Why Chicago is Not the U.S. “Murder Capital”
Which U.S. city has the most violent crime? Spoiler alert: It’s not Chicago.
An analysis of violent crime rates by financial tech company MoneyGeek revealed surprising data about how we perceive danger in United States cities. While Chicago has long been called the “murder capital” of the U.S., the actual most dangerous city is Saint Louis, Missouri. Chicago, despite having become a national talking point for its dangerous reputation, does not even break the top 15. It is instead outranked by other Northern cities like Milwaukee and Richmond.
So why has crime in Chicago become such a heated topic of debate, rather than crime St. Louis or Birmingham?
One factor that might be contributing Chicago’s reputation as the U.S.’s “murder capital” is political strategy. In a national landscape that is becoming increasingly defined by the division between two political parties, crime is one of their major points of division. Republicans, who often favor a more tough-on-crime stance, are able to use Chicago, the most violent of the three major Democratic cities, to make Democrats look weak.
Another contributing element is likely Chicago’s size. As the third largest city in the U.S., there are more are larger numbers of violent crimes in Chicago than cities with smaller populations, even if those smaller cities have higher rates of violent crimes per capita. Then, because of the visibility that Chicago’s size of affords it, violent crimes there are more likely to be publicized and discussed nationally.
