ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - For years, St. Louis has ranked high on lists of the most dangerous cities in the United States, often landing in the top 3 and once, at number one. But according to a new report, St. Louis doesn't even make the top 10.
The most dangerous city in Missouri is Springfield. It came in at No. 5, behind Detroit and ahead of San Francisco in the latest report from the safety and security website SafeWise.
The big difference between this ranking and the Morgan Quitno Press list that always ranks St. Louis high is the way the numbers are viewed. For years, critics of Morgan Quitno's list pointed out they measured other cities in their metro areas, but for St. Louis, looked only at city-specific statistics. The argument was often made that if Morgan Quitno looked at the whole St. Louis metropolitan area, the numbers would be different. And that proves true in the case of SafeWise's list.
"When it comes to looking at crime rates and trends across the most populous areas of the US, we decided it made more sense to compare metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) instead of standalone big cities," states SafeWise. "MSAs include both major “anchor” cities and the outlying communities that have high social and economic integration with the anchor city. So combining them paints a more accurate picture of both crime and the socioeconomic factors that impact the quality of life for residents."
How dangerous is Springfield, Missouri? Numbers crunched by SafeWise shows that in 2021, your risk of being a victim of violent crime was 1 in 158 in Springfield.
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Your risk of being a victim of property crime? 1 in 27.
Your risk of being a victim of motor vehicle theft was 1 in 227.
Springfield had the lowest median household income ($47,034) of any of the other cities in the top 10.
1. Anchorage, Alaska
2. Memphis, Tennessee Mississippi-Arkansas
3. Lubbock, Texas
4. Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, Michigan
5. Springfield, Missouri
6. San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, California
7. Corpus Christi, Texas
8. Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana
9. Stockton, California
10. Bakersfield, California
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