United States
356 city guides in 51 states. Tap a state on the map or pick it from the list.
9 states · 36 cities
12 states · 52 cities
17 states · 130 cities
Safety looks different in a subway city like New York than in a car city like Houston. These are the patterns that repeat across each part of the country.
Dense, walkable cities built around subways, commuter rail and busy stations. Risk tends to cluster around certain transit hubs and late-night stops, and phone snatching and pickpocketing are the most common problems in crowds. Conditions can change within a few blocks, so the exact street matters more than the neighborhood name.
Guides: New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh, Newark
Serious crime in Midwestern cities is often concentrated in a handful of districts well away from downtown, museums and stadiums. The more common issue for visitors is that business districts can empty out quickly after office hours, leaving long walks between lively areas through very quiet streets.
Guides: Chicago, Columbus, Indianapolis, Detroit, Milwaukee
Most Southern cities are spread out and built around the car. That makes break-ins at hotel, mall and trailhead parking lots the risk you are most likely to meet. Nightlife districts get crowded on weekends and during big events, and some highway corridors with budget motels see more trouble than the rest of town.
Guides: Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Jacksonville, Austin
Property crime is the main story in much of the West. Car break-ins are common in tourist areas from the Bay Area to Seattle, so never leave anything visible in a parked car. Big downtowns can change character from one block to the next, and distances between areas are large, so plan how you will get back at night.
Guides: Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco
FBI data · 2025
The 25 highest of the 339 US cities we cover, ordered by their official violent crime rate: murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults per 100,000 residents. 209 of 339 run above the national average of 330. A high citywide rate doesn't make a whole city unsafe: crime clusters in a few areas, and each city guide shows where.
1,853 violent crimes per 100k
5.6× the US average
Detroit, MI
1,654 violent crimes per 100k
5.0× the US average
1,485 violent crimes per 100k
4.5× the US average
| # | City | Violent per 100k | Property per 100k | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Memphis, TN | 1,853 | 5,029 | 606,629 |
| 2 | Detroit, MI | 1,654 | 3,956 | 642,155 |
| 3 | Little Rock, AR | 1,485 | 3,979 | 205,320 |
| 4 | Oakland, CA | 1,475 | 5,255 | 444,211 |
| 5 | Kansas City, MO | 1,376 | 3,991 | 518,039 |
| 6 | Cleveland, OH | 1,367 | 3,969 | 363,659 |
| 7 | New Orleans, LA2023 | 1,361 | 5,090 | 364,197 |
| 8 | Baltimore, MD | 1,351 | 4,009 | 562,811 |
| 9 | Lansing, MI | 1,342 | 2,114 | 114,787 |
| 10 | Macon, GA | 1,293 | 3,424 | 157,114 |
| 11 | Peoria, IL | 1,257 | 3,979 | 111,389 |
| 12 | Birmingham, AL | 1,239 | 4,466 | 195,393 |
| 13 | Springfield, MO | 1,233 | 3,872 | 170,958 |
| 14 | St. Louis, MO | 1,231 | 5,051 | 274,819 |
| 15 | Dayton, OH | 1,229 | 4,028 | 136,047 |
| 16 | South Bend, IN2023 | 1,218 | 2,557 | 102,999 |
| 17 | Wichita, KS | 1,210 | 4,649 | 401,730 |
| 18 | Pueblo, CO | 1,178 | 4,997 | 110,981 |
| 19 | Shreveport, LA | 1,163 | 3,612 | 174,114 |
| 20 | Wilmington, DE | 1,159 | 2,905 | 73,773 |
| 21 | Milwaukee, WI | 1,145 | 2,401 | 559,717 |
| 22 | Lafayette, LA | 1,131 | 3,471 | 122,489 |
| 23 | Evansville, IN | 1,087 | 3,065 | 114,905 |
| 24 | Albuquerque, NM | 1,030 | 4,063 | 559,192 |
| 25 | Stockton, CA | 1,029 | 2,321 | 325,985 |
| 26 | Baton Rouge, LA2023 | 1,009 | 5,543 | 219,086 |
| 27 | Minneapolis, MN | 1,005 | 4,520 | 428,057 |
| 28 | Springfield, IL | 896 | 4,212 | 112,595 |
| 29 | Denver, CO | 882 | 4,144 | 733,212 |
| 30 | Tacoma, WA | 866 | 4,031 | 230,369 |
| 31 | Salt Lake City, UT | 863 | 4,771 | 222,304 |
| 32 | Dover, DE | 852 | 5,821 | 40,389 |
| 33 | Philadelphia, PA | 831 | 4,355 | 1,562,379 |
| 34 | Las Cruces, NM2024 | 726 | 4,900 | 115,977 |
| 35 | Seattle, WA | 706 | 4,461 | 791,503 |
| 36 | Portland, OR | 702 | 5,113 | 631,483 |
| 37 | Lakewood, CO | 675 | 4,517 | 157,016 |
| 38 | Berkeley, CA | 639 | 4,113 | 121,235 |
| 39 | Spokane, WA | 613 | 4,393 | 230,962 |
| 40 | Federal Way, WA2024 | 555 | 4,417 | 96,631 |
| 41 | Burlington, VT | 483 | 4,103 | 44,354 |
| US average | 330 | 1,552 |
At the other end of the list, these have the lowest violent crime rates of the 339 cities in this ranking.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, offenses reported by each city's police department per 100,000 residents; most cities use 2025 data, and a small year next to a name marks a different latest complete year. Only cities with a neighborhood guide are included, and years with incomplete reporting are left out. How we rank cities.
Before you go
Five patterns that explain most of what you will read in our city guides.
Crime in American cities is strongly concentrated. Research on street-level data keeps finding that a small fraction of streets accounts for a large share of reported crime. Two blocks apart, the same neighborhood can feel completely different, which is why our guides name corridors and landmarks instead of writing off whole districts.
Across the US, property crimes such as theft and car break-ins far outnumber violent crimes. For a visitor, the most likely bad experience is a smashed rental car window or a phone grabbed from a café table, not an assault. Simple habits prevent most of it.
A plaza that is busy and safe at noon can be empty and uncomfortable at 2 a.m. Late nights, the hour after bars close and the crowds leaving big events are when problems cluster. The same walk that is fine in daylight may call for a rideshare after dark.
Major bus and train stations, highway underpasses and the quiet streets where downtown fades into warehouses tend to see more trouble than the areas around them. Downtown business districts can also empty quickly after office hours, leaving long, quiet walks between the places that are still busy.
Much of the serious violence in American cities happens between people who know each other, often in areas far from hotels, museums and stadiums. That does not make it irrelevant, but it puts the risk in proportion: knowing where not to wander matters more than worrying about the whole city.
The same handful of habits works in almost every American city, from Miami to Seattle.
Do
Don't
These work across the United States. Each city guide also lists local police and hospital contacts.
Police, fire and ambulance anywhere in the country. The call is free from any phone, including mobile phones.
Non-emergency help in many large cities, such as reporting a noise problem or an abandoned car. Not available everywhere.
Call or text for free, confidential support if you or someone with you is in emotional crisis, 24 hours a day.
FAQ
Quick answers about the most dangerous and safest places in the country, and how to judge an area for yourself.
It depends on how you measure it. Among the 339 cities we cover, Memphis, TN has the highest violent crime rate in the latest FBI data (1,853 offenses per 100,000 residents), followed by Detroit, MI and Little Rock, AR; the ranking above lists the top 25. Those figures cover the whole city, though, and the crime is concentrated in specific districts that most visitors never pass through. A city near the top of a ranking can still be easy to visit if you know which areas to skip.
In FBI figures, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire usually report the lowest violent crime rates in the country. A low state average does not make every street safe, and a high one does not make every street dangerous. For a trip, the city and the exact area matter far more than the state.
Yes, for the vast majority of visitors. The problems tourists most often run into are property crimes such as car break-ins and phone theft, not violence. Knowing which blocks to avoid at night and keeping valuables out of sight prevents most of them.
There is no single national list, because every city is different. The same patterns repeat, though: some bus and train stations late at night, blocks with many vacant lots or boarded-up buildings, quiet industrial edges of downtown and isolated parking lots. Pick a state on the map above to find the city guide with the exact streets.
Check recent local news and the police department crime map, which many US cities publish online. If you can, visit during the day first. At night, look for open businesses, lighting and people on the street. Hotel staff and locals are usually happy to tell you which blocks they avoid.
Not always. Big cities have more incidents in total, but some smaller cities have higher crime rates per resident than large metros. What matters is the rate where you will actually spend time, which is why our guides look at specific areas rather than whole cities.
