Fact check: What were the top 5 cities with the highest per capita murder rates in the US in 2024?

1. How multiple summaries paint different pictures — the headline conflict readers notice

The inputs present two principal, competing claims about the 2024 per-capita homicide leaders. One set of summaries, based on Wirepoints’ survey of the 75 largest cities, names St. Louis (52.9 per 100,000), Memphis (38.0), Baltimore (35.6), New Orleans (34.1), and Detroit (32.1) as the top five by homicide rate ^[1]. A different set of summaries attributes the top five to Birmingham, St. Louis, Memphis, Baltimore, and Detroit, and reports Louisville and Jackson appearing in other lists or lower ranks in alternative tallies ^{[2] [3]}. This divergence is the central factual conflict in the materials: the same year ^[4] but different ranked outcomes because of differing source populations and potential methodological choices.

2. What each source says and where they come from — unpacking the data claims

Wirepoints’ ranking explicitly states it surveyed the nation’s 75 largest cities and published per-100,000 homicide rates with St. Louis at an especially high 52.9 figure; that dataset is cited in multiple analyses in the packet and dated March 2025 for publication ^[1]. Other summaries rely on an FBI compilation or a different nationwide aggregate that puts Birmingham at or near the top alongside St. Louis and lists Louisville as notable for outpacing Chicago and Los Angeles in per-capita killings ^[2]. A separate list that includes Jackson and Birmingham at the very top lists Jackson with 77.8 per 100,000 — a figure not present in Wirepoints’ 75-city survey and attributed to a different article in September 2025 ^[3]. Differences in city coverage and data consolidation are evident across the sources.

3. Why rankings differ — methodology, city sample, and counting choices matter

The variations stem from at least three methodological choices: which cities are included (all U.S. municipalities versus a subset such as the 75 largest), how population denominators are defined and dated, and whether the source counts homicides that occurred within city limits only or includes metropolitan-area figures. Wirepoints states it limited its analysis to the 75 largest cities, which excludes many smaller cities with very high per-capita rates and thus tends to favor different climbers than a comprehensive national list ^[1]. FBI summaries or other national tallies that include smaller cities like Jackson or Birmingham will shift rankings, often elevating smaller cities with concentrated violence rates. Methodological scope, not necessarily data error, explains most discrepancies.

4. Which claims are most directly supported by the materials you provided

Within the packet, the most directly supported and consistently repeated claim is Wirepoints’ top-five list for the 75 largest cities (St. Louis, Memphis, Baltimore, New Orleans, Detroit), supported by repeated references to its March 2025 survey ^[1]. The alternative lists naming Birmingham and Jackson at the very top appear in other items dated September 2025 and in FBI-report summaries; these are less consistent across the provided analyses but still present and cite FBI or national aggregates ^{[2] [3]}. Thus, two defensible but different answers exist depending on whether you mean “largest cities only” or “all U.S. cities”.

5. What remains unresolved and what to watch for — gaps and next steps for verification

Key unresolved items are exact population denominators used for rate calculations, whether homicides are counted by occurrence or residence, and the precise scope (nationwide vs. top-75). The packet lacks a single primary data release (for example, a direct FBI downloadable table or Wirepoints’ complete methodology document) to reconcile these differences definitively. To resolve the question fully, obtain the original Wirepoints table and the FBI’s 2024 homicide tables, confirm which cities were in each sample, and verify population figures used for rate denominators. Absent those primary downloads, both sets of top-five lists are supportable under their respective scopes.

6. Bottom line for readers asking “what were the top five cities?”

If you mean the largest-city survey used by Wirepoints, the top five in 2024 were St. Louis, Memphis, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Detroit ^[1]. If you mean a national list that includes smaller municipalities and FBI tallies, rankings that put Birmingham and Jackson at or near the top alongside St. Louis, Memphis, Baltimore and Detroit are plausible and appear in other summaries ^{[2] [3]}. State your intended scope — “largest cities only” versus “all U.S. cities” — and then use the corresponding list; the packet’s sources consistently reflect that distinction.