Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Maryland?
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 Maryland 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 17 cities in the Old Line State with over 5,000 residents.
What city has the highest murder rate in Maryland? The city with the highest murder rate in Maryland is Mount Rainier with 37 murders per 100,000 people.
What is the city in Maryland with highest number of murders? The city in Maryland with the highest number of murders is Baltimore with 197 murders.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in Maryland ranked. There were ‘only’ 17 cities in Maryland where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 23 places had no murder.
37 per 100k · #1 highest murder rate in Maryland
Located in
Prince George’s County, Maryland
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
35 per 100k · #2 highest murder rate in Maryland
Located in
Baltimore city, Maryland
Baltimore is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland, and the 30th-most populous city in the United States.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
21 per 100k · #3 highest murder rate in Maryland
Located in
Harford County, Maryland
Aberdeen is a city located in Harford County, Maryland, 26 miles from Baltimore. The population was 14,959 at the 2010 United States Census. Aberdeen is the largest municipality in Harford County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
17 per 100k · #4 highest murder rate in Maryland
District Heights is an incorporated city in Prince George’s County, Maryland, located near Maryland Route 4. The population was 5,837 at the 2010 United States Census. For more information, see the separate articles on Forestville, Maryland and Suitland.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
17 per 100k · #5 highest murder rate in Maryland
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
14 per 100k · #6 highest murder rate in Maryland
Located in
Prince George’s County, Maryland
Riverdale Park, formerly known and often referred to as Riverdale, Maryland is a semi-urban town in Prince George’s County, Maryland, United States, a suburb in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The population was 6,956 as of 2010.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
12 per 100k · #7 highest murder rate in Maryland
Located in
Cecil County, Maryland
The town of Elkton is the county seat of Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15,443 at the 2010 census. It was formerly called Head of Elk because it sits at the head of navigation on the Elk River, which flows into the nearby Chesapeake Bay.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
12 per 100k · #8 highest murder rate in Maryland
Located in
Frederick County, Maryland
Brunswick is a city in Frederick County, Maryland, United States at the Maryland/Virginia border. The population was 5,870 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
11 per 100k · #9 highest murder rate in Maryland
Located in
Allegany County, Maryland
Cumberland Maryland, officially the City of Cumberland, is a western gateway city and seat of Allegany County, Maryland, United States and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,859, and the metropolitan area had a population of 103,299. Cumberland is a regional business and commercial center for Western and the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia. Cumberland is commonly referred to as “Where The South Begins,” as official United States Census Bureau records place it below the Mason-Dixon line.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
11 per 100k · #10 highest murder rate in Maryland
Located in
Prince George’s County, Maryland
Bladensburg is a town in Prince George’s County, Maryland, United States. The population was 9,148 at the 2010 census. Areas in Bladensburg have the ZIP code 20710. Bladensburg is 8.6 miles from central Washington, D.C.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Maryland’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Maryland’s murders happen
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we calculated the murder capitals of Maryland
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 Maryland for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 17 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 Mount Rainier. It is our eleventh time ranking the places with the most murders per capita in Maryland. We updated the list for 2026.
The full plate
Murder Rates By City In Maryland
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Murders | Murders/100K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mount Rainier | 8,055 | 3 | 37 |
| 2 | Baltimore | 566,632 | 197 | 35 |
| 3 | Aberdeen | 18,635 | 4 | 21 |
| 4 | District Heights | 5,769 | 1 | 17 |
| 5 | Fruitland | 5,987 | 1 | 17 |
| 6 | Riverdale Park | 7,109 | 1 | 14 |
| 7 | Elkton | 16,017 | 2 | 12 |
| 8 | Brunswick | 8,488 | 1 | 12 |
| 9 | Cumberland | 18,661 | 2 | 11 |
| 10 | Bladensburg | 9,382 | 1 | 11 |
| 11 | Bel Air | 10,422 | 1 | 10 |
| 12 | Hagerstown | 43,563 | 4 | 9 |
| 13 | Annapolis | 40,446 | 3 | 7 |
| 14 | Laurel | 29,209 | 2 | 7 |
| 15 | Hyattsville | 20,506 | 1 | 5 |
| 16 | Frederick | 88,428 | 2 | 2 |
| 17 | Gaithersburg | 69,590 | 1 | 1 |
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report. 17 Maryland cities that reported a murder.
Summary
Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In Maryland For 2026
If you’re looking at the places in Maryland 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 Maryland are Mount Rainier, Baltimore, Aberdeen, District Heights, Fruitland, Riverdale Park, Elkton, Brunswick, Cumberland, and Bladensburg.
