros went further—from 11.4 to just 9.9. That's a 13% decrease, nearly double the gain nationwide.

While an increase in violent crimes can bring new worries, the continued drop in property crimes in this year's report is worth celebrating.

Memphis unseated Anchorage, AK, which topped our list for the past two years. Here's why it ranks first:

• In Memphis, TN (our most dangerous metro), your risk of being a victim of a property crime is 1 in 27. Your risk of being a victim of violent crime is 1 in 74.
• By comparison, your risk of being the victim of a property crime in Rockingham County-Strafford County, NH (our safest metro), is 1 in 104, based on the latest FBI crime data. Your risk of being a victim of violent crime is 1 in 1,111.

Three of the most dangerous metro areas are new this year: Albuquerque (3), Little Rock (5), and Salt Lake City (8). Both Albuquerque and Little Rock failed to report complete data to the FBI in 2019, which excluded them from the 2021 report. Here’s a closer look at Salt Lake City’s descent into the most dangerous big cities.

• Salt Lake City, UT, was 107 out of 131 cities in last year’s ranking, making it the 25th most dangerous city in the US. This year’s jump to number 8 was a big surprise—especially to this former SLC resident.
• Property crime is Salt Lake City’s undoing. The city reported the highest property crime rate among the most dangerous cities: 38.2 incidents per 1,000, 4 more than the average among all the metros on our list.
• On the flip side, Salt Lake City comes in with flying colors for violent crime. Not only is its rate of 3.7 incidents per 1,000 the lowest on the list, it’s also lower than the US average.

The two most populous cities reported the largest numbers of crimes.

• Memphis, the biggest metro on the list, accounted for 30% of all the violent crimes reported among the most dangerous metros.
• Combined, Memphis and Salt Lake City—the only cities with over 1 million residents—reported around 40% of the total property crimes among the most dangerous cities.

Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the number of major metros with higher crime rates. Last year, California claimed this dubious distinction with three cities landing in the top 10.

• Corpus Christi and Lubbock remained among the most dangerous metros in the US for the second consecutive year, but both cities saw improvement year over year.
• Lubbock fell one spot from number 3 last year, despite a rise in violent crime from 8.3 to 9.2 incidents per 1,000. Thankfully, a 9% drop in property crime (from 40.2 to 36.5) helped Lubbock improve overall.
• Corpus Christi dropped from number 7 to the bottom of the list this year. The violent crime rate held steady at 7.4 and property crime plummeted 7% year over year, to fewer than 30 incidents per 1,000.

Click on the state image below to check out the safest cities for each state—and find out how people in your state feel about crime and safety in our State of Safety report.

• The State of Safety in America
• 100 Safest Cities in America
• 50 Safest College Towns
• 50 Safest Cities to Raise a Child

• US Census Bureau (2020), "American Community Survey 5-year estimates," Retrieved from Census Reporter Profile page for each metro area and the United States. Accessed September 14, 2022.

• US Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas, Annual Averages," August 2022. Accessed September 14, 2022.