Here are 10 cities with the highest murder rates
President Trump on Tuesday said it’s only a matter of time before National Guard troops are deployed to Chicago to help tackle crime in the Windy City, highlighting shootings that killed 8 and wounded 50 over the Labor Day weekend.
State and city leaders have told Trump to keep out of Chicago, while DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has shown increasing openness to an ongoing federal law enforcement presence in the capital. And a federal judge ruled Tuesday that Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles in June ran afoul of the law.
Trump’s threats and orders are testing the boundaries of federal power in America’s major cities, while spurring a debate over which cities and states are facing the biggest crime problems. Many local Democratic elected officials have said crime is decreasing, while Trump and other federal officials have accused them of falsifying crime data.
Below are 10 cities with the highest murder rate per 100,000:
Jackson, Miss.
Jackson is one of six cities in red states to rank in the top 10 in murder rate, all located in the South or Midwest.
The capital city’s homicide rate is a stunning 77.8 per 100,000 residents, according to 2024 data collected by the FBI. That’s almost 20 times the national average of about 8.2 murders per 100,000 in major cities.
City leaders told local station WLBT in May there had been 50 percent drop in homicides compared to the same period last year.
Gov. Tate Reeves (R ) deployed 200 Capitol police earlier this year to help fight crime in the city, after being called out by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for soaring murder rates.
Reeves blamed the issue on “radical Democrat politicians running cities poorly in the South” in a post on X, but said “the crime rate is dropping rapidly” after state Sen. John Horhn (D) ousted former Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba (D) earlier this year.
“Fortunately, in Jackson, the voters are smarter than you think. They threw the self-proclaimed radical progressive out – he just received less than 20% of the vote in his own primary…,” the Mississippi governor wrote.
During the campaign, Horhn promised to “restore trust and accountability to our community.”
Birmingham, Ala.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin (D) fended off a barrage of attacks over the city’s crime rate during a debate last month on his way to re-election.
“I’m going to talk about a ‘Randemic’ – not a pandemic, but a Randemic – that has run rapidly through the city,” said state Rep. Juandalynn Givan, one of his competitors.
The city’s homicide rate is 58.8 per 100,000, according to FBI data on 2024. The total number of murders dropped from 76 in the first half of 2024 to 37 during the same period this year, a 51 percent drop, officials told local outlet ABC 33.
However, overall crime increased by more than 7 percent during that period, with a 2 percent increase in violent crime, the outlet reported.
Last year, the city saw 151 murders, making it the deadliest year in nine decades. Woodfin credited the drop in homicides to the police department being “locked in” and local citizens reporting violence.
“They are extremely aggressive in what they are doing, how they’re taking a different approach to policing in our community. We’ve had a significant increase in technology with the Real-Time Crime Center, but separate from technology, people are stepping up,” Woodfin said in a post on X.
St. Louis, Mo.
St. Louis, Mo. saw 54.1 homicides per 100,000 last year. But local officials reported a major drop in murders in the first three months of this year.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said homicides dropped 28 percent compared to the first quarter of last year, to the lowest level in 20 years, according to St. Louis Public Radio.
City police were placed under state control in March by Gov. Mike Kehoe (R), who said residents needed safer streets.
“You can’t legislate lower crime, but what you can do is give law enforcement the tools it takes,” he said, according to The Missouri Independent.
Mayor Tishaura Jones (D) opposed the bill, calling it a “sham” at the time, adding “the governor’s signature represents nothing but disrespect for every Missouri voter who supported local control.”
Jones was ousted by current Mayor Cara Spender (D) in April. During her victory speech, Spender, a city alderwoman, said her campaign was about “so much more than potholes and trash.”
“It was built on the idea that we can build a downtown that we can all be proud of while making neighborhoods south and north safer and more prosperous,” she said.
Memphis, Tenn.
Memphis held the dubious distinction of having the highest violent crime rate among major U.S. cities, according to FBI data. With 40.6 homicides per 100,000 residents, it places fourth on this list.
Trump, citing high rates of crime, said Memphis would be placed on the “early on the list” of cities federal forces could target with an increased law enforcement presence next during an Aug. 21 interview with radio broadcaster Todd Starnes.
That makes Tennessee a rare Republican-led state to come into Trump’s crosshairs. Memphis Mayor Paul Young is a Democrat.
Memphis officials and anti-crime advocates have touted a recent decrease in homicides.
“Two years in a row, we’ve been down almost 25 percent in homicides. That is a huge difference in our community,” Susan Deason, executive director of Memphis Allies, said last month.
Statistics from the city’s police say overall crime has decreased by 22 percent compared to last year.
Baltimore
Baltimore, which saw 34.8 homicides per 100,000 people last year, has frequently been called out by Trump, who called it a “hellhole” on Tuesday.
Both Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Mayor Brandon Scott (D) have tangoed with the president over his comments about high crime rates.
Scott accused him of targeting Black led cities for criticism, while Moore invited Trump on a walk around communities to see what struggles local residents are facing. Trump told Moore to focus on driving down the crime rate first.
As of July 1, the city had recorded 68 homicides, which police said marked a 22 percent year-on-year decrease. They also reported a 19 percent decrease in non-fatal shootings.
Detroit
Detroit’s 31.2 homicides per 100,000 residents placed it sixth in the country. However, the 203 homicides in the Motor City last year was the lowest number since 1965, according to city data. It also marked a 19 percent decrease from 2023 and 34 percent from 2022.
Mayor Mike Duggan, elected as a Democrat, is now running for governor as an independent, having been the longest-serving mayor in the city’s history.
Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison told NPR that changes in policing techniques and higher officer staffing levels likely contributed to the falling murder rate.
“It is not one thing that drives violence. And so we are always consistently looking for the root causes,” he said.
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland recorded 30 homicides per 100,000 residents last year, according to federal data. City leaders recorded 46 murders in the first six months of 2025, as reported by the Major Cities Chiefs Association, compared to a total of 64 murders the year prior.
Mayor Justin Bibb (D) has touted a 46 percent drop in the homicide rate since he entered office in 2022, pointing to increasing community trust for police, the creation of a $100 million housing fund, and the redevelopment projects focused on job creation.
“From losing my cousin to gun violence to watching my mom navigate job insecurity, my leadership is informed by what I’ve lived,” he told BET in an article published last month.
“We’re not just doing police patrols. We’re bringing government to the streets,” he said.
Louisville, Ky.
Louisville saw 21.7 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2024. Leaders say homicides and shootings are down more than 30 percent this year, according to WLKY.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg (D) has set a goal of decreasing violence by 15 percent per year until 2030 through community organizations, job creation and education.
Louisville is among a few cities on this list that have signed consent decrees with the Department of Justice, requiring policing reforms, often due to findings of discriminatory policing practices.
Trump signed an executive order that could end these consent decrees, leaving police reform efforts in a state of limbo.
“We’re not sure in terms of the timing of all of that, but we will be ready to proceed and move forward when the federal court makes a decision,” Greenberg said in May, Louisville Public Media reported.
Indianapolis, Ind.
Indianapolis reported 20 homicides per 100,000 in 2024, according to the FBI. The total of 173 murders that year was down significantly from 248 homicides in 2021.
Last year, leaders said non-fatal shootings decreased by 10 percent compared to the prior year, the Indy Star reported.
Mayor Joe Hogsett (D) has been pushing to lower crime rates through prevention programs. He defended the city’s crime response after Gov. Mike Braun (R) said in July state lawmakers should look into interventions into local policing.
“Our gun violence reduction strategy is saving lives,” Hogsett said in a July 16 statement to IndyStar.
Hogsett has also warned that local efforts could be hurt by new property tax laws.
A bill ushered in by the Republican legislature could cut $10.5 million in city revenue, which could force city and county agencies to cut their 2026 budgets by 4 percent, the Associated Press reported. This could divert $1 million from The Elevation Grant Program, created to combat local crime.
Oakland, Calif.
Oakland saw 18.6 homicides per 100,000 residents last year, more than double the big city average. Leaders say violent crime is down across the board in the first half of this year, with a 21 percent decrease in murders.
Trump has suggested that Oakland, led by Mayor Barbara Lee (D), a former congresswoman, could be a target of future federal deployments.
Lee has pointed to Ceasefire, a citywide gun violence prevention program, as part of her plan to tackle homicide in the city. She told Oaklandside last month that police recruitment is another key focus.
“One of the biggest pieces is trying to make sure that we get to 700 police officers, because we’re short-staffed,” she said. “We need more, but the budget crisis makes that difficult. And recruitment and retention are very difficult, so we’re layering on new ways to recruit police officers from Oakland.”
Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) clashed over the president deploying National Guardsmen to Los Angeles earlier this summer. Lee said the city had plans to ensure “the peace is kept” if Trump sends troops into her city.