State crime profile · 2024
Mississippi Crime Rates: Safest & Most Dangerous Cities
Crime data for 63 cities and 43 counties in Mississippi (MS), ranked safest to most dangerous from 307 reporting agencies.
- 142.7
- Violent / 100K
- 952.6
- Property / 100K
- 63
- Cities
- 43
- Counties
The verdict
Mississippi's 142.7 violent crimes per 100,000 runs 59% below the U.S. average, making it one of the safest states in the country.
- 142.7
- violent crimes per 100K
- -59%
- vs. the U.S. average
- 3rd
- safest of 51 states & DC
- 952.6
- property crimes per 100K
How safe is Mississippi? FBI UCR data snapshot
Mississippi (MS) reported 4,201 violent crimes and 28,036 property crimes in 2024, based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program submissions from 307 law enforcement agencies. That translates to a statewide violent crime rate of 142.7 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 952.6 per 100,000 against a reporting population of 2,943,045. The PlainCrime dataset indexes 63 Mississippi cities and 43 counties, each with their own detail pages and local crime figures drawn from FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10.
The FBI's state-level summary reports violent and property crime as aggregate totals rather than broken out by individual offense type (murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson). For an offense-by-offense breakdown, see the individual city and county pages for Mississippi below, which draw on FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10 and do report each offense type separately.
Across 11 years of state-level UCR history (2014–2024), the violent crime rate moved from 175.8 to 142.7 per 100,000, a decline of 18.8%. City-level detail pages within Mississippi include safety grades (A+ to F), benchmarks against national averages, per-capita risk estimates, and multi-year trend tables for users comparing specific jurisdictions. All figures above are drawn from FBI UCR 2024 submissions; reporting completeness varies by agency, and the FBI periodically restates prior-year figures as late submissions arrive.
State figures roll up the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) submissions from local and county agencies across the state, then express them per 100,000 residents so one state can be compared with another. Statewide averages hide a great deal of variation: a handful of large cities often account for much of a state's reported violent crime, while most of its land area and population live with markedly lower rates. Reporting completeness also differs between states, so a year-over-year change can reflect which agencies filed data as much as any real shift on the ground. Read a state number as the broad backdrop, then drill into the city and county pages for the local detail that actually shapes day-to-day decisions.
How Mississippi ranks nationally
Mississippi vs. every U.S. state
Violent crime per 100,000 residents, FBI UCR 2024. Lower is safer.
143 Safer than 94% among 51 U.S. states
Each bar is a band of values; taller bars hold more U.S. states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · 2024
Safest Cities
Top 50 by lowest violent crime rate
Most Dangerous Cities
Top 50 by highest violent crime rate
Crime Trends
Multi-year charts & analysis
Crime Trends
| Year | Population | Violent Crime | Rate | Property Crime | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2,943,045 | 4,201 | 142.7 | 28,036 | 952.6 |
| 2023 | 2,939,690 | 3,983 | 135.5 | 31,221 | 1062.1 |
| 2022 | 2,940,057 | 4,542 | 154.5 | 33,254 | 1131.1 |
| 2021 | 2,949,965 | 4,354 | 147.6 | 33,474 | 1134.7 |
| 2020 | 2,966,786 | 5,969 | 201.2 | 44,891 | 1513.1 |
| 2019 | 2,976,149 | 4,595 | 154.4 | 42,136 | 1415.8 |
| 2018 | 2,986,530 | 4,431 | 148.4 | 41,960 | 1405 |
| 2017 | 2,984,100 | 4,796 | 160.7 | 47,324 | 1585.9 |
| 2016 | 2,988,726 | 5,036 | 168.5 | 51,124 | 1710.6 |
| 2015 | 2,992,333 | 4,924 | 164.6 | 53,379 | 1783.9 |
| 2014 | 2,994,079 | 5,263 | 175.8 | 57,223 | 1911.2 |
Cities in Mississippi
Safest cities in Mississippi
Cities with 25,000+ residents, lowest violent crime per 100,000, FBI UCR 2024. Hover a bar for the exact rate.
- Madison 57
Madison
57 /100K
- Clinton 68.5
Clinton
68.5 /100K
- Starkville 82.9
Starkville
82.9 /100K
- Brandon
Brandon
88.8 /100K
- Horn Lake
Horn Lake
109.9 /100K
- Oxford
Oxford
127.1 /100K
- Olive Branch
Olive Branch
199.2 /100K
- Hattiesburg
Hattiesburg
221.5 /100K
What this shows Madison is the safest sizeable city in Mississippi, at 57 violent crimes per 100,000.
Highest violent-crime cities in Mississippi
Cities with 25,000+ residents, highest violent crime per 100,000, FBI UCR 2024. Hover a bar for the exact rate.
- Tupelo
Tupelo
391 /100K
- Southaven
Southaven
304.2 /100K
- Hattiesburg
Hattiesburg
221.5 /100K
- Olive Branch
Olive Branch
199.2 /100K
- Oxford 127.1
Oxford
127.1 /100K
- Horn Lake 109.9
Horn Lake
109.9 /100K
- Brandon 88.8
Brandon
88.8 /100K
- Starkville 82.9
Starkville
82.9 /100K
What this shows Tupelo reports the highest big-city violent-crime rate in Mississippi, at 391 per 100,000.
| City | Population | Violent / 100K | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southaven | 57,537 | 304.2 | C |
| Hattiesburg | 48,307 | 221.5 | C |
| Olive Branch | 47,178 | 199.2 | B |
| Tupelo | 37,593 | 391 | D |
| Madison | 28,064 | 57 | A+ |
| Oxford | 27,529 | 127.1 | B |
| Horn Lake | 26,378 | 109.9 | A |
| Clinton | 26,285 | 68.5 | A |
| Brandon | 25,905 | 88.8 | A |
| Starkville | 25,344 | 82.9 | B |
| Ridgeland | 24,407 | 319.6 | C |
| Pascagoula | 21,455 | 326.3 | D |
| Vicksburg | 19,785 | 616.6 | F |
| Gautier | 19,023 | 247.1 | C |
| Hernando | 18,579 | 91.5 | A |
| Long Beach | 17,053 | 82.1 | A |
| Laurel | 16,922 | 1,051.9 | F |
| Corinth | 14,142 | 353.6 | D |
| Byram | 12,526 | 95.8 | A |
| Picayune | 11,860 | 185.5 | C |
| Petal | 11,505 | 130.4 | A |
| Bay St. Louis | 10,901 | 119.3 | B |
| Cleveland | 10,165 | 383.7 | D |
| West Point | 9,665 | 507 | D |
| Booneville | 9,075 | 242.4 | C |
| Senatobia | 8,263 | 229.9 | B |
| New Albany | 7,733 | 77.6 | A |
| Richland | 7,486 | 53.4 | A |
| Batesville | 7,272 | 343.8 | D |
| Waveland | 6,923 | 72.2 | B |
| Philadelphia | 6,867 | 524.2 | D |
| Kosciusko | 6,765 | 177.4 | B |
| Pass Christian | 6,435 | 0 | A+ |
| Amory | 6,346 | 630.3 | F |
| Pontotoc | 5,966 | 251.4 | C |
| Forest | 5,232 | 707.2 | F |
| Fulton | 4,537 | 154.3 | B |
| Waynesboro | 4,521 | 929 | F |
| Ellisville | 4,513 | 66.5 | A |
| Wiggins | 4,257 | 305.4 | C |
| Magee | 3,913 | 562.2 | F |
| Water Valley | 3,384 | 531.9 | F |
| Lucedale | 3,119 | 448.9 | D |
| Iuka | 3,056 | 163.6 | B |
| Poplarville | 2,816 | 248.6 | B |
| Guntown | 2,433 | 82.2 | A |
| Mendenhall | 2,127 | 188.1 | B |
| Union | 1,992 | 251 | B |
| Purvis | 1,958 | 51.1 | A |
| Quitman | 1,947 | 0 | A |
| Raymond | 1,864 | 53.6 | A |
| Wesson | 1,785 | 224.1 | B |
| Bay Springs | 1,579 | 316.7 | B |
| Bruce | 1,579 | 380 | B |
| Ackerman | 1,558 | 64.2 | A |
| Vardaman | 1,041 | 288.2 | B |
| Mathiston | 862 | 0 | A+ |
| Tunica | 861 | 116.1 | A |
| Walnut | 675 | 444.4 | C |
| Heidelberg | 609 | 164.2 | B |
| Smithville | 513 | 0 | A |
| Puckett | 348 | 0 | A+ |
| Seminary | 291 | 0 | A+ |
Counties in Mississippi
Largest counties in Mississippi, violent crime per 100K
Top 8 counties by population, violent crime per 100,000 residents. Hover a bar for the exact rate.
- Harrison 23.5
Harrison
23.5 /100K
- DeSoto 17.3
DeSoto
17.3 /100K
- Madison
Madison
57.7 /100K
- Lee
Lee
61.2 /100K
- Forrest 37.1
Forrest
37.1 /100K
- Lowndes
Lowndes
96.8 /100K
- Lafayette
Lafayette
44.8 /100K
- Oktibbeha
Oktibbeha
88.8 /100K
Nearby States
Compare Mississippi with neighboring states, or use the compare tool for side-by-side jurisdiction benchmarking.
Explore Mississippi crime data
Primary source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, Crime in the United States annual release. State-level trends cross-check against the FBI Crime Data Explorer (CDE) API.
Population figures for rate calculations reference U.S. Census Bureau estimates where FBI-reported populations are unavailable. Verify with Census.gov QuickFacts.
Read our methodology , how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Using PlainCrime rankings responsibly
Crime rankings are most useful when they sit alongside other community-quality signals, school performance, housing affordability, employment, and access to healthcare. A safer-than-average violent-crime rate in a small commuter suburb does not by itself make a city a better place to live; it is one data point among many. Likewise, a higher-than-average rate in a dense urban center may reflect that residents and visitors interact with police more often, not that the city is necessarily unsafe for its residents. We provide cross-links from each city profile to neighboring jurisdictions, state averages, and national benchmarks so you can read each number in context rather than in isolation.
For news outlets, researchers, and concerned residents who cite our rankings, the most defensible approach is to quote the per-100,000 rate, the reporting year, and the source agency in the same sentence. Avoid framing crime statistics as predictive, UCR data describes what was reported in a past year, not what will happen tomorrow. Where possible, pair our rankings with longitudinal trend data on the relevant city's profile page to show whether the rate is moving up, holding steady, or falling year over year.
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.