24/7 Wall St.

The Citizens Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice, based in Mexico, has put out its list of the world’s 50 most dangerous cities. The rank is based on murder rates. Four of the cities are in the United States: St. Louis, Baltimore, New Orleans and Detroit.

Three of those also are on the 24/7 Wall St. list of the 25 Most Dangerous Cities, which is based on U.S. data: St. Louis, Baltimore and Detroit. And these three American cities are among the top four most dangerous cities on the 24/7 Wall St. list.

The Citizens Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice list:

The 24/7 Wall St. methodology:

To identify the 25 most dangerous U.S. cities, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed violent crime rates in cities with at least 100,000 people from the FBI’s 2016 Uniform Crime Report released September 25, 2017. The total number and the rates of murder, non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, which are included in the violent crime rate, as well as burglaries, larceny, and motor vehicle theft — all classified as property crime — also came from the FBI’s report. We also considered these data for each year from 2012 through 2016. Population, and the number of police officers in each city in 2016, 2015, and in 2008 came from the FBI.

Annual unemployment rates for 2016 came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Median household income, poverty rates, and the percentage of households earning less than $10,000 a year came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) and are five-year averages for the period 2011 to 2015.

And the summaries of the three American cities on the list from 24/7 Wall St.:

 4. Baltimore, Maryland
> Violent crime rate: 1,780 per 100,000
> 2016 murders: 318
> Poverty rate: 23.7%
> Unemployment rate: 6.3%

Baltimore is one of several large cities that accounted for a substantial portion of the nationwide increase in violent crime in 2016. While the number of violent crimes nationwide rose 4.1% from 2015 to 2016, violent crime in Baltimore increased 15.4% — nearly the most of any U.S. city. In total, there were 1,780 violent crimes reported per 100,000 Baltimore residents in 2016, far more than the national rate of 386 incidents per 100,000 Americans. Like many large metro areas, most of the gun violence in Baltimore is concentrated in the city’s poorest areas. According to one Baltimore Sun investigation, approximately 80% of gun-related homicides in Baltimore since 2011 have occurred in just 25% of the city’s neighborhoods.

2. St. Louis, Missouri
> Violent crime rate: 1,913 per 100,000
> 2016 murders: 188
> Poverty rate: 27.1%
> Unemployment rate: 5.4%

There were 1,913 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in St. Louis in 2016, the second most of any city. One factor contributing to the high incidence of crime in St. Louis is gun-related homicide. St. Louis has the highest murder rate nationwide, and it has risen in recent years even as gun violence in other large, high-crime cities leveled off. There were 60 homicides per 100,000 St. Louis residents in 2016, more than 10 times the national homicide rate. One difference between St. Louis and other major metro areas is the city’s relatively permissive gun control legislation. Individuals, for example, are allowed to carry a gun in a car without a permit, an illegal act in Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, and New York City, according to state laws.

1. Detroit, Michigan
> Violent crime rate: 2,047 per 100,000
> 2016 murders: 303
> Poverty rate: 40.3%
> Unemployment rate: 10.9%

Detroit, one of the several major metropolitan areas that are largely responsible for the increase in violent crime nationwide last year, surpassed St. Louis as the most dangerous city in 2016. The number of violent crimes rose 16.3% from 2015 to 2016, far more than the 4.1% national increase and one of the sharpest spikes of any U.S. city. The increase was largely due to a rise in the number of aggravated assaults, which increased by 30.6% year-over-year. In total, there were 2,047 violent crimes per 100,000 Detroit residents in 2016, by far the most of any city in the country and more than five times the national rate of 386 incidents per 100,000 residents.