Most Dangerous US Cities: 2007 Edition
There’s a new list of most dangerous US cities and the usual suspects are at the top again. Cities make the list by being leaders in murders, rapes, robberies, assaults and car thefts (and their population must be at least 75,000). The reason I’m listing 11 is because Orlando is where I grew up and was one of the biggest movers on the most dangerous cities list, the year previous Orlando was ranked 25th. I live in Tampa now and we only came in 74th which is completely shocking to me. I think we should be way higher! Clearly it’s a real jungle everywhere. Anyways, here’s the top 11:
1. Detroit, Michigan
2. St. Louis, Missouri
3. Flint, Michigan
4. Oakland, California
5. Camden, New Jersey
6. Birmingham, Alabama
7. North Charleston, South Carolina
8. Memphis, Tennessee
9. Richmond, California
10. Cleveland, Ohio
11. Orlando, Florida
To see the whole list go here. Where does your city rank? And if anybody knows of a national weird crimes list please let me know, Tampa must be in the top 5 of that.
Steve Irwin image from this joint.
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POSTED IN: Criminals
19 opinions for Most Dangerous US Cities: 2007 Edition
The Toronto Traveler
Nov 20, 2007 at 2:07 pm
It would be interesting to see where the top population Canadian Cities (Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver) rank in terms of their crime on this list.
Alex
Nov 21, 2007 at 12:24 am
Here’s a link that has some hard figures for crimes in Canadian cities.
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060720/d060720b.htm
Per capita, as far as provinces go, Quebec has the least crime followed by Ontario. The major Canadian province with the most crime is Saskatchewan. Sometimes these things aren’t always so obvious. I would have thought Ontario to be higher.
The Toronto Traveler
Nov 21, 2007 at 1:20 am
Yeah, it seems like the west in general has higher crime rates than the east. That’s quite interesting…I always knew that Ontario in general was pretty good for having a low crime rate in relative terms considering its high population, but I didn’t realize the difference was that noticeable.
Alex
Nov 21, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Thanks for bringing Canadian crime to the table here. And yeah, regardless of the rates, a big question is why are there fewer homicides in Canadian cities than US cities?
It’s interesting to know that Toronto is on the lower end of per capita crime rates as far as major Canadian cities. I was born there actually but rarely visit these days as I don’t have much family there anymore. But my wife and I were just there in August-we really enjoyed Kensington Market, it reminded us of Grenich Village in NYC.
The Toronto Traveler
Nov 22, 2007 at 4:02 am
Yeah, that is definitely a bigger question. Admittedly I’ve never really thought about the topic at length so I couldn’t even really begin to come up with a coherent hypothesis on it. Any ideas along that vein?
As to Kensington, yeah it’s a fantastic place! I actually attend the downtown campus of the University of Toronto, which is right next to Kensington, so I’m there a lot. I’ve actually been to Grenich before as well, and the parallels are pretty noticeable I’d have to agree.
Izaiah
Nov 22, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Richmond dont play its crazy out here manye!!
Alex
Nov 23, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Izaiah-Thanks for swinging by and sharing your listed city!
Justin-Canada is gaining on the US in per capita homicides but is still decently behind. I think the US remains ahead because of a larger degree of gang violence (and Canada is gaining for this same reason). As for gun regulations, I don’t know Canada’s laws but contrary to what many people think, apparently, per capita there are just as many guns in Canada as the US. So I know that’s not the issue. Anybody else have any thoughts here?
brandon castro
Jan 4, 2008 at 5:07 am
im from gary in. in 2007 we had 71 murders and im shocked its not in the top 5. in may alone there were 15 murders. orlando is 2nd home and its been all my life and its crazy thats its 11 11 come on now!!!!
Alex
Jan 4, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Thanks for commenting Brandon. Yeah, I’m shocked Tampa wasn’t higher. Every time I watch the local news it’s like there are several vicious and stupid murders every night.
It’s funny because a lot of my friends in Orlando look down at Tampa, think it’s dirty, etc. But damn, #11 in crime now!!
kona
Jan 24, 2008 at 10:04 pm
k onda
205
May 30, 2008 at 1:40 am
bunch a bone smokin jokes. come play in tha ham and see how much u miss ur home
Bryan Croxen
Jun 9, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Wow. Orlando came in higher than Miami? I thought Orlando was a family-friendly city. Of course I can see Detroit, St. Louis, and Oakland being in the top ten. Has Detroit been in the top ten since the late sixties? I am surprised Los Angeles is not on the top ten. It’s interesting to see Flint on there. Most of the people that tried to get away from the crime in Detroit went to Flint! Oh well, I was wondering where Chicago is on the list?
Alex
Jun 10, 2008 at 12:53 am
Bryan-Yes, some cities on the list are surprises. It makes sense for criminals to move to Orlando though (at least temporarily) because Orlando gets 55 million visitors a year. More than anyplace on Earth! Lots of potential victims of scams, hotel break ins, etc.
And yes, sometimes the people who try to escape the problems of wherever they come from wind up bringing those same problems to their new home.
mike
Jul 1, 2008 at 7:04 am
New Jersey has to be one of the most diverse states, home to some of the safest (Brick, Toms River, Edison) towns, and some of the most dangerous (Camden, Newark, Jersey City) cities in the country, although their are alot more dangerous cities in New Jersey which are unknown to those who are not natives of the state because they were not ranked in the Morgan Quinto list due to population which did not exceed 75,000, cities like Irvington - which had a murderate eight times the national average, and East Oranges another highly dangerous town, both of these towns neighbor Newark.
Alex
Jul 1, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Hey Mike, you don’t often here New Jersey and diverse in the same sentence, hehe.
But yeah those lists are misleading because they exclude small dangerous areas like the ones you mentioned.
Thanks for the interesting and informative comment.
mike
Jul 2, 2008 at 9:20 pm
No problem, I was born and still live in Jersey City, New Jersey, but the differences in crime between Canada and the United States in my opinion is influenced by the demographics of each country, and that’s why I think the United States has more dangerous cities then Canada.
mike
Jul 2, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I’m also very surprised to see how much the southern cities have moved up on the list!
Alex
Jul 10, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Mike-Well, southerners have always said “the south will rise again!” hehe
Boss Dogg
Oct 4, 2008 at 6:34 pm
I would say it go like this!
1. Detroit
2. St. Louis
3. Philadelphia
4. New Orleans
5. Memphis
6. Atlanta
7. Kansas City
8. Dallas
9. Baltimore
10. DONT GET CAUGHT SLIPPIN N NONE OF THESE CITIES
10#
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