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Memphis ranked first for reported violent crime among the large U.S. cities in this comparison, even after its rate fell by roughly 26% in one year. St. Louis ranked tenth on the same list, yet had the highest murder rate among these 20 cities. Those two facts tell very different stories about what it means to call a city “dangerous.”
The ranking below compares police jurisdictions serving at least 100,000 residents that submitted a full year of data for 2025. It uses reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents, covering murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Rates are rounded for readability, while the order follows the underlying figures.
Across the United States, the estimated violent crime rate was about 328 per 100,000 residents. Every city on this list recorded more than three times that rate. These figures describe recorded offenses across an entire jurisdiction. For a visitor choosing a hotel or planning a night out, the specific address and route matter more than the city’s rank.
1. Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis recorded about 1,849 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in this comparison. Its police jurisdiction recorded 11,219 violent offenses over the year. The rate nevertheless fell from about 2,501 the previous year. That drop of more than 650 offenses per 100,000 residents shows how much conditions can change while a city remains at the top of a national list.
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2. Detroit, Michigan
Detroit recorded about 1,649 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, down roughly 7% from the previous year. The figure covers Detroit’s police jurisdiction. That distinction matters in a region where “Detroit” often refers to the wider metro area. A trip to downtown Detroit, a stay near the airport, and a visit to a suburban address can involve entirely different jurisdictions.
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3. Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock recorded about 1,485 violent offenses per 100,000 residents. Its total of 3,048 offenses was much lower than Oakland’s 6,554, yet Little Rock placed slightly higher because its police jurisdiction serves fewer residents. For travelers booking across the Arkansas River, North Little Rock is a separate city with its own police department.
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4. Oakland, California
Oakland recorded about 1,475 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, down roughly 23% from the previous year. Its rate came within 10 offenses per 100,000 of Little Rock’s. That small gap is easy to overlook when the cities appear in separate positions. If Oakland is one stop on a wider Bay Area trip, look up the location of each overnight stay separately.
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5. Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City recorded about 1,369 violent offenses per 100,000 residents. The Missouri city’s rate fell by about 11% year over year. Kansas City, Kansas, is a separate jurisdiction and recorded about 971 per 100,000 in the same comparison. When booking a hotel or looking up an event venue, the state abbreviation makes a meaningful difference.
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6. Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland recorded about 1,360 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, compared with about 1,561 the previous year. It was the highest-ranked Ohio city in this comparison, ahead of Dayton. The difference matters when reading headlines about crime in “Cleveland,” a name often used to describe a much larger region than the city itself.
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7. Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore recorded about 1,347 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, a decline of roughly 16% from the previous year. The figure applies to Baltimore City, which is separate from Baltimore County. Hotel and event listings sometimes use “Baltimore” for locations across the area, so check the street address before using local crime information to plan a stay.
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8. Peoria, Illinois
Peoria recorded about 1,250 violent offenses per 100,000 residents. Its position may surprise readers who associate high crime rates mainly with the country’s largest cities. The jurisdiction recorded 1,392 violent offenses. Its smaller population put that total eighth in this comparison, even as the local rate fell about 7% year over year.
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9. Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham recorded about 1,236 violent offenses per 100,000 residents. Its overall violent crime rate changed by less than 1% from the previous year. The murder figure stands out on its own, at about 42.5 per 100,000 residents. That was the second-highest murder rate among these 20 cities, behind St. Louis.
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10. St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis recorded about 1,224 violent offenses per 100,000 residents. It also had the highest murder rate among the 20 cities listed here, at about 51.3 per 100,000. The figures cover the independent City of St. Louis. St. Louis County is a separate jurisdiction, so a reservation labeled “St. Louis” can fall outside the area measured here.
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11. Dayton, Ohio
Dayton recorded about 1,222 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, putting it just behind St. Louis on the combined measure. The murder rates were farther apart. Dayton recorded about 17.6 per 100,000, compared with about 51.3 in St. Louis. The two cities are nearly tied in the headline ranking because that ranking combines four different categories of violent crime.
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12. Springfield, Missouri
Springfield recorded about 1,214 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, an increase of around 3% from the previous year. Its combined rate was close to Dayton’s, but its murder rate was about 5.3 per 100,000. Springfield’s position makes more sense once you look at the offenses that make up the combined rate.
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13. Wichita, Kansas
Wichita recorded about 1,203 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, placing it between Springfield and Shreveport. Its police jurisdiction recorded 4,834 violent offenses over the year. With a population of about 402,000 in the dataset, Wichita recorded more than twice as many offenses as Springfield, while the two cities ended up with similar rates.
14. Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport recorded about 1,158 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, a decline of nearly 6% from the previous year. Its murder rate was about 21.8 per 100,000, higher than Wichita’s despite a lower combined violent crime rate. If your plans take you across the Red River, neighboring Bossier City falls outside the Shreveport figure.
15. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee recorded about 1,145 violent offenses per 100,000 residents. Its rate fell about 20% from the previous year, one of the largest declines among the cities in this comparison. A list based on older data would still show a rate of about 1,431, a substantial difference for anyone relying on a headline that omits the reporting year.
16. Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette recorded about 1,129 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, around 6% higher than the previous year. Its murder rate was about 4.1 per 100,000, the lowest among these 20 entries. Lafayette ranked close to Shreveport on the combined measure, while their murder rates were more than fivefold apart.
17. Evansville, Indiana
Evansville recorded about 1,109 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, down roughly 8% from the previous year. With a reporting population of about 115,000, it is one of the smaller cities on the list. Its inclusion shows what the population cutoff changes. A comparison limited to the country’s largest cities would leave out places like Evansville and Peoria.
18. Stockton, California
Stockton recorded about 1,027 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, a decline of roughly 10% from the previous year. Its rate was well below Oakland’s, the other California entry. If you’re comparing the two, keep the jurisdictions separate. Oakland’s numbers describe an East Bay city, while Stockton’s cover a Central Valley city with its own reporting area.
19. Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage also recorded about 1,027 violent offenses per 100,000 residents. The unrounded rate placed it just below Stockton, by only about 0.2 offenses per 100,000. For someone using Anchorage as a base for an Alaska trip, that difference has little practical value. The location of your lodging and how you plan to get there are better starting points.
20. Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque recorded about 1,013 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, down roughly 14% from about 1,182 the previous year. It rounds out the list despite that substantial decline. For visitors planning a stay around Old Town, downtown, or an event venue, an address-level check offers more useful context than a single average for the entire jurisdiction.
How to Use These Numbers When Planning a Trip
Start with the places you’ll actually visit. Look up the area around your hotel, check how you’ll get back after dinner or an event, and consult recent local incident data where it’s available. Citywide figures cover residential areas, commercial districts, and visitor destinations together. They also use the resident population as the denominator, even though people who commute or visit can be involved in offenses counted there.
Keep the type of crime in mind. This list measures reported violent crime. If your concern is a rental car parked overnight, recent vehicle theft and break-in information is more relevant to that decision.
Finally, check the year and the boundary whenever you compare two lists. Different population cutoffs, incomplete police reporting, and the choice between city and metro data can change which places appear. A city missing from the list may simply fall outside the comparison.