State crime ranking · 2024

Most Dangerous States in America (2024)

States ranked by violent crime per 100,000 residents, murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, drawn live from FBI Crime Data Explorer.

Data updated 2026-07-13

1,015.2/100K
Highest (DC)
352/100K
National rate

District Of Columbia reports the highest state violent-crime rate at 1,015.2 per 100,000 (2024)

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program via Crime Data Explorer, PlainCrime ranks U.S. states by violent crime per 100,000 residents for 2024. District Of Columbia leads at 1,015.2/100K versus a national 352/100K; 22 states sit above the national rate. "Most dangerous" here means highest reported Part I violent rate, not a verdict on every community.

  • 1,015.2/100K highest (DC)
  • 352/100K national rate
  • 22 states above national

Read before you rank

This ranking orders states by reported violent-crime rate. The phrase 'most dangerous' here means highest reported Part I violent rate in the FBI UCR file, not a judgment about every community in the state. Participation is voluntary; incomplete reporting can understate a rate, and statewide averages mask large within-state variation.

15 states with the highest violent-crime rates (2024)

Violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Hover a bar for the exact rate and counts.

per 100K

What this shows District Of Columbia reports the highest state-level violent-crime rate at 1,015.2 per 100,000 residents, followed by Alaska (728.4) and New Mexico (696.9). The national rate is about 352 per 100,000, and 22 of 51 states sit above it.

Source FBI Crime Data Explorer As of 2024

This page ranks U.S. states and D.C. by violent-crime rate per 100,000 residents for 2024, highest first, from FBI Crime Data Explorer.Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer District Of Columbia leads at 1,015.2 per 100,000, against a national rate of roughly 352. Every figure is rendered live from the current database.

All states ranked by violent-crime rate (highest first)

# State Violent Crimes Population Rate / 100K
1 District Of Columbia (DC) 7,129 702,250 1,015.2
2 Alaska (AK) 5,391 740,133 728.4
3 New Mexico (NM) 14,845 2,130,256 696.9
4 Tennessee (TN) 43,481 7,227,750 601.6
5 Arkansas (AR) 17,916 3,088,354 580.1
6 Colorado (CO) 28,670 5,957,493 481.2
7 California (CA) 187,992 39,431,263 476.8
8 Missouri (MO) 28,938 6,245,466 463.3
9 Kansas (KS) 13,553 2,970,606 456.2
10 South Carolina (SC) 24,069 5,478,831 439.3
11 Michigan (MI) 43,741 10,140,459 431.4
12 Arizona (AZ) 32,495 7,582,384 428.6
13 Oklahoma (OK) 17,526 4,095,393 427.9
14 Montana (MT) 4,849 1,137,233 426.4
15 Maryland (MD) 26,625 6,263,220 425.1
16 Louisiana (LA) 18,853 4,597,740 410
17 Nevada (NV) 13,286 3,267,467 406.6
18 Texas (TX) 123,499 31,290,831 394.7
19 New York (NY) 75,494 19,867,248 380
20 Alabama (AL) 19,397 5,157,699 376.1
21 Delaware (DE) 3,869 1,051,917 367.8
22 North Carolina (NC) 40,271 11,046,024 364.6
23 Oregon (OR) 14,296 4,272,371 334.6
24 Washington (WA) 26,204 7,958,180 329.3
25 South Dakota (SD) 2,959 924,669 320
26 Massachusetts (MA) 22,034 7,136,171 308.8
27 Indiana (IN) 21,360 6,924,275 308.5
28 Georgia (GA) 33,497 11,180,878 299.6
29 Ohio (OH) 34,794 11,883,304 292.8
30 Wisconsin (WI) 16,669 5,960,975 279.6
31 Illinois (IL) 35,267 12,710,158 277.5
32 Minnesota (MN) 15,025 5,793,151 259.4
33 North Dakota (ND) 2,045 796,568 256.7
34 Pennsylvania (PA) 32,633 13,078,751 249.5
35 West Virginia (WV) 4,277 1,769,979 241.6
36 Iowa (IA) 7,730 3,241,488 238.5
37 Idaho (ID) 4,698 2,001,619 234.7
38 Hawaii (HI) 3,333 1,446,146 230.5
39 Utah (UT) 8,030 3,503,613 229.2
40 Kentucky (KY) 10,346 4,588,372 225.5
41 Vermont (VT) 1,461 648,493 225.3
42 Virginia (VA) 19,630 8,811,195 222.8
43 Nebraska (NE) 4,358 2,005,465 217.3
44 New Jersey (NJ) 20,492 9,500,851 215.7
45 Florida (FL) 49,153 23,372,215 210.3
46 Wyoming (WY) 1,122 587,618 190.9
47 Rhode Island (RI) 1,720 1,112,308 154.6
48 Mississippi (MS) 4,201 2,943,045 142.7
49 Connecticut (CT) 5,109 3,675,069 139
50 New Hampshire (NH) 1,577 1,409,032 111.9
51 Maine (ME) 1,427 1,405,012 101.6

Methodology notes

Rates are computed live as (violent_crime ÷ population) × 100,000 from the latest FBI Crime Data Explorer year ingested into PlainCrime (2024). For the inverse order (lowest first), see safest states.

Caveats and limitations

UCR participation is voluntary. High rates can reflect more offenses or more complete reporting. City-level lists for each state are on the matching national city ranking and per-state pages below.

Browse highest-crime city rankings by state

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Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.