Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Arizona?
We all watch the news with horror when we hear about a homicide that happens not that far away from us. While a murder just blocks or even a couple of towns away from your house would make anyone uneasy, in the long run, most likely, where you live is relatively safe.
To find the cities in Arizona with the most murders and the highest murder rates per capita, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the FBI crime data on murders for the 29 cities in the Grand Canyon State with over 12,000 residents.
What city has the highest murder rate in Arizona? The city with the highest murder rate in Arizona is Show Low with 16 murders per 100,000 people.
What is the city in Arizona with highest number of murders? The city in Arizona with the highest number of murders is Phoenix with 139 murders.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in Arizona ranked. There were ‘only’ 29 cities in Arizona where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 24 places had no murder.
16 per 100k · #1 highest murder rate in Arizona
Located in
Navajo County, Arizona
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
10 per 100k · #2 highest murder rate in Arizona
Located in
Pinal County, Arizona
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
10 per 100k · #3 highest murder rate in Arizona
Located in
Pinal County, Arizona
Coolidge is a city in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 census, the city’s population is 11,825.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
9 per 100k · #4 highest murder rate in Arizona
Located in
Pinal County, Arizona
Florence is a town, 61 miles southeast of Phoenix, in Pinal County of Arizona, United States. Florence, which is the county seat of Pinal County, is one of the oldest towns in that county and is regarded as a National Historic District with over 25 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The population of Florence was 30,770 at the 2015 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
8 per 100k · #5 highest murder rate in Arizona
Located in
Maricopa County, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With 1,615,017 people, Phoenix is the fifth most populous city nationwide, the most populous state capital in the United States, and the only state capital with a population of more than one million residents.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
8 per 100k · #6 highest murder rate in Arizona
Located in
Mohave County, Arizona
Kingman is a city in and the county seat of Mohave County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 28,068. The nearby communities of Butler, and Golden Valley bring the Kingman area total population to over 45,000. Kingman is located 85 miles southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada and about 165 miles northwest of the state capital, Phoenix.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
8 per 100k · #7 highest murder rate in Arizona
Located in
Maricopa County, Arizona
Glendale is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located about nine miles northwest from Downtown Phoenix. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 226,721.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
7 per 100k · #8 highest murder rate in Arizona
Located in
Maricopa County, Arizona
Surprise is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona. The population was 30,848 at the 2000 census; however, rapid expansion has boosted the city’s population to 117,517 at the 2010 census, an increase of 281%. As such, it is the second fastest-expanding municipality in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area and, between 1990 and 2000, it was the sixth fastest-expanding place among all cities and towns in Arizona.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
7 per 100k · #9 highest murder rate in Arizona
Located in
Pima County, Arizona
Tucson is a city and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, and home to the University of Arizona. The 2010 United States Census put the population at 520,116, while the 2015 estimated population of the entire Tucson metropolitan statistical area was 980,263. The Tucson MSA forms part of the larger Tucson-Nogales combined statistical area, with a total population of 1,010,025 as of the 2010 Census. Tucson is the second-largest populated city in Arizona behind Phoenix, both of which anchor the Arizona Sun Corridor. The city is located 108 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60mi north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Tucson is the 33rd largest city and the 53rd largest metropolitan area in the United States.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
7 per 100k · #10 highest murder rate in Arizona
Located in
Coconino County, Arizona
Flagstaff is a city in and the county seat of Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2015, the city’s estimated population was 70,320. Flagstaff’s combined metropolitan area has an estimated population of 139,097. The city is named after a ponderosa pine flagpole made by a scouting party from Boston to celebrate the United States Centennial on July 4, 1876.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Arizona’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Arizona’s murders happen
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we calculated the murder capitals of Arizona
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 used Saturday Night Science to compare the hard numbers from the FBI’s last year of reporting. Specifically, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, which summarizes the number of murders in each city annually.
We only looked at every single city in Arizona for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 29 cities to rank.
We took the number of murders per capita as the ranking factor. The place with the most murders per capita based on the most recent data is Show Low. It is our eleventh time ranking the places with the most murders per capita in Arizona. We updated the list for 2026.
The full plate
Murder Rates By City In Arizona
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Murders | Murders/100K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Show Low | 12,341 | 2 | 16 |
| 2 | Eloy | 19,594 | 2 | 10 |
| 3 | Coolidge | 20,276 | 2 | 10 |
| 4 | Florence | 23,354 | 2 | 9 |
| 5 | Phoenix | 1,662,809 | 139 | 8 |
| 6 | Kingman | 36,187 | 3 | 8 |
| 7 | Glendale | 255,512 | 20 | 8 |
| 8 | Surprise | 163,202 | 12 | 7 |
| 9 | Tucson | 548,789 | 37 | 7 |
| 10 | Flagstaff | 76,433 | 5 | 7 |
| 11 | Casa Grande | 67,317 | 4 | 6 |
| 12 | Sahuarita | 37,049 | 2 | 5 |
| 13 | Avondale | 94,911 | 5 | 5 |
| 14 | Prescott Valley | 51,116 | 2 | 4 |
| 15 | Marana | 60,507 | 2 | 3 |
| 16 | Yuma | 101,989 | 3 | 3 |
| 17 | El Mirage | 35,815 | 1 | 3 |
| 18 | Mesa | 513,585 | 14 | 3 |
| 19 | Maricopa | 75,614 | 2 | 3 |
| 20 | Buckeye | 114,513 | 3 | 3 |
| 21 | Tempe | 191,376 | 5 | 3 |
| 22 | Apache Junction | 41,994 | 1 | 2 |
| 23 | Bullhead City | 43,923 | 1 | 2 |
| 24 | Sierra Vista | 44,119 | 1 | 2 |
| 25 | Prescott | 48,339 | 1 | 2 |
| 26 | Peoria | 201,056 | 3 | 1 |
| 27 | Chandler | 281,117 | 2 | 1 |
| 28 | Scottsdale | 245,237 | 1 | 0 |
| 29 | Gilbert | 277,527 | 1 | 0 |
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report. 29 Arizona cities that reported a murder.
Summary
Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In Arizona For 2026
If you’re looking at the places in Arizona with the most murders, and where residents have the highest chances of being killed themselves, this is an accurate list. Again, these statistics are an indication of where crimes occur, not a statement about the effectiveness of the law enforcement in the areas they serve.
The cities with the highest murder per capita in Arizona are Show Low, Eloy, Coolidge, Florence, Phoenix, Kingman, Glendale, Surprise, Tucson, and Flagstaff.
