It’s not a list any city wants to end up on, but two South Carolina cities are ranked among the murder capitals of the United States.
The good people over at NeighborhoodScout.com, ranked the top 30 cities in the country with the highest murder rates. Our sister stations in Detroit, with writer Anne Erickson, first reported this story.
St. Louis was the worst in the country, with a massive increase year-over-year.
“The number one murder capital this year is St. Louis, MO, up from the number three spot on last year’s list,” Neighborhood Scout said in its report. “St. Louis, MO reported 263 murders, which is an increase of 36% compared to last year with a murder rate of .87 per 1,000 population.”
There were 14 new cities on the list of 30 this year, with one notable removal from the list. East St. Louis had previously had the worst murder rate for six straight years. But the population has plummeted in the city, and it fell under the threshold for measurement this year.
“The newcomer on this list with the highest murder rate is Saginaw, MI. The number of murders in Saginaw more than doubled from the previous year. Another newcomer, Milwaukee, WI, had the highest number of murders at 193, a 97% increase compared to last year’s murder count.”
Fortunately, no North Carolina cities were in the top 30, but two cities from South Carolina found their way onto the list of the murder capitals in the country, including one that’s pretty close by.
Here’s the Top 30 rankings, according to NeighborhoodScout.com:
