Murder rates by city in the United States research summary. We used Saturday Night Science to research the cities with the highest murder rates in the US for 2026. The data comes from the FBI Crimes trend which breaks down crime rates, including murder, for cities over 100,000 people every quarter. Our analysis reviews the reported murder rates in the 296 cities over 100,000 people.
Murder has increased since George Floyd’s death in 2020.
While there are many possible reasons for the increase, murder rates are still low by historical standards.
But “the why” is not the subject of our analysis today. Instead, we’re reporting on the facts using Saturday Night Science to show the cities with the highest and lowest murder rates in the United States.
Using the most recent data from the FBI, we’ll analyze the cities with the highest rates of murder on a per capita basis.
Birmingham ranks 1st on our list of the cities with the highest murder rate in America, and the gap between it and the rest of the country is wide. The old steel capital of the South logged 115 murders, a heavy total for a city of fewer than 200,000 people. Per resident, that is one of the worst rates the FBI tracks.
The city has put money behind the problem, from violence interruption work to a steady downtown revival around Railroad Park. The numbers have not fallen far enough to move it off the top of the list.
Data | Cost of living | Movers
St. Louis has world class parks and free museums, and it also carries one of the worst murder rates in the country. The city recorded 150 murders, which lands it 2nd on our national list. Against a population of roughly 277,000, that is a rate few big cities come close to.
Most of the violence is concentrated in a handful of neighborhoods, not spread evenly across the metro. The number is still high enough to keep St. Louis near the top every year.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
Memphis posts the most murders on this entire list by raw count, with 249 in a single year. That total, spread across about 613,000 people, ranks the home of the blues 3rd for murder rate in America. It is a lot of loss for one city to carry.
Memphis has barbecue, Beale Street, and a music history few places can match. The crime numbers are the part that keeps landing it near the top of rankings like this one. See how the rest of the state compares in our list of cities in Tennessee.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
Few cities are as tied to their crime reputation as Baltimore, and the data backs it up. The city logged 197 murders, which puts it 4th for murder rate in America against a population of about 567,000. That reputation did not come from nowhere.
Baltimore also has a working harbor, real history, and rowhouse neighborhoods worth rooting for. The murder count is simply the number that keeps it on lists like this.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
Detroit recorded 203 murders, enough to rank 5th for murder rate in America across roughly 651,000 residents. The figure is actually down from the city’s worst years, when the count ran far higher. Progress and a hard number can be true at the same time.
Downtown investment and new energy have changed the Motor City’s story in real ways. The murder rate is the line that keeps it on this list anyway.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
Cleveland logged 109 murders, which ranks it 6th for murder rate in America in a city of about 363,000. For a town that has spent the last decade on the upswing, it is a number that stands out. The lakefront and the museums do not tell the whole story.
Most of the violence clusters on the east side rather than the downtown and west side neighborhoods drawing new residents. The rate is still high enough to keep Cleveland here.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
Dayton shows how much population size matters in a per capita ranking. The raw count is modest at 40 murders, but against only about 135,000 residents the rate climbs to 7th highest in America. A small city does not get to hide behind its size here.
Dayton has aviation history, a walkable downtown, and the kind of tight community locals are loyal to. The per capita murder rate is the number that lands it this high.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
Kansas City is a regular on lists like this, and the data explains why. The city recorded 141 murders, which ranks it 8th for murder rate in America across about 512,000 people. The barbecue and the jazz are not the only thing it is known for.
Kansas City also has more fountains than just about any city outside Rome and a downtown that has come a long way. The murder rate is the part that keeps showing up in rankings.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
Louisiana shows up on this list more than any state would like, and Shreveport is part of the reason. The city logged 47 murders in a population of about 175,000, which ranks it 9th for murder rate in America. The per capita math is what does it.
Shreveport has riverboat casinos, a real music scene, and Cajun and soul food worth the drive. The murder rate is the hard part of the story.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
Washington, DC closes out the top ten, which is not what most people picture when they think of the nation’s capital. The District recorded 179 murders across about 702,000 residents, ranking it 10th for murder rate in America. The monuments and the violence exist a few miles apart.
Like a lot of cities here, the harm is concentrated in specific wards rather than spread across town. The rate is still high enough to land DC on the list. It sits among the deadliest big cities in the country.
Data | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is the United States’s statewide median.
On the map
Where the cities with the highest murder rates in America are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How We Determined The Murder Capitals Of America For 2026
While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in a state are the most dangerous, we wanted to rely on something other than speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked to Saturday Night Science and the hard numbers from the FBI’s last year of reporting. Specifically, we analyzed the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer, which summarizes the number of murders that happen in each city per year.
We only looked at cities in America with over 100,000 people — that left us with 296 cities in America to analyze.
We then calculated the number of murders per capita for these cities to make an apples-to-apples comparison. This ranking created a “Murder Index.”
The cities with a higher Murder Index were deemed the “Murder Capitals of America For 2026.”
- Murders Per Capita
We must note that this report is not an analysis of the effectiveness of local police departments. It simply states where murders occurred.
We updated this report for 2026. This report is our eleventh time ranking the murder capitals of America.
The full list
Murder Rate Per Capita By City In The US For 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer. The 296 largest US cities.
Summary
Summary: Locking Up Murders Row For 2026
There you have it — a look at the cities with the highest murder rates in America for 2026 with Birmingham at the top of the list.
The cities with the highest murder rate in the United States are Birmingham, AL, St. Louis, MO, Memphis, TN, Baltimore, MD, Detroit, MI, Cleveland, OH, Dayton, OH, Kansas City, MO, Shreveport, LA, and Washington, DC.
If you’re looking for the safest cities in America when it comes to murder rates, check out Torrance, CA and Joliet.
