Most Dangerous Cities in Georgia

Top 50 most dangerous cities in Georgia ranked by highest violent crime rate per 100,000 residents. Includes cities with 10,000+ population.

FBI UCR Highest-Crime Snapshot: Georgia

Georgia's 50 highest-crime cities for 2024 range from Americus at the top with a violent crime rate of 1653.7/100K down to Port Wentworth at 169.7/100K — all sitting above most US municipal averages. The list draws on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program Table 8 submissions and restricts inclusion to cities of 10,000 residents or more so that per-capita rates reflect enough underlying offenses to be statistically meaningful. Across these 50 Georgia cities the average violent crime rate reaches 531.4 per 100,000 residents, a figure that typically exceeds the US national violent crime benchmark by a wide margin.

At the top of the ranking, Americus recorded 257 violent crimes and 611 property crimes against a reporting population of 15,541 in 2024. That produces a property crime rate of 3931.5 per 100,000 residents alongside the 1653.7/100K violent rate, with both Part I crime categories elevated compared to state and national benchmarks. The five most dangerous Georgia cities on this list are Americus, College Park, East Point, Moultrie, Waycross, each submitting Part I offense counts to the FBI UCR Program for 2024.

Elevated per-capita rates can reflect multiple factors beyond raw crime volume: small reporting populations amplify year-to-year rate volatility, transient or tourist populations dilute resident denominators, and municipal boundaries sometimes exclude higher-income suburbs that would otherwise balance the total. UCR figures also reflect offenses reported to and submitted by local law enforcement and can miss unreported crime entirely, so rankings measure visible, recorded crime rather than absolute community conditions. Readers comparing these cities with others across Georgia can use the A-F safety grades page or national rankings to contextualize how 2024 figures stack up against peers nationwide.

Highest Crime City
Americus
Highest Violent Rate
1653.7/100K
Avg. Violent Rate
531.4/100K
Cities Listed
50
# Grade City Population Violent Crime Rate Property Crime Rate
1 F Americus 15,541 1653.7/100K 3931.5/100K
2 F College Park 13,916 1386.9/100K 7344.1/100K
3 F East Point 38,222 1203.5/100K 6666.3/100K
4 F Moultrie 14,546 1161.8/100K 4908.6/100K
5 F Waycross 13,644 1033.4/100K 5027.9/100K
6 F Griffin 24,238 965.4/100K 3321.2/100K
7 F Albany 66,169 823.6/100K 1608/100K
8 F Garden City 10,363 810.6/100K 3213.4/100K
9 F Rome 38,257 781.6/100K 3194.2/100K
10 F Vidalia 10,724 718/100K 4671.8/100K
11 F Hinesville 36,562 686.5/100K 2431.5/100K
12 F Warner Robins 85,900 665.9/100K 2980.2/100K
13 F Thomasville 18,457 661/100K 3283.3/100K
14 F Covington 14,825 647.6/100K 3817.9/100K
15 F LaGrange 32,833 630.5/100K 4480.2/100K
16 F Chamblee 32,423 626.1/100K 3553/100K
17 F Milledgeville 16,302 613.4/100K 3275.7/100K
18 F Columbus 201,061 603.8/100K 2235.6/100K
19 F Forest Park 19,232 572/100K 2865/100K
20 F Doraville 10,837 562.9/100K 5222.8/100K
21 F Valdosta 54,896 555.6/100K 4078.6/100K
22 F Newnan 45,655 552/100K 1743.5/100K
23 F Douglasville 40,595 532.1/100K 4636/100K
24 F Gainesville 48,944 488.3/100K 2300.6/100K
25 F Bainbridge 14,402 486/100K 3145.4/100K
26 F South Fulton 112,441 470.5/100K 1907.7/100K
27 F Athens-Clarke County 129,765 406.1/100K 2276.4/100K
28 F Stockbridge 35,352 384.7/100K 2195.1/100K
29 F Conyers 20,274 374.9/100K 2476.1/100K
30 F Statesboro 34,788 370.8/100K 2239.3/100K
31 F Cedartown 10,338 367.6/100K 1992.6/100K
32 F McDonough 33,140 334.9/100K 2625.2/100K
33 F Lawrenceville 31,160 324.1/100K 2172.7/100K
34 F Monroe 16,241 320.2/100K 1631.7/100K
35 F Brookhaven 58,329 303.5/100K 2240.7/100K
36 F Marietta 63,354 298.3/100K 1810.5/100K
37 F St. Marys 19,882 291.7/100K 1136.7/100K
38 F Norcross 18,213 280/100K 2498.2/100K
39 F Cartersville 25,543 262.3/100K 1687.4/100K
40 F Locust Grove 11,978 258.8/100K 2963.8/100K
41 F Kennesaw 35,138 253.3/100K 845.2/100K
42 F Alpharetta 67,788 249.3/100K 1152.1/100K
43 F Dalton 34,537 243.2/100K 1902.3/100K
44 F Smyrna 56,700 227.5/100K 1312.2/100K
45 F Dunwoody 51,752 224.1/100K 3273.3/100K
46 F Winder 20,117 198.8/100K 1173.1/100K
47 F Snellville 22,586 186/100K 2072.1/100K
48 F Lilburn 16,426 176.5/100K 2276.9/100K
49 F Canton 38,085 170.7/100K 758.8/100K
50 F Port Wentworth 15,911 169.7/100K 1288.4/100K

Top of the List — Georgia Cities with Highest Violent Rates

Jump into the top five Georgia cities from this list, or launch the compare tool for side-by-side jurisdiction benchmarking.

Methodology

Rankings are based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program data for 2024. The violent crime rate is calculated as the number of violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) per 100,000 residents. Only cities in Georgia with a population of 10,000 or more are included. Cities that did not report crime data are excluded.

Source: FBI Crime in the United States, Table 8. Population figures cross-check against U.S. Census Bureau estimates where FBI populations are unavailable. Data reflects reported offenses and may not capture all criminal activity.