Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Missouri?
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 Missouri 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 40 cities in the Show Me State with over 5,000 residents.
What city has the highest murder rate in Missouri? The city with the highest murder rate in Missouri is Berkeley with 100 murders per 100,000 people.
What is the city in Missouri with highest number of murders? The city in Missouri with the highest number of murders is St. Louis with 150 murders.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in Missouri ranked. There were ‘only’ 40 cities in Missouri where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 87 places had no murder.
100 per 100k · #1 highest murder rate in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis County, Missouri
Berkeley is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,978 at the 2010 census. Portions of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport are within the city limits.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
69 per 100k · #2 highest murder rate in Missouri
54 per 100k · #3 highest murder rate in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis city, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city and major U.S. port in the state of Missouri, built along the western bank of the Mississippi River, on the border with Illinois. The city had an estimated 2016 population of 311,404, and is the cultural and economic center of the Greater St. Louis area, making it the largest metropolitan area in Missouri and the 19th-largest in the United States.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
34 per 100k · #4 highest murder rate in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis County, Missouri
Ferguson is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. It is part of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. The population was 21,203 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
29 per 100k · #5 highest murder rate in Missouri
Located in
Franklin County, Missouri
Sullivan is a city that straddles the border of Franklin County and Crawford County in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 7,081 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
28 per 100k · #6 highest murder rate in Missouri
Located in
Platte County, Missouri
Kansas City is the largest city in Missouri, United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city had an estimated population of 481,420 in 2016, making it the 37th largest city by population in the United States. It is the central city of the Kansas City metropolitan area, which straddles the Kansas-Missouri border. Kansas City was founded in the 1830s as a Missouri River port at its confluence with the Kansas River coming in from the west. On June 1, 1850 the town of Kansas was incorporated; shortly after came the establishment of the Kansas Territory. Confusion between the two ensued and the name Kansas City was assigned to distinguish them soon thereafter.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
23 per 100k · #7 highest murder rate in Missouri
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
20 per 100k · #8 highest murder rate in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis County, Missouri
Overland is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 16,062 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
19 per 100k · #9 highest murder rate in Missouri
Located in
Pemiscot County, Missouri
Caruthersville is a city in and the county seat of Pemiscot County, Missouri, United States, located along the Mississippi River in the Bootheel region of the state’s far southeast. The population was 6,168, according to the 2010 Census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
19 per 100k · #10 highest murder rate in Missouri
Located in
St. Louis County, Missouri
Bellefontaine Neighbors is an inner-ring suburb city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 10,860 at the 2010 census. At 22 letters, it has the longest name of any incorporated place in the United States.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Missouri’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Missouri’s murders happen
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we calculated the murder capitals of Missouri
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 Missouri for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 40 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 Berkeley. It is our eleventh time ranking the places with the most murders per capita in Missouri. We updated the list for 2026.
The full plate
Murder Rates By City In Missouri
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Murders | Murders/100K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berkeley | 7,970 | 8 | 100 |
| 2 | Vinita Park | 8,727 | 6 | 69 |
| 3 | St. Louis | 277,294 | 150 | 54 |
| 4 | Ferguson | 17,835 | 6 | 34 |
| 5 | Sullivan | 6,800 | 2 | 29 |
| 6 | Kansas City | 511,535 | 141 | 28 |
| 7 | Normandy | 8,593 | 2 | 23 |
| 8 | Overland | 15,358 | 3 | 20 |
| 9 | Caruthersville | 5,129 | 1 | 19 |
| 10 | Bellefontaine Neighbors | 10,263 | 2 | 19 |
| 11 | Pacific | 7,647 | 1 | 13 |
| 12 | Poplar Bluff | 16,108 | 2 | 12 |
| 13 | Hazelwood | 24,678 | 3 | 12 |
| 14 | Raytown | 28,817 | 3 | 10 |
| 15 | Harrisonville | 9,762 | 1 | 10 |
| 16 | Kennett | 9,996 | 1 | 10 |
| 17 | Columbia | 130,354 | 13 | 10 |
| 18 | Maryville | 10,208 | 1 | 10 |
| 19 | Independence | 120,271 | 11 | 9 |
| 20 | Sedalia | 22,201 | 2 | 9 |
| 21 | Bridgeton | 11,206 | 1 | 9 |
| 22 | St. Ann | 12,547 | 1 | 8 |
| 23 | Grandview | 25,200 | 2 | 8 |
| 24 | Cape Girardeau | 40,753 | 3 | 7 |
| 25 | Washington | 15,707 | 1 | 6 |
| 26 | University City | 33,799 | 2 | 6 |
| 27 | Springfield | 170,527 | 10 | 6 |
| 28 | Kirksville | 17,472 | 1 | 6 |
| 29 | Manchester | 17,912 | 1 | 6 |
| 30 | Warrensburg | 19,785 | 1 | 5 |
| 31 | Blue Springs | 61,096 | 3 | 5 |
| 32 | St. Joseph | 70,139 | 3 | 4 |
| 33 | St. Charles | 72,143 | 3 | 4 |
| 34 | Florissant | 50,695 | 2 | 4 |
| 35 | Maryland Heights | 27,351 | 1 | 4 |
| 36 | Ballwin | 30,171 | 1 | 3 |
| 37 | Wentzville | 48,377 | 1 | 2 |
| 38 | Chesterfield | 48,907 | 1 | 2 |
| 39 | St. Peters | 59,993 | 1 | 2 |
| 40 | Lee’s Summit | 105,053 | 1 | 1 |
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report. 40 Missouri cities that reported a murder.
Summary
Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In Missouri For 2026
If you’re looking at the places in Missouri 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 Missouri are Berkeley, Vinita Park, St. Louis, Ferguson, Sullivan, Kansas City, Normandy, Overland, Caruthersville, and Bellefontaine Neighbors.
