# what is the most violent city in the U.S? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2003, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-violent-city-in-the-u-s/221179 "2003-12-26T23:44:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pussycats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@pussycats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pussycats2)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-violent-city-in-the-u-s/221179/1 "2003-12-26T23:44:22Z")
just wonderin:cool: ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-violent-city-in-the-u-s/221179/2 "2003-12-26T23:51:03Z")
If you take the murder rate as an overall indicator of violent crime, then Washington DC has been the leader for years. ---
**Author:** ![pussycats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@pussycats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pussycats2)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-violent-city-in-the-u-s/221179/3 "2003-12-26T23:56:03Z")
do you happen to know where NYC falls in that list? ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-violent-city-in-the-u-s/221179/4 "2003-12-27T00:12:25Z")
Pussycats, NYC is the **safest** big city in the USA. The following excerpt was taken from [here](http://www.nyc.gov/portal/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fhtml%2F2003b%2Fpr359-03.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1) > [@](#): > > According to FBI crime figures released today for the first 6 months of 2003, New York City remains the safest big City in the United States. The FBI reports that New York City’s violent crime rate is down 3.3% this year compared to a nationwide reduction of 3.1%, and the City’s property crime rate is down 8.7% compared to a nationwide reduction of only .08%. **Of the 210 cities reporting with populations greater than 100,000, New York City was ranked 194th, between Ann Arbor, Michigan and Orange, California. Of the nine cities with populations of more than one million reporting to the FBI, New York City had the lowest crime rate during the first 6 months of 2003.** Bolding compliments of stuyguy. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-violent-city-in-the-u-s/221179/5 "2003-12-27T00:13:24Z")
[Here](http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/02cius.htm) is FBI information on violent crime statistics for fiscal 2002. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-violent-city-in-the-u-s/221179/6 "2003-12-27T04:15:14Z")
Have to be careful how they report their statistics. Do they tell you number of crimes, or number of crimes per population. New York still has a lot of crime, but it has a huge population. Still, I would say DC, Detroit and Miami have to be in the running for the worst, IMHO. [http://realtytimes.com/rtnews/rtcpages/20000928\_placestolive.htm](http://realtytimes.com/rtnews/rtcpages/20000928_placestolive.htm) NYC is safer than St. Pete FL??? HA!!! Just goes to show you how statistics can be skewed by a large population. [http://www.morganquitno.com/cit00dang.htm](http://www.morganquitno.com/cit00dang.htm) ---
**Author:** ![HomerIU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HomerIU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HomerIU)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-violent-city-in-the-u-s/221179/7 "2003-12-27T04:27:38Z")
I was under the impression that for the last few years, Gary, Indiana (northwest corner right next to Chicago, hometown of Michael Jackson) was the murder capital of the country, but then I think DC took over last year. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-violent-city-in-the-u-s/221179/8 "2003-12-27T04:32:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HomerIU \* > \*\*I was under the impression that for the last few years, Gary, Indiana (northwest corner right next to Chicago, hometown of Michael Jackson) was the murder capital of the country, but then I think DC took over last year. \*\* > [@](#): > > Based on the FBI statistics, the District was dubbed the murder capital of the country for several years in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, when the number of homicides in the District peaked at 482, the rate was 79.42 killings per 100,000 residents. From [here](http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20030616-093406-7084r.htm). Seems DC has had the title off and on for a good number of years. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-violent-city-in-the-u-s/221179/9 "2003-12-27T04:53:27Z")
the Naked City?