Murder Rates USA

The United States is the 129th safest country in the world .....

Reykjavik, Iceland - Safest Country In The World

..... according to the Global Peace Index, and according to them, the US’s safety ranking has decreased each year since 2016. For comparison Canada is ranked 12th and the UK is 34th.. while Mexico is 137th.

Black Americans represent 14% of the US population, but according to the FBI, African-Americans accounted for 55.9% of all homicide offenders in 2019, with Whites (including Hispanic) 41.1%, and "Other" just 3.0%, in those cases where the offenders race was known. Whilst among homicide victims in 2019, where the race was known, 54.7% were Black or African-American, 42.3% were Whites (including Hispanic), and 3.1% were of other races.

The twenty one cities in the United States with the highest murder rates (murders per 100,000 people) 2021 are (pop demographics 2020 census, or latest estimates if 2020 not available - Whites includes Hispanic):

1. St. Louis, MO (64 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 43.0% of the population is black, 43.9% of the population is white.
2. * Baltimore, MD (58.63 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 62.4% of the population is black, 30.5% of the population is white.
3. Detroit, MI (40.74 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 82.18% of the population is black, 9.51% of the population is white.
4. New Orleans, LA (40.6 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 53.61% of the population is black, 31.61% of the population is white.
5. Cleveland, OH (33.7 per 100,000 inhabitants) - 47.5% of the population is black, 32.1% of the population is white.
6. North Las Vegas, NV (31.4 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 19.9% African American of the population is black, 47.4% of the population is white.
7. Kansas City, MO (31.2 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 34.8% of the population is black (2010), 59.2% of the population is white.
8. Memphis, TN (27.1 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 61.28% of the population is black, 34.74% of the population is white.
9. Newark, NJ (25.6 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 47.0% of the population is black, 48.1% of the population is white.
10. Chicago, IL (24 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 28.7% of the population is black, 61.2% of the population is white.
11. Cincinnati, OH (23.8 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 42.3% of the population is black, 50.7% of the population is white.
12. Philadelphia, PA (20.2 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 40.1% of the population is black, 49.4% of the population is white.
13. Milwaukee, WI (20.0 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 38.6% of the population is black, 36.1% of the population is white.
14. Tulsa, OK (18.6 per 100,000 inhabitants) - 15.6% of the population is black, 62.6% of the population is white.
15. Pittsburgh, PA (18.4 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 23.0% of the population is black, 66.8% of the population is white.
16. Indianapolis, IN (17.7 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 27.6% of the population is black, 50.1% of the population is white.
17. Louisville, KY (17.5 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 22.2% of the population is black, 74.8% of the population is white.
18. Oakland, CA (17.1 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 23.8% of the population is black, 30.0% of the population is white.
19. Washington D.C. (17.0 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 41.4% of the population is black, 39.6% of the population is white.
20. Atlanta, GA (16.7 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 46.7% of the population is black, 38.5% of the population is white.

However some sites include two other locations:

1. San Juan, Puerto Rico (42.03 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 68.0% of the population is black, 18.4% of the population is white Hispanic.
2. ** Jackson, Mississippi (79.69 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 78.55% of the population is black, 16.54% of the population is white.

For comparison, the latest rate for London (2020), is around 1.45 homicides per 100,000 people.

There is no denying the connection between city demographic profiles and homicide rates in the USA ... for instance. Randomly selected cities with low homicide rates US cities:

1. Scottsdale, Arizona (1.99 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 1.7% of the population is black, 89.3% of the population is white.
2. Chandler, Arizona (2.01 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 4.8% of the population is black, 73.3% of the population is white.
3. San Diego, California (2.46 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 6.6% of the population is black, 40.7% of the population is white.
4. Austin, Texas  (2.57 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 6.9% of the population is black, 47.1% of the population is white.
5. Denver, Colorado (8.35 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) - 9.8% of the population is black, 80.9% of the population is white.
   

However there are obviously other factors such as poverty, unemployment, drug usage, education levels that inform the murder rates as well as race demographics .... I was merely interested in seeing the figures, after seeing the updated figures from **Jackson, Mississippi

*  In Baltimore, arrest numbers dropped from more than 40,000 in 2014 (the year before Freddie Gray's death in custody, when 6 police officers were charged), to about 18,000 (as of November 2017). This happened even as homicides soared. Police Officers apparently decided that as they could face charges and go to jail for making the 'wrong arrest', that they would basically stop making arrests.

** In Jackson the murder rate is reported by some sites as now being 101 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022.