Don's Home Reference Demographics Deaths
Large Cities with Highest Murder Rate 		Contact
Cities with a murder rate ≥9 and > 250,000 population
City Pop Murder and non-negligent
man-slaughter		 Av. rate/
100,000
2001 2002 2003
1 New Orleans 475,128 213 258 274 52.3
2 Washington, D.C. 563,384 231 264 247 43.9
3 Detroit 927,766 395 402 366 41.8
4 Baltimore 671,028 256 253 271 38.7
5 Atlanta 435,494 143 152 149 34.0
6 St. Louis 340,256 148 111 73 32.5
7 Birmingham 244,972 73 65 85 30.3
8 Newark, NJ 279,269 90 65 81 28.2
9 Oakland, CA 414,161 84 108 114 24.6
10 Memphis 650,100 159 151 126 22.4
11 Chicago 2,898,374 666 648 599 22.0
12 Philadelphia 1,524,226 309 288 347 20.6
13 Kansas City 441,545 103 83 82 20.2
14 Milwaukee 597,000 127 118 109 19.8
15 Cincinnati 324,297 55 64 71 19.5
16 Buffalo 288,187 43 63 18.4
17 Miami 379,044 66 65 74 18.0
18 Dallas 1,241,481 240 196 235 18.0
19 Pittsburgh 335,302 55 47 67 16.8
20 Cleveland 468,446 77 80 73 16.4
21 Los Angeles 3,838,838 588 654 505 15.2
22 Phoenix 1,404,938 209 177 247 15.0
23 Norfolk 242,077 30 39 40 15.0
24 Houston 2,041,081 267 256 276 13.0
25 Stockton 265,593 30 36 37 12.9
26 Columbus 715,739 81 81 112 12.8
27 Minneapolis 378,602 43 47 46 12.0
28 Long Beach 477,368 49 67 49 11.5
29 Las Vegas 1,189,388 133 137 141 11.5
30 Jacksonville 776,417 75 90 92 11.0
31 Tulsa 393,907 34 26 61 10.2
32 Charlotte-Mecklenburg 668,003 66 67 66 9.9
33 Sacramento 439,811 40 47 43 9.9
34 Albuquerque 468,764 34 51 51 9.7
35 Jersey City 241,443 25 21 24 9.7
36 Denver 565,905 45 51 63 9.4
37 Boston, MA 589,795 65 60 39 9.3
38 San Francisco 772,065 62 68 69 8.6
39 New York 8,098,066 660 587 596 7.6
Cities with population > 500,000 and the lowest murder rates (2003)
City Pop. Murders Rate
Honolulu 905,301 15 1.7
San Jose 909,890 29 3.2
El Paso 586,392 21 3.6
Austin 682,319 27 4.0
Portland 545,271 27 5.0
San Diego 1,272,746 65 5.1
Seattle 576,296 34 5.9
Boston 589,795 39 6.6
Louisville 623,771 42 6.7
San Antonio 1,212,789 85 7.0
New York 8,098,066 597 7.4
San Francisco 772,065 69 8.9
Tucson 514,618 47 9.0
Oklahoma City 521,681 49 9.4
Source: FBI - Uniform Crime Reports - Crime in the US - 2003, Document (pdf), Spread Sheet

RELATIONSHIP OF MURDERER TO VICTIM (1976-2004)

MURDERER

MALEFEMALE
Intimate5.3%30.1%
Family6.7%11.7%
Acquaintance35.5%21.8%
Stranger15.5%8.8%
Undetermined37.1%27.7%
Total100.1%100.1%

Intimate:Spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend
Family:Non-spousal family member,
Source: Ben Best's Death by Murder summarized from Trends in the U.S.: Intimate homicide at the DOJ.

Number of murders and nonnegligent
manslaughter by Circumstance 2003.
Total 14,408
Felony type total: 2,359
Robbery 1,056
Narcotic drug laws 666
Burglary 93
Rape 43
Larceny-theft 22
Motor vehicle theft 30
Arson 77
Prostitution and commercialized vice 16
Other sex offenses 10
Gambling 6
Other - not specified 340
Suspected felony type 88
Other than felony type total: 7,070
Argument over money or property 220
Other arguments 3,806
Juvenile gang killings 819
Gangland killings 115
Romantic triangle 98
Child killed by babysitter 29
Brawl due to influence of alcohol 128
Brawl due to influence of narcotics 53
Institutional killings 13
Sniper attack 2
Other - not specified 1,787
Unknown 4,891
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports - Murder Circumstances, 1999-2003

See Also:
Murder statistics for the World and US.
City Stats for the World and US.
Homicide Rankings of 67 Major Cities at Georgia State
Gang murders in the US

International
According to Ben Best at Death by Murder:
"International murder rates for cities are difficult to obtain outside the developed world. According to some reports Bagota, Cali (112 deaths per 100,000) & Medellin (Columbia), Karachi (Pakistan), Lagos (Nigeria), Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) have some of the highest murder rates in the world, but there are no reliable statistics and Interpol refuses to make its statistics public. Caracas, Venezuela reputedly has a murder rate over 100 per 100,000."

Countries with ten worst murder rates, 2003
Country murders/
100,000
Columbia 84
El Salvador 50
Puerto Rico 42
Brazil 32
Albania 28
Venezuela 25
Russian Federation 18
Ecuador 16
Mexico 15
Panama 14
US rate for 2003 was 5.7
Source: BenBest.com
See World Crime Rates 		Slovenia, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, Hong Kong, Norway, Ireland, Finland and SIngapore had the lowest rates with less than 5 murders per Million (0.5 / 100,000).

In Columbia Seventy-five percent of the reported murders were the result of street crime and common criminals, while the remaining 25% were attributed to guerrilla activity and narcoterrorists.

From 1980-2004, the U.S. Embassy in Bogota has learned of 112 U.S. citizens kidnapped in Colombia and adjacent border areas. Although the majority were released, 14 were murdered, one died from malnutrition during captivity, and the whereabouts of several others remain unknown.

See Also: Crime Rate by State
World Crime Rates

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last updated 19 Jan 2005