Report: Birmingham, Alabama has highest cost of crime per capita in the entire country

12/29/2023 / By Ramon Tomey

A recent report by personal finance website MoneyGeek revealed that the city of Birmingham in Alabama has the highest cost of crime per capita (CCPC) in the entire United States.

Researchers from the site used crime data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to look at crime rates in 302 large cities and 1,010 small cities and towns across the country. They also looked at both violent crime and property crime and used research by the University of Miami and the University of Colorado Denver to determine the cost of crime in each area.

The researchers found that Birmingham had the highest CCPC among the more than 300 cities they examined at $11,392. New Orleans landed at second spot with a CCPC of $11,094. St. Louis, Missouri placed third with a CCPC of $11,055.

Birmingham’s violent crime rate – which includes instances of murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault – was 1,682 per 100,000 residents. Meanwhile, its property crime rate – which includes burglary, larceny and vehicle theft – was 4,173 per 100,000 residents.

While the city had a high rate of violent crime, it wasn’t the highest. Memphis, Detroit and Little Rock in Arkansas had more violent crimes per capita. Memphis, St. Louis and Tacoma in Washington state, meanwhile, had more property crimes per capita. (Related: Gallup poll: Los Angeles among five cities deemed unsafe to live in or visit.)

The site didn’t just list the most violent cities, as it also listed the cities with the lowest CCPC. The No. 1 spot went to Thousand Oaks in California, followed by Fishers in Indiana. Florida’s Pembroke Pines, Pearland in Texas and Gilbert in Arizona took the third to fifth spots.

“While violent crime has dropped to pre-pandemic levels nationwide, changes weren’t the same across the board,” reported the Hill. “The crime rates remained elevated in dozens of cities around the country.”

Small towns and cities aren’t necessarily safer

The researchers commissioned by MoneyGeek also analyzed more than 1,000 small towns and cities – areas whose populations range between 30,000 and 100,000. These small towns and cities have fewer crime-fighting resources than their big city neighbors. In these places, fewer crimes may occur, but the cost of crime can be an even bigger burden.

Monroe in Louisiana had the highest CCPC of the small towns and cities analyzed at $8,902. Petersburg in Virginia followed at $8,867, while Saginaw in Michigan placed third with a CCPC of $8,856. Florence in South Carolina was at No. 4 with $8,521, while Alexandria in Louisiana was at No.5 with $7,955.

The researchers also looked at the safest small towns and cities, finding that many of them are found in the Northeast. New Jersey had the most number of areas in the “safe” list, including Monroe Township, Hillsborough Township, Westfield and Princeton.

MoneyGeek also listed down the small town or city with the lowest CCPC in 48 states. Monroe Township in New Jersey took the top spot with a mere $31. Zionsville in Indiana followed at No. 2 with a CCPC of $51, while Wallingford in Connecticut made it to third place with $55.

Visit Collapse.news for more stories about the safety situation in various U.S. cities.

Watch Bill O’Reilly break down the soaring crime rates in the U.S. in the clip below.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.