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

1. How one widely cited list put Memphis at the top — and what it actually measures

A prominent analysis reports Memphis as the top city in 2024 with a total crime rate of 9,400.3 per 100,000 residents, followed by Portland (6,246.4), Detroit (6,086.6), Seattle (5,782.7), and Baltimore (5,763.2). That presentation frames the order as a ranking by total reported crimes per 100,000 residents, combining violent and property offenses into a single rate and producing notably higher absolute numbers for cities with concentrated crime and population dynamics ^[1]. The list’s emphasis on a single composite rate amplifies cities where property crime and non-violent offenses are prevalent; it does not isolate homicide, aggravated assault, or other violent-crime categories. As a result, readers interpreting this list as a measure of danger or violent crime risk will overweight total incident volume rather than violence-specific risk, a methodological choice that shapes which cities appear in the top five.

2. Alternative rankings stress violence or lifestyle context and flip the list

Other sources produce contrasting top-five rosters by altering what they measure. A lifestyle- and real-estate-oriented ranking places Memphis, Oakland, St. Louis, Baltimore, and Detroit among the most dangerous, because it blends crime rates with commute times and housing values, thereby introducing economic and quality-of-life factors that change ordinal positions ^[2]. A separate violent-crime–focused report lists Baltimore, Detroit, Memphis, St. Louis, and Birmingham as the top five for violent crime per 100,000 residents, which diverges from total-crime lists and spotlights cities with elevated rates of homicide, assault, or robbery ^[3]. These alternative framings demonstrate that what counts as “most dangerous” depends on whether analysts measure total incidents, violent incidents, or combined socioeconomic burdens.

3. What the FBI’s 2024 national data confirms — and what it leaves unclear about city rankings

The FBI’s 2024 compilation covers over 14 million criminal offenses and documents a 4.5% national decline in violent crime and a 14.9% drop in murders, providing a clear nationwide trend but not a definitive city-by-city top-five list in the materials provided ^{[4] [5]}. Because the FBI aggregates reports from more than 16,000 local agencies, its raw datasets can support city rankings, but the bureau’s public summaries emphasize national-level change rather than producing a single, comparably adjusted city ranking. Analysts who extract city lists from FBI data must make methodological choices—which offenses to include, how to adjust for population size and reporting practices, and whether to prioritize violent or total crime—which explains why independent lists using similar underlying data yield different top fives ^[6].

4. Why methodological choices produce divergent “top five” lists and potential agendas to watch

Divergent lists stem from three consistent methodological choices: whether the metric counts total versus violent-only crimes, how rates are normalized per 100,000 residents, and whether non-crime factors (housing, commute, economy) are folded in. Real-estate–focused outlets have an implicit agenda of advising consumers about livability and market risk, which blends crime with economic variables and can push certain Midwest or coastal cities higher on danger lists ^[2]. Conversely, crime-specialist lists that prioritize violent-crime rates highlight cities with concentrated interpersonal violence but can understate widespread property-crime burdens. The presence or absence of FBI-centered adjustments for reporting completeness also matters, so readers should treat any single top-five list as contingent on its chosen frame ^{[1] [3] [4]}.

5. Bottom line for readers seeking the “true” top five in 2024

There is no single uncontested top-five city list for 2024 in the provided analyses; instead, multiple defensible lists exist depending on definition. If one uses a total-crime-per-100,000 metric cited by an aggregate study, the top five are Memphis, Portland, Detroit, Seattle, and Baltimore. If one focuses on violent crime alone or blends crime with socioeconomic indicators, the top-five roster shifts to include St. Louis, Oakland, Birmingham, or others. The FBI’s national data confirms a broader downward trend in violent crime but does not resolve ranking disputes without additional methodological transparency ^{[1] [3] [2] [4] [5]}. Readers should select rankings that match their specific concern—total incident volume, violent-crime risk, or broader livability—before drawing policy or personal conclusions.