America's 50 Most Dangerous Cities

The violent crime rate in North Charleston, South Carolina, is among the highest of any U.S. city. There were 1,114 cases of rape, robbery, aggravated assault, and murder reported in North Charleston in 2019, or 966 for every 100,000 people — more than double the violent crime rate nationwide of 367 incidents for every 100,000 people.

Poverty tends to be more prevalent in areas where crime is more common. In North Charleston, some 22.8% of residents live below the poverty line, far more than the national poverty rate of 14.1%.

Click here to see the full crime report for North Charleston, South Carolina.

There were 977 violent crimes reported per 100,000 Washington residents in 2019, far more than the national rate of 367 violent crimes per 100,000 Americans and the 29th highest violent crime rate of any large city.

While the relationship between unemployment and violent crime is complicated, many of the cities with the highest violent crime rates have high unemployment. Some 5.5% of the Washington labor force was unemployed in 2019, a higher unemployment rate than the national rate of 3.7%.

Click here to see the full crime report for Washington, District Of Columbia.

Of the four categories of violent crime — rape, robbery, aggravated assault, and homicide — aggravated assault is the most common. That pattern holds in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where there were 2,850 aggravated assaults in 2019. Due primarily to instances of aggravated assault, the violent crime rate in the city stands at 987 incidents for every 100,000 people.

Other, nonviolent forms of crime, such as burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft are also more common in Tulsa than they are nationwide. There were 21,336 property crimes reported in Tulsa in 2019, or 5,311 for every 100,000 residents. Meanwhile, the national property crime rate stood at 2,110 per 100,000 the same year.

Click here to see the full crime report for Tulsa, Oklahoma.

As is the case nationwide, in Buffalo, New York, aggravated assault drives the overall violent crime rate more than any other offense. Of the 2,533 violent crimes committed in the city in 2019, 1,563 were aggravated assaults. Overall, there were 991 violent crimes reported in Buffalo for every 100,000 people in 2019.

Specifically, homicide is considerably more common in Buffalo than it is nationwide. There were 47 homicides committed in Buffalo in 2019, or 18.4 for every 100,000 people. Meanwhile, the national murder rate was just 5 per 100,000 the same year.

Click here to see the full crime report for Buffalo, New York.

There were 1,008 violent crimes reported in Lubbock, Texas for every 100,000 people in 2019. For context, there were 367 violent crimes for every 100,000 people nationwide in 2019. As is the case across the United States, aggravated assault is the most common violent crime in Lubbock. Of the 2,613 violent crimes committed in the city in 2019, 1,867 were aggravated assaults.

Violent crime is far more common in Lubbock than it is in Texas. There were 419 violent crimes reported per 100,000 residents in Texas in 2019, far below the corresponding city figure.

Click here to see the full crime report for Lubbock, Texas.