What is the Murder Capital of the United States in 2021?

What is the murder capital of the U.S. in 2021?

The murder capital of the United States is Jackson, Mississippi. In 2021, Jackson reported 153 murders and had a murder rate of 99.5 per 100,000 people.

Here’s a map showing you how murders have trended in Jackson, Mississippi over a 31 year period:

Why isn’t Chicago the murder capital? It has the most murders of all the cities.

Although Chicago reported the most number of murders in 2021, its per capita murder rate is significantly less than Jackson’s.

What is per capita and why is it useful when comparing cities?

In statistical analysis, per capita is a statistic that helps you compare values among groups of different sizes.

In 2021 Chicago had 836 murders, however, Chicago had 2.6 million more people than Jackson and so the per capita murder rate for Chicago is 30.4 per 100,000 people versus Jackson’s 99.5 per 100,000 people

Jackson has a murder rate that is 3.3 times more than Chicago. If Chicago were to have the same murder rate as Jackson, it would need to report 2,733 murders!

What state was the murder capital of the U.S. In 1990?

The murder capital of the United States in 1990 was Washington D.C.

In 1990 Washington D.C. reported 472 homicides and had a murder rate of 77.8 per 100,000 residents.

Murder rate of the United States

Murders are on the rise in the United States. In 2021, the murder rate was estimated to be 6.9 per 100,000 people, a rate not seen since 1996 when the murder rate was 7.4 per 100,000 people.

Murders in the United States were at its lowest level in 2014, when the murder rate was 4.4. The murder rate in the United States has increased by 59% since 2014.

The most dangerous cities in the world in 2020, by murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants

	Murder Rate (2020)
Los Cabos – Mexico	111.3
Caracas – Venezuela	111.2
Acapulco – Mexico	107
Natal – Brazil	102.6
Tijuana – Mexico	84.8
La Paz – Mexico	84.8
Fortaleza – Brazil	83.5
Ciudad Victoria – Mexico	83.3
Ciudad Guayana – Venezuela	80.3
Belem – Brazil	71.4

Methodology

To determine the murder capital of the United States, we compiled and computed the murder rate of 27 cities and then sorted the cities by murder rate.

We sourced population data from the Census and murder totals from various local news outlets.

We usually source crime statistics from the FBI UCR, however 2021 statistics is not yet available.

Murder rate is calculated by dividing the number of reported murders by the total population; the result is multiplied by 100,000.

Here is a table showing you the data that we drew our conclusions from:

City	Total Murders 2021	Murders per 100,000 people, 2021
1. Jackson, Mississippi	153	99.5
2. Louisville, Kentucky	188	76.4
3. Alexandria, Louisiana	34	75.6
4. Flint, Michigan	60	73.8
5. Pine Bluff, Arkansas	29	70.7
6. Birmingham, Alabama	132	65.8
7. Gary, Indiana	48	64.7
8. St. Louis, Missouri	194	64.3
9. Baltimore, Maryland	337	57.5
10. New Orleans, Louisiana	218	56.8
11. Wilmington Deleware	39	55.0
12. Memphis, Tennesse	342	54
13. Baton Rouge, Louisiana	121	53.2
14. Detroit, Michigan	309	48.9
15. Shreveport, Lousisiana	86	45.8
16. Cleveland, Ohio	170	45.6
17. Trenton, New Jersey	40	43.9
18. Saginaw, Michigan	19	43.2
19. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania	21	41.9
20. Portsmouth, Virginia	36	36.7
21. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	551	34.4
22. Milwaukee, Wisconsin	197	34.2
23. Washignton D.C.	226	32.4
24. Chicago, Illinois	836	30.4
25. Indianapolis, Indiana	271	30.4
26. Oakland, California	134	30.3
27. Kansas City, Missouri	155	30.2

Quick Facts About Jackson, Mississippi

	Jackson, Mississippi	United States
Population, Census, April 1, 2020	153,701	331,449,281
Population, Census, April 1, 2010	173,514	308,745,538
Persons under 5 years, percent	7.1%	6.0%
Persons under 18 years, percent	25.1%	22.3%
Persons 65 years and over, percent	12.4%	16.5%
Female persons, percent	53.9%	50.8%
Black or African American alone, percent	82.2%	13.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent	0.1%	1.3%
Asian alone, percent	0.3%	5.9%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, percent	0.0%	0.2%
Two or More Races, percent	0.5%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino, percent	1.4%	18.5%
White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent	15.6%	60.1%
Foreign born persons, percent, 2015-2019	1.2%	13.6%
Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2015-2019	$90,700.00	$217,500.00
Median selected monthly owner costs -with a mortgage, 2015-2019	$1,090.00	$1,595.00
Median gross rent, 2015-2019	$847.00	$1,062.00
Households with a computer, percent, 2015-2019	85.9%	90.3%
Households with a broadband Internet subscription, percent, 2015-2019	77.2%	82.7%
High school graduate or higher, percent of persons age 25 years+, 2015-2019	86.4%	88.0%
Bachelor’s degree or higher, percent of persons age 25 years+, 2015-2019	27.2%	32.1%
Persons  without health insurance, under age 65 years, percent	15.6%	10.2%
In civilian labor force, total, percent of population age 16 years+, 2015-2019	62.4%	63.0%
Median household income (in 2019 dollars), 2015-2019	$38,888.00	$62,843.00
Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2019 dollars), 2015-2019	$21,906.00	$34,103.00
Persons in poverty, percent	25.4%	11.4%