NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- America is becoming safer with daily instances of crime on the decline even as events of mass violence make headlines with increasing frequency.
National law enforcement agencies saw an average 5.4% decrease in the number of violent crimes reported over the six months to June 2013, the most recent data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Over that period, murder rates dropped 6.9% with an 18.5% drop in cities with populations of one million and over. In fact, every crime class from arson to aggravated assault saw the number of reported instances drop from 2012 to 2013.
Even as the overall frequency of crime falls, in pockets of communities in the U.S. there still remains an alarming degree of crime with statistics exposing a darker underbelly to even the most pleasant regions.
To study the prevalence of crime in individual communities, we turned to the FBI's Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report (January-June 2013) in which the agency compiles police reports from all U.S. cities with more than 100,000 residents.
To determine where the highest rate of incidents occur, TheStreet calculated the frequency of crime per capita. The results are based on the total number of instances of reported crimes per 100,000 residents with no weight given to crimes more violent or destructive in nature and figures rounded where the result was not a whole number.
Beginning with the thirteenth most dangerous city in America...
13. Chattanooga, Tennessee
12. Birmingham, Alabama
11. Pueblo, Colorado
10. Atlanta, Georgia
09. Salt Lake City, Utah
08. Memphis, Tennessee
07. Orlando, Florida
06. Detroit, Michigan
05. St. Louis, Missouri
04. Oakland, California
03. Little Rock, Arkansas
02. Spokane, Washington
01. Springfield, Missouri
If you're further interested in each cities' individually detailed crime rates...
...they're listed on each city's individual page.
http://www.thestreet.com/story/12747294/1/the-13-most-dangerous-cities-in-america.html