Most Dangerous Cities In America: Detroit Tops Forbes' List

The good news is, even with a sluggish economy, violent crime in the U.S. has gone down over the last four years.

The bad news is, Detroit logged 345 murders last year, helping to make it the most violent city in America, according to an analysis by Forbes.

The magazine used data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Report to compile its list based on statistics from 2010.

Forbes looked at four categories of violent crimes, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. The list was limited to metropolitan areas of at least 200,000 residents.

Check out the top five cities below and for the rest of the list, and for more detailed analysis of what may contribute to the higher rates of crime, see Forbes' full article here.

If you're still anxious for reasons to live in perpetual fear, Business Insider has a list of the 25 most dangerous cities also based on 2010 FBI data. The Atlantic compiles a list based on the same categories that Forbes uses except robbery.

Then when you're about to hyperventilate, sooth yourself with this ranking of America's safest cities.

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• 1. Detroit, Mich.

  1,111 violent crimes per 100,000 residents

• 2. Memphis, Tenn.

  1,006 violent crimes per 100,000 residents.

• 3. Springfield, Ill.

  855 violent crimes per 100,000 residents

• 4. Flint, Mich

  827 violent crimes per 100,000 residents

• 5. Anchorage, Alaska

  813 violent crimes per 100,000 residents

Comments

[rbfb2101]

12:13 AM on 11/02/2011

Detroit is pretty messed up. Like powerage said a few posts down, Detroit has been at the top of the list for a while, nothing new. The level of destruction to the city itself (the buildings, roads, structures, etc) is astounding. I've never seen another American city that can compare to Detroit. Anyone who has ever driven through Detroit would know that it looks like a warzone in some areas. There are a few videos up on youtube that show the detroit ghetto pretty well, here's the newest one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px6N9xMqoCg

[DaydreamingTori]

05:54 AM on 10/15/2011

Anchorage was a shocker to me, but these cities have had violent underbellies for decades. Poverty, high-police presence, & drug addiction have ruined many of those places--especially Detroit & Memphis. Until we invest in the education system, & prevent the racial and economic isolation of public school, nothing will evolve. If ALL public schools were forced to integrate & schools were built in safe & easily accessible areas, the children would fair better, as they would be given equal opportunity. I went to a elementary school in a poor & violent Brooklyn neighborhood and then went to high school in the wealthy and predominantly White neighborhood of Bay Ridge. The differences in education, arts programs, & staff were obvious (in the worst way). Children need to be told & shown that they truly ARE the future. College needs to be the focus from kindergarten, & parents need to be held accountable for not participating (to some degree) in their children's education. I believe in liberty, but liberty must have boundaries & direction. The more uneducated our children are, the more we suffer long term. This isn't rocket science...

[flora2009]

10:13 PM on 10/14/2011

Please understand the everlasting correlation between crime and poverty. Globally, Blacks have been afflicted by lower socioeconomic momentum than the other ethnicity. Perhaps, Caracas is turning Black! Only a metaphor, folks!

[Thorn11acr]

09:46 AM on 10/14/2011

Its no suprise that the most dangerous places in the US are always inhabited by Blacks. Yes crime is rampant in black areas, yes drugs and violence are also connected with our most violent race...

Why is no one asking...WHAT CAN WE DO TO STOP THIS ?

Little kids dodging bullets to walk to school, innocent people gunned down this is not Tombstone in the wild west is AMERICA and its time we stop being so Politically Correct and use some common sense and address problems and dangers to our society.

Illegal immigration is the key cause...One the illegals take away ENTRY LEVEL jobs from young blacks...therefore they have no JOBS. For many NO JOBS means no self respect and no FUTURE.

I remember in the Construction Trade when blacks dominated the drywall business...thats gone now, its Mexicans, Site clean up....Mexicans. Guess who's building the new homes today...not highly experienced licensed Journeyman Carpenters...Mexicans. FYI I am referring to ILLEGAL Mexicans NOT THOSE WHO ARE AMERICANS.

Many of our jobs are still here, their just going to cheap inexperienced labor. Detroit lost all its auto making jobs dut to UNION GREED.$30 an hour wasn't enough they demanded 100% health care coverage...now all those jobs are being done by MEXICANS in MEXICO for $30 A DAY.

UNION GREED caused the loss of many jobs, NAFTA was the kiss of death and it was SUPPORTED by the UNIONS who also own the democrat party.

[tomeb]

12:57 PM on 10/14/2011

You forgot CEO greed..

[LAGALINDO]

08:52 AM on 11/17/2011

Very nice Thorn11acr. -let's blame everybody else except ourselves. Mexicans won't read a word you said anyways because they are at work.

[jkcow]

09:14 AM on 10/14/2011

They missed the biggest one Washington DC.

[Gina Gant]

09:32 PM on 10/13/2011

God see all the crime,and crime is if people commited to evil unless asking God, for forgiveness of sin!

[muenft]

12:35 AM on 10/13/2011

Alaska worse than new orleans? I have been to both places and this is laughable except you must remember it is the left wing huffington post that is publishing this so don;t expect the truth if it does not promote the left wing adjenda.
Have you noticed a daily article about homosexuals ? they want to make homosexuality main stream.

[muenft]

12:31 AM on 10/13/2011

If you want to live where the crime rate is low, its safe to walk the streets and the quality of living is good. go where the highest number of white people are.

[spring64127]

11:14 AM on 10/14/2011

You sound sooo racist and you are truly not one of God's children. I don't want to go religion on you but you need Jesus. There are good people in all nationalities. I was raised in the military and travelled mostof my life. I have many good friends in all walks of life and they are not criminals. Where do you come from saying things like that.

[angelout]

02:55 AM on 10/11/2011

And they say there is NO connection, right?

[Paleo Man]

12:47 PM on 10/09/2011

Any article like this is sure to provoke a frenzy of rationalization. Maybe the high crime places are that way because the folks who live there and the pols are so good at rationalizing rather than dealing with the root problems.

Or maybe places have high violent crime rates because lots of unincarcerated violent criminals live there and choose to do their thing.

[powerage]

01:16 AM on 10/09/2011

This is nothing new really...Detroit has been hovering either at or near the top of worst places for murders for decades but at least they do have something to be proud of right now... Go Lions!

[ms.understood]

03:11 PM on 10/08/2011

alaska rounded out the top 5! you mean, palin didn't solve this problem during her half-term. tsk, tsk.

[spring64127]

11:20 AM on 10/14/2011

I have never been to Alaska but everybody wants to go there and those that I know have went, really like it.

[DaydreamingTori]

05:39 AM on 10/15/2011

F&F!!

[greenie69]

04:55 PM on 10/07/2011

weird - I would think Albuquerque, NM would be on there for sure....maybe too difficult to spell.

[Protocolor]

05:31 PM on 10/06/2011

Not so long ago I lived in a place where if there was a serious violent crime anywhere in the entire nation it would be the main topic on the 6 o`clock national news for a week or more. Back in the States, though, a big city could have a dozen murders in a given week and no one thinks twice about it.

America, your culture is really badly messed up.

[kencrn419]

07:28 PM on 10/06/2011

You can say that again!

[mairs]

02:03 PM on 10/13/2011

The US has 5% of the world's population, yet it has 25% of the world's prisoners. Yes, really messed up.

[Lon Calhoun]

01:09 AM on 10/14/2011

Yeah 25 percent of the worlds criminals. What we need is some do gooders to invite the incarcerated to stay at their homes as a alternative to prison.

[Data Driven Detroit D3]

04:34 PM on 10/06/2011

Data Driven Detroit (D3)*** takes issue with Forbes' approach to this analysis. Here are 2 links to our official response to Forbes' 10 Most Dangerous Cities Article:

http://blog.thedetroithub.com/2011/10/06/apples-to-apples-detroit-ranks-17th-not-first-in-crime/
http://blog.datadrivendetroit.org/

This is just one example issue we have with Forbes' approach:

The difference between apples and oranges:

Nine out of the ten geographies listed in Forbes’ piece are metropolitan statistical areas (MSA), but the included geography for Detroit is a metropolitan division (MD). The Detroit MSA includes six counties while the Detroit MD includes only Wayne County. This is a difference of roughly 2.5 million people. All this underlines a basic lesson from Statistics 101. Do not compare apples to oranges. In this instance the apples-to-oranges comparison hugely biases the results against Detroit by concentrating its crime. When Detroit is properly included on the list as an MSA, it is actually ranked 17th in the nation for crime – not first!

***Data Driven Detroit (D3) provides accessible, high-quality information and analysis to drive decision-making that strengthens communities in Southeast Michigan. www.datadrivendetroit.org