Do you live in one of the murder capitals of New York?
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 New York 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 43 cities in the Empire State with over 7,000 residents.
What city has the highest murder rate in New York? The city with the highest murder rate in New York is Jamestown with 18 murders per 100,000 people.
What is the city in New York with highest number of murders? The city in New York with the highest number of murders is New York with 325 murders.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in New York ranked. There were ‘only’ 43 cities in New York where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 152 places had no murder.
18 per 100k · #1 highest murder rate in New York
Located in
Chautauqua County, New York
Jamestown is a city in southern Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 31,146 at the 2010 census. Situated between Lake Erie to the northwest and the Allegheny National Forest to the south, Jamestown is the largest population center in the county. Nearby Chautauqua Lake is a freshwater resource used by fishermen, boaters and naturalists.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
15 per 100k · #2 highest murder rate in New York
Located in
Onondaga County, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, in the United States. It is the largest U.S. city with the name “Syracuse”, and is the fifth most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo Rochester and Yonkers. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,252, and its metropolitan area had a population of 662,577. It is the economic and educational hub of Central New York, a region with over one million inhabitants. Syracuse is also well-provided with convention sites, with a downtown convention complex. Syracuse was named after the original Greek city Syracuse, a city on the eastern coast of the Italian island of Sicily.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
14 per 100k · #3 highest murder rate in New York
13 per 100k · #4 highest murder rate in New York
Located in
Erie County, New York
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
13 per 100k · #5 highest murder rate in New York
Located in
Monroe County, New York
Rochester is a city on the southern shore of Lake Ontario in Western New York. Rochester is the third most populous city in New York state with over 210,000 residents, and its metropolitan area has a population of nearly 1.1 million people.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
12 per 100k · #6 highest murder rate in New York
Located in
Erie County, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York and the 8most populous city in the United States. As of July 2016, the population was 256,902, a slight decrease from the 2010 census. It is the principal municipality of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area, a region with 1,134,210 residents in the MSA and 1,213,668 in the CSA. The city serves as the county seat of Erie County. The city also is a major gateway for commerce and travel at the Canada-United States border, forming part of the bi-national Buffalo Niagara Region.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
11 per 100k · #7 highest murder rate in New York
11 per 100k · #8 highest murder rate in New York
Located in
Orange County, New York
Newburgh is a city located in Orange County, New York, United States, 60 miles north of New York City, and 90 miles south of Albany, on the Hudson River. Newburgh is a part of the New York CSA. The Newburgh area was first settled in the early 18th century by the Germans and British. During the American Revolution, Newburgh served as the headquarters of the Continental Army. Prior to its chartering in 1865, the city of Newburgh was part of the town of Newburgh; the town now borders the city to the north and west. East of the city is the Hudson River; the city of Beacon, New York is across the river; and it is connected to Newburgh via the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. The entire southern boundary of the city is with the town of New Windsor. Most of this boundary is formed by Quassaick Creek. In May 2016, the city requested help for its PFOS contaminated water supply under Superfund.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
10 per 100k · #9 highest murder rate in New York
Located in
Schenectady County, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135. The name “Schenectady” is derived from a Mohawk word skahnhtati meaning “beyond the pines”. The city was founded on the south side of the Mohawk River by Dutch colonists in the 17th century, many from the Albany area. They were prohibited from the fur trade by the Albany monopoly, which kept its control after the English takeover in 1664. Residents of the new village developed farms on strip plots along the river.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
10 per 100k · #10 highest murder rate in New York
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is New York’s statewide median.
On the map
Where New York’s murders happen
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we calculated the murder capitals of New York
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 New York for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 43 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 Jamestown. It is our eleventh time ranking the places with the most murders per capita in New York. We updated the list for 2026.
The full plate
Murder Rates By City In New York
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Murders | Murders/100K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jamestown | 27,735 | 5 | 18 |
| 2 | Syracuse | 145,175 | 22 | 15 |
| 3 | Herkimer Village | 7,218 | 1 | 14 |
| 4 | Tonawanda | 14,825 | 2 | 13 |
| 5 | Rochester | 206,093 | 27 | 13 |
| 6 | Buffalo | 273,728 | 34 | 12 |
| 7 | Newark Village | 8,931 | 1 | 11 |
| 8 | Newburgh | 28,061 | 3 | 11 |
| 9 | Schenectady | 68,610 | 7 | 10 |
| 10 | Irondequoit Town | 49,336 | 5 | 10 |
| 11 | Massena Village | 10,028 | 1 | 10 |
| 12 | Watervliet | 10,108 | 1 | 10 |
| 13 | Albany | 102,095 | 9 | 9 |
| 14 | Utica | 63,098 | 5 | 8 |
| 15 | Stony Point Town | 14,706 | 1 | 7 |
| 16 | Middletown | 30,110 | 2 | 7 |
| 17 | Beacon | 15,267 | 1 | 7 |
| 18 | Binghamton | 46,378 | 3 | 6 |
| 19 | Niagara Falls | 47,296 | 3 | 6 |
| 20 | Poughkeepsie | 31,843 | 2 | 6 |
| 21 | Oswego City | 17,058 | 1 | 6 |
| 22 | Hempstead Village | 58,013 | 3 | 5 |
| 23 | Lackawanna | 19,484 | 1 | 5 |
| 24 | Glenville Town | 22,040 | 1 | 5 |
| 25 | Kingston | 23,704 | 1 | 4 |
| 26 | Peekskill | 25,484 | 1 | 4 |
| 27 | New York | 8,299,271 | 325 | 4 |
| 28 | Elmira | 26,130 | 1 | 4 |
| 29 | Saratoga Springs | 28,546 | 1 | 4 |
| 30 | Spring Valley Village | 32,973 | 1 | 3 |
| 31 | Ithaca | 33,646 | 1 | 3 |
| 32 | Long Beach | 34,527 | 1 | 3 |
| 33 | Bethlehem Town | 34,933 | 1 | 3 |
| 34 | Mount Vernon | 70,390 | 2 | 3 |
| 35 | Riverhead Town | 35,693 | 1 | 3 |
| 36 | Cheektowaga Town | 78,864 | 2 | 3 |
| 37 | Freeport Village | 43,583 | 1 | 2 |
| 38 | West Seneca Town | 44,982 | 1 | 2 |
| 39 | Hamburg Town | 47,687 | 1 | 2 |
| 40 | Troy | 50,372 | 1 | 2 |
| 41 | Yonkers | 206,557 | 4 | 2 |
| 42 | White Plains | 61,923 | 1 | 2 |
| 43 | Ramapo Town | 110,136 | 1 | 1 |
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report. 43 New York cities that reported a murder.
Summary
Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In New York For 2026
If you’re looking at the places in New York 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 New York are Jamestown, Syracuse, Herkimer Village, Tonawanda, Rochester, Buffalo, Newark Village, Newburgh, Schenectady, and Irondequoit Town.
