20 Cities With the Most Severe Increases in Crime

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

Each year, SafeWise releases its annual Safest Cities rankings, highlighting communities with the lowest violent and property crime rates in every state. But low crime is only part of the public safety story.

It's just as important to look at where crime is changing — and how. Low crime is admirable and often hard-won, but getting there looks a little different in every community. Tracking positive and negative changes offers an opportunity to learn what's working and what isn't. 

To determine this year’s cities with the worst safety score declines, we analyzed FBI crime data covering calendar year 2024 and compared it to the prior reporting year.

The average U.S. city saw a slightly improved safety score, increasing by 0.39 points. Most of that improvement came from declining property crime rates, which were down by 4% on average. Violent crime, on the other hand, increased by an average of 7%.

The cities in this report saw their safety scores drop by 8.2 to 20.8 points. Some reported triple-digit percentage increases. In most cases, violent crime increased more than property crime, which somewhat mirrors the national trend. 

This year’s results reveal an interesting geographical trend. One in four cities are located in or near Missouri.

• Two cities are suburbs of St. Louis, MO: Berkeley, MO and Vinita Park, MO.
• Two cities are located outside of Kansas City, MO: Independence, MO and Lawrence, KS.
• Blytheville, AR is located on the border with Missouri.

Several other cities are suburbs of major metros:

• Highland Park, MI (suburb of Detroit)
• Roseville, MN (suburb of St. Paul)
• Springdale, OH (suburb of Cincinnati)
• Lone Tree, CO (suburb of Denver)
• Signal Hill, CA (suburb of Long Beach)

All other cities are located away from major metropolitan areas, typically in the Midwest and South. The Pacific Northwest and New England are the only regions not represented in the top 20. 

VC= Violent crime, PC=Property crime; Crime rates per 1,000 people

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

• Huntsville, AL; Independence, MO; and Lawrence, KS, have the largest populations on this list. But it's not just larger cities that saw steep declines in their safety scores — smaller cities like La Junta, CO (population 6,942) are also on the list. 
• 5 of the top 20 cities reported some of the most significant increases in property crime nationwide: Huntsville, AL (232%); Elmira, NY (185%); Lawrence, KS (176%); Independence, MO (168%); and Springdale, OH (126%).
• Every city in the top 20 saw an increase in aggravated assault, ranging from about a 12% increase in Batesville, MS, to a nearly 296% increase in Huntsville, AL. 
• In terms of murder, 7 cities reported an increase, 5 cities reported a decrease, and 8 cities reported no change. Globe, AZ; Lone Tree, CO; Signal Hill, CA; and Roseville, MN, reported zero murders.
• Murder increased by about 25% on average in the top 20 cities, making it the slowest-increasing crime.
• Vinita Park, MO is the only city in the top 20 to see a year-over-year decrease in crime. Its property crime rate fell by 13% thanks to fewer motor vehicle thefts and burglaries. 
• Motor vehicle thefts jumped from 1 to 23 year over year in Florida City, FL, which is a 2,200% increase.
• Despite having about 100,000 fewer residents than Huntsville, AL, Independence, MO saw 178 more motor vehicle thefts in the 2026 reporting year.
• On average, motor vehicle thefts increased by 218% in the top 20 cities. No other crime saw more than an 86% increase on average.
• Blytheville, AR, was the only city in the top 20 to report a decrease in larceny-theft (a 19.4% drop).
• In Huntsville, AL, the violent crime rate jumped from 1.3 to 4.8 incidents per 1,000 people. Although it's a significant increase, Huntsville's violent crime rate is lower than the average in Alabama (4.91). 
• Lone Tree, CO's violent crime rate is less than the average violent crime rate in Colorado, but its property crime rate is more than double. La Junta, CO's violent crime rate also falls below average, but its property crime rate is more than three times higher. 
• Lawrence, KS, earned the highest overall safety score of 85.5 (scores closer to 100 indicate lower crime rates). 

Whether or not your city ranks high or low for per capita crime rates, there's a lot you can do to get a better grasp on how safe your neck of the woods really is. Stop wondering and start learning with these tips to find out more about what's happening in your neighborhood or city and how you can get involved.

• Take a look outside: Paying attention to your street or neighborhood can tell you a lot. Some things to look for that can make a neighborhood safer include: street lighting, safe walking and biking paths/lanes, access to emergency services, fire hydrants, clean sidewalks, roads, and parks.
• Check out online tools: There are safety apps and websites that offer things like real-time crime data and neighbor-shared concerns. These apps and sites also offer community resources for public safety, emergency responders, community programs and education, and other risks like natural disasters.
• Get involved with your community: Talk to neighbors, go to city council and school board meetings, and keep an eye on local and national policies that can impact your safety. Learn about how budgets (is public safety funded adequately?) and community resources can contribute to or detract from safety trends and security. Join or start neighborhood safety programs to advocate for things like better street lighting, safer sidewalks during winter months, etc.

This ranking is based on the same FBI crime data used in our annual Safest Cities report. We evaluate both violent crime (aggravated assault, robbery, rape, and murder) and property crime (burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft), calculating rates per 1,000 residents to allow for fair comparisons across cities of different sizes.

For the list of cities with rapidly declining safety scores, we analyzed year-over-year changes in those standardized rates and identified the cities that achieved the largest overall increase in their weighted safety scores.

Cities included in the analysis:

• Met minimum population thresholds
• Submitted complete crime data to the FBI
• Qualified under our standardized scoring methodology

Violent and property crimes are weighted equally in our scoring model. Cities are ranked based on the magnitude of their decline — not by having the highest crime rate overall.

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