Baltimore holds the dubious distinction of highest murder rate among the nation's 50 most populous cities, while Oakland has the highest rate motor vehicle thefts. And in New York, the nation's most populous city, property and violent crime rates were well below average for all of the offenses tracked by the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report.
Use the table and interactive graph below to explore violent crime and property crime rates per 100,000 residents for the 50 most populous U.S. cities, as reported in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 2008 Uniform Crime Report.
Select the column headers to sort the table by each type of crime. Click a city's name to display a graph showing percent differences from the average for the 50 most populous U.S. cities. (Note: White-striped bars indicate greater than 100 percent of the 50-city average.)
Violent and Property Crimes, Top U.S. Cities
» Rates of Crime per 100,000 People.
City | Population | Murder | Rape | Assault | Robbery | Burglary | Larceny | Vehicle | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Albuquerque | 527,464 | 7 | 70 | 256 | 561 | 1180 | 4000 | 886 |
2 | Arlington | 375,836 | 6 | 38 | 185 | 374 | 1187 | 3762 | 412 |
3 | Atlanta | 533,016 | 20 | 24 | 621 | 725 | 1874 | 4221 | 1218 |
4 | Austin | 753,535 | 3 | 36 | 177 | 306 | 1139 | 4457 | 349 |
5 | Baltimore | 634,549 | 37 | 22 | 634 | 896 | 1234 | 2715 | 868 |
6 | Boston | 604,465 | 10 | 39 | 397 | 658 | 578 | 2735 | 398 |
7 | Charlotte-Mecklenburg | 758,769 | 11 | 36 | 393 | 492 | 1573 | 3919 | 694 |
8 | Chicago | 2,829,304 | 18 | na | 589 | 602 | 920 | 3041 | 670 |
9 | Cleveland | 433,452 | 24 | 98 | 878 | 430 | 2100 | 2465 | 1219 |
10 | Colorado Springs | 378,403 | 6 | 89 | 137 | 297 | 899 | 3050 | 297 |
11 | Columbus | 751,887 | 14 | 82 | 477 | 200 | 1956 | 3759 | 706 |
12 | Dallas | 1,276,214 | 13 | 39 | 507 | 336 | 1657 | 3322 | 957 |
13 | Denver | 592,881 | 7 | 48 | 160 | 352 | 873 | 1779 | 607 |
14 | Detroit | 905,783 | 34 | 36 | 675 | 1179 | 1967 | 2080 | 1815 |
15 | El Paso | 612,374 | 3 | 30 | 74 | 355 | 339 | 2428 | 450 |
16 | Fort Worth | 701,345 | 7 | 50 | 243 | 356 | 1286 | 3360 | 391 |
17 | Fresno | 475,723 | 8 | 17 | 207 | 353 | 877 | 2965 | 794 |
18 | Honolulu | 906,349 | 2 | 22 | 102 | 157 | 703 | 2369 | 434 |
19 | Houston | 2,238,895 | 13 | 33 | 474 | 587 | 1204 | 3064 | 680 |
20 | Indianapolis | 808,329 | 14 | 59 | 498 | 634 | 1765 | 3522 | 797 |
21 | Jacksonville | 806,080 | 14 | 33 | 364 | 585 | 1490 | 3741 | 500 |
22 | Kansas City | 451,454 | 25 | 55 | 463 | 845 | 1654 | 3647 | 963 |
23 | Las Vegas | 1,353,175 | 9 | 54 | 364 | 557 | 1101 | 1985 | 843 |
24 | Long Beach | 467,055 | 9 | 26 | 318 | 324 | 659 | 1507 | 615 |
25 | Los Angeles | 3,850,920 | 10 | 25 | 349 | 306 | 512 | 1518 | 587 |
26 | Lousiville | 629,679 | 11 | 35 | 280 | 358 | 1156 | 3100 | 416 |
27 | Memphis | 672,046 | 21 | 54 | 712 | 1138 | 2362 | 4843 | 806 |
28 | Mesa | 672,046 | 4 | 35 | 144 | 319 | 627 | 2759 | 448 |
29 | Miami | 427,740 | 15 | 10 | 565 | 746 | 1155 | 3177 | 857 |
30 | Milwaukee | 602,131 | 12 | 35 | 533 | 640 | 1064 | 3922 | 1086 |
31 | Minneapolis | 376,753 | 10 | 97 | 532 | 629 | 1484 | 3391 | 640 |
32 | Nashville | 602,181 | 13 | 50 | 396 | 937 | 1051 | 3946 | 375 |
33 | New York | 8,345,075 | 6 | 11 | 266 | 298 | 238 | 1410 | 149 |
34 | Oakland | 401,587 | 29 | 84 | 827 | 1028 | 1118 | 2220 | 2013 |
35 | Oklahoma City | 552,452 | 10 | 58 | 276 | 634 | 1670 | 3519 | 706 |
36 | Omaha | 437,238 | 10 | 41 | 217 | 337 | 726 | 2949 | 623 |
37 | Philadelphia | 1,441,117 | 23 | 72 | 667 | 679 | 891 | 2823 | 629 |
38 | Phoenix | 1,585,838 | 11 | 30 | 304 | 315 | 1184 | 3070 | 960 |
39 | Portland | 553,023 | 5 | 45 | 205 | 368 | 779 | 3905 | 604 |
40 | Raleigh | 388,661 | 9 | 24 | 264 | 281 | 796 | 2361 | 244 |
41 | Sacramento | 467,065 | 10 | 36 | 377 | 574 | 1117 | 2649 | 1051 |
42 | San Antonio | 1,351,244 | 9 | 31 | 203 | 475 | 1399 | 5229 | 592 |
43 | San Diego | 1,271,655 | 4 | 30 | 159 | 283 | 609 | 1726 | 840 |
44 | San Fransisco | 798,144 | 12 | 21 | 515 | 297 | 677 | 3150 | 721 |
45 | San Jose | 945,197 | 3 | 23 | 119 | 240 | 366 | 1440 | 553 |
46 | Seattle | 598,077 | 5 | 21 | 270 | 281 | 1087 | 3786 | 614 |
47 | Tucson | 528,917 | 12 | 47 | 274 | 471 | na | 1098 | 60 |
48 | Tulsa | 382,954 | 13 | 66 | 286 | 920 | 1756 | 3589 | 600 |
49 | Virginia Beach | 434,163 | 3 | 17 | 124 | 97 | 442 | 2314 | 148 |
50 | Washington, D.C. | 591,833 | 31 | 31 | 702 | 610 | 639 | 3174 | 1046 |
51 | Top 50 Cities | 48,868,848 | 11 | 32 | 369 | 461 | 930 | 2,671 | 614 |
Definitions:
Murder: The willful (non-negligent) killing of one human being by another. Murder is labeled "murder and non-negligent homicide" in the UCR.
Rape: Any act of sexual intercourse that is forced upon a person against their will. Attempts or assaults to commit rape by force or threat of force are also included; however, statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses are excluded. Rape is labeled "forcible rape" in the UCR.
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.
Assault: The unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. The UCR Program further specifies that this type of assault is usually accompanied by the use of a weapon or by other means likely to produce death or great bodily harm. Attempted aggravated assault that involves the display of--or threat to use--a gun, knife, or other weapon is included in this crime category because serious personal injury would likely result if the assault were completed. When aggravated assault and larceny-theft occur together, the offense falls under the category of robbery. Assault is labeled "aggravated assault" in the UCR.
Burglary: The unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft. To classify an offense as a burglary, the use of force to gain entry need not have occurred. The UCR Program has three sub classifications for burglary: forcible entry, unlawful entry where no force is used, and attempted forcible entry. The UCR definition of "structure" includes apartment, barn, house trailer or houseboat when used as a permanent dwelling, office, railroad car (but not automobile), stable, and vessel (i.e., ship).
Larceny: The unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another. Examples are thefts of bicycles, motor vehicle parts and accessories, shoplifting, pocket-picking, or the stealing of any property or article that is not taken by force and violence or by fraud. Attempted larcenies are included. Embezzlement, confidence games, forgery, check fraud, etc., are excluded. Larceny is labeled "larceny-theft" in the UCR.
Vehicle Theft: The theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle. In the UCR Program, a motor vehicle is a self-propelled vehicle that runs on land surfaces and not on rails. Examples of motor vehicles include sport utility vehicles, automobiles, trucks, buses, motorcycles, motor scooters, all-terrain vehicles, and snowmobiles. Motor vehicle theft does not include farm equipment, bulldozers, airplanes, construction equipment, or water craft such as motorboats, sailboats, houseboats, or jet skis. The taking of a motor vehicle for temporary use by persons having lawful access is excluded from this definition. Vehicle theft is labeled "motor vehicle theft" in the UCR.
Definitions are from the 2008 UCR.
Detailed information on the data collection and compilation procedures used by the FBI is available at the Uniform Crime Report website.