Most Dangerous Cities In The US: Miami, DC And Others Outrank Chicago In Gun Violence

Chicago has a reputation as one of the most violent cities in the United States — and while that might be true, depending on how the numbers are viewed, many other cities are far worse off in terms of gun violence per capita. In fact, when it comes to homicide rates based on this metric, Chicago doesn’t even rank among the nation's top 10 deadliest cities.

Read: Police Suicide Rate In Chicago Is 60 Percent Higher Than National Average

According to a report released Monday by nonprofit news outlet The Trace, Chicago ranks behind 17 other cities when it comes to its five-year, gun-related homicide rate. The full list can be seen below in terms of homicide rate per 100,000 residents.

1. New Orleans: 46.9
2. Detroit: 45
3. St Louis: 43.8
4. Baltimore: 38.1
5. Oakland: 23.9
6. Kansas City: 21.4
7. Cincinnati: 20.4
8. Cleveland: 20.0
9. Atlanta: 19.4
10. Philadelphia: 19.4
11. Memphis: 18.7
12. Buffalo: 18.7
13. Washington D.C.: 18.2
14. Stockton: 17.2
15. Miami:17.0
16. Milwaukee: 16.9
17. Pittsburgh: 16.8
18. Chicago: 16.4
19. Indianapolis: 13.7
20. Tulsa: 12.8

When it comes to the sheer number of violent crimes, however, Chicago does take the lead. The city had 478 overall homicides in 2015, the most out of any city in the nation, according to The Trace. And the people who are shot there fare worse than most: 93 percent of Chicago’s shootings in 2015 were fatal. But because Chicago has 2.7 million residents, the city’s gun violence problem is “not nearly as severe as the violence in many other large American cities,” The Trace reported.

“Because Chicago has so many people, it can get a murder every day and that gets people’s attention,” John Pfaff, a professor of law at Fordham Law School, told The Trace. “But because you focus on numbers, not rates, Chicago ends up looking worse because you forget just how much of a big city it is.”

Chicago had a homicide rate of 16.4 per 100,000 over the past five years, paling in comparison to cities like New Orleans, which had a homicide rate of 46.9 per 100,000 residents. Others populous areas like Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Miami also saw more gun violence per capita.

“The absolute numbers are helpful putting it in a context that people understand, but with the rates, you get the true scope of the problem in the way it impacts people’s lives,” said Pfaff. “People don’t care about the absolute numbers, they care about their risk and the rates tell that risk.”

While comparing gun violence rates between cities yields different results than looking at concrete numbers alone, gun violence is certainly a problem in Chicago. More than 1,000 people were shot in Chicago already this year, according to local news outlet WBBM-TV, and the pervasive problem has affected the city’s policing.

A lack of resources combined with widespread violence and increased stigma and pressure has wrought havoc on Chicago police. The suicide rate among officers between 2013 and 2015 was 29.4 per 100,000 members, 60 percent higher than the national average, according to a report issued by the Department of Justice.

“Chicago is a war zone,” Alexa James, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Chicago told Reuters in May. “[Police officers] are seeing the worst day of everybody’s life every day.”