Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Arkansas?
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 Arkansas 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 Natural State with over 7,000 residents.
What city has the highest murder rate in Arkansas? The city with the highest murder rate in Arkansas is Helena-West Helena with 95 murders per 100,000 people.
What is the city in Arkansas with highest number of murders? The city in Arkansas with the highest number of murders is Little Rock with 36 murders.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in Arkansas ranked. There were ‘only’ 29 cities in Arkansas where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 37 places had no murder.
95 per 100k · #1 highest murder rate in Arkansas
Located in
Phillips County, Arkansas
Helena-West Helena is the county seat of and the largest city within Phillips County, Arkansas, United States. The current city was consolidated, effective January 1, 2006, from the two Arkansas cities of Helena and West Helena. Helena is sited on lowlands between the Mississippi River and the eastern side of Crowley’s Ridge. West Helena is located on the western side of Crowley’s Ridge, a geographic anomaly in the typically flat Arkansas Delta. The Helena Bridge, one of Arkansas’ four Mississippi River bridges, carries U.S. Route 49 across to Mississippi. The combined population of the two cities was 15,012 at the 2000 census and at the 2010 census, the official population was 12,282.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
72 per 100k · #2 highest murder rate in Arkansas
Located in
Crittenden County, Arkansas
West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 26,245 at the 2010 census, ranking it as the state’s 18th largest city, behind Bella Vista. It is part of the Memphis metropolitan area, and is located directly across the Mississippi River from Memphis.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
41 per 100k · #3 highest murder rate in Arkansas
Forrest City is a city in St. Francis County, Arkansas, United States, and the county seat. It was named for General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who used the location as a campsite for a construction crew completing a railroad between Memphis and Little Rock, shortly after the Civil War. The population was 15,371 at the 2010 census, an increase from 14,774 in 2000. The city refers to itself as the “Jewel of the Delta”.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
40 per 100k · #4 highest murder rate in Arkansas
Located in
Mississippi County, Arkansas
Blytheville is the largest city in Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States. Blytheville is approximately 60 miles north of West Memphis. The population was 18,272 at the 2000 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
36 per 100k · #5 highest murder rate in Arkansas
Located in
Jefferson County, Arkansas
Pine Bluff is the tenth-largest city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combined Statistical Area. The population of the city was 49,083 in the 2010 Census with 2016 estmates showing a decline to 43,841.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
29 per 100k · #6 highest murder rate in Arkansas
Located in
Pulaski County, Arkansas
North Little Rock is a city in Pulaski County, Arkansas, United States, across the Arkansas River from Little Rock in the central part of the state. The population was 62,304 at the 2010 census. North Little Rock, along with Little Rock and Conway, anchors the six-county Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is further included in the Little Rock-North Little Rock Combined Statistical Area with 902,443 residents.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
26 per 100k · #7 highest murder rate in Arkansas
Located in
Randolph County, Arkansas
Pocahontas is a city in Randolph County, Arkansas, United States, along the Black River. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 6,765. The city is the county seat of Randolph County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
21 per 100k · #8 highest murder rate in Arkansas
Located in
Pulaski County, Arkansas
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
19 per 100k · #9 highest murder rate in Arkansas
Located in
Columbia County, Arkansas
Magnolia is a city in Columbia County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census the population was 11,577. The city is the county seat of Columbia County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
18 per 100k · #10 highest murder rate in Arkansas
Located in
Union County, Arkansas
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Arkansas’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Arkansas’s murders happen
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we calculated the murder capitals of Arkansas
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 Arkansas 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 Helena-West Helena. It is our eleventh time ranking the places with the most murders per capita in Arkansas. We updated the list for 2026.
The full plate
Murder Rates By City In Arkansas
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Murders | Murders/100K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Helena-West Helena | 8,404 | 8 | 95 |
| 2 | West Memphis | 23,617 | 17 | 72 |
| 3 | Forrest City | 12,332 | 5 | 41 |
| 4 | Blytheville | 12,354 | 5 | 40 |
| 5 | Pine Bluff | 38,524 | 14 | 36 |
| 6 | North Little Rock | 64,487 | 19 | 29 |
| 7 | Pocahontas | 7,668 | 2 | 26 |
| 8 | Jacksonville | 28,958 | 6 | 21 |
| 9 | Magnolia | 10,650 | 2 | 19 |
| 10 | El Dorado | 16,603 | 3 | 18 |
| 11 | Little Rock | 204,247 | 36 | 18 |
| 12 | Hot Springs | 38,001 | 6 | 16 |
| 13 | Texarkana | 29,173 | 4 | 14 |
| 14 | Wynne | 7,919 | 1 | 13 |
| 15 | Monticello | 8,095 | 1 | 12 |
| 16 | Hope | 8,445 | 1 | 12 |
| 17 | Camden | 10,025 | 1 | 10 |
| 18 | Fayetteville | 104,089 | 8 | 8 |
| 19 | Mountain Home | 13,427 | 1 | 7 |
| 20 | Jonesboro | 81,256 | 5 | 6 |
| 21 | Bentonville | 61,109 | 3 | 5 |
| 22 | Springdale | 91,630 | 4 | 4 |
| 23 | Centerton | 26,233 | 1 | 4 |
| 24 | Cabot | 27,405 | 1 | 4 |
| 25 | Paragould | 30,814 | 1 | 3 |
| 26 | Bella Vista | 33,122 | 1 | 3 |
| 27 | Sherwood | 33,223 | 1 | 3 |
| 28 | Conway | 71,417 | 2 | 3 |
| 29 | Rogers | 75,307 | 1 | 1 |
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report. 29 Arkansas cities that reported a murder.
Summary
Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In Arkansas For 2026
If you’re looking at the places in Arkansas 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 Arkansas are Helena-West Helena, West Memphis, Forrest City, Blytheville, Pine Bluff, North Little Rock, Pocahontas, Jacksonville, Magnolia, and El Dorado.
