“Robbery”– “the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.”–FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

The largest share of robberies in the United States are committed on streets or sidewalks. Handguns are the most commonly used weapon in robberies, and more often than not, among the cases where a suspect has been identified, the offender and victim are strangers to one another.

Despite the long-term decline in robberies nationwide, there were still nearly a quarter of a million robbery cases reported in the U.S. in 2020, accounting for about 19% of all reported violent crimes — and in some parts of the country, robbery is far more common than average.

Using data from the FBI’s 2020 Uniform Crime Report, 24/7 Wall St. identified the town with the most robberies. To pick it, towns are ranked by their robbery rate — specifically, the number of reported robberies for every 100,000 residents. We defined towns based on population thresholds — having at least 2,500 people and less than 25,000 people.

Robbery is only one of four broad categories of violent crime — along with rаpe, aggravated assault, and homicide — and every town on this list also has a higher than average overall violent crime rate.

The town with the most robberies is Salem, New Jersey. Here are the details:

> Robberies per 100k people: 579.3
> Number of robberies: 27 — 43rd highest of 3,612 towns (tied)
> Violent crimes per 100k people: 2,059.6 — 10th highest of 3,606 towns
> Poverty rate: 42.2% — 32nd highest of 3,612 towns
> Population within reporting jurisdiction: 4,661 — 1,039th lowest of 3,612 towns

Methodology: To determine the town with the most robberies, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed robbery figures from the FBI’s 2020 Uniform Crime Report. The rate of robberies per 100,000 people was calculated using population data from the FBI.

We defined towns based on population thresholds — having at least 2,500 people and less than 25,000 people — using five-year estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey. Limited data were available in the 2020 UCR for areas in Alabama, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, though these places were not excluded from analysis.

Additional information on the violent crime rate and the population within the jurisdictions reporting figures to the FBI are also from the 2020 FBI UCR. Poverty rates are five-year estimates from the 2019 ACS.

Click here to read American Towns With The Most Robberies

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