When the FBI released the latest round of national crime statistics, most attention was quickly drawn to the significant rise in the number of murders. Statistics for the 2015 calendar year, released by the FBI on Monday, show that there was an estimated 10.8 percent increase in the number of murders in the United States.

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That jump, as well as the current number of murders in the United States, can be interpreted in many different ways. First, an increase of more than 10 percent is the largest spike in recent history and marks an alarming change almost any way you look at it. What’s particularly troubling is that we don’t yet have a great explanation to account for why this happened.

But the other way to look at it–comparing the murder rate in 2015 to that of previous years–paints a different picture. Despite that dramatic jump, the U.S. murder rate remains near historic lows. In fact, we had fewer murders last year than we did in 2008 and last year’s murder rate, which is adjusted for population, was lower than the one in 2009 despite going up 10 percent. While the jump from 2014 to 2015 was quite large, 2014 had the lowest murder rate in over two decades.

Put simply, you can use the most recent numbers to bolster two very different arguments about crime in America. One approach that might be more helpful is to look at the way in which murder rates change between cities. In fact, change in the murder rates varied widely in America’s largest cities.

The map below details how murder rates changed in the 50 largest cities with two consecutive years of murder statistics available from the FBI. While this does not include each and every one of America’s largest cities, given that not every city’s data is reported by the FBI, it includes almost all of them. The green and red bubbles indicate positive and negative changes, respectively, and the size of the bubble indicates the size of the change. Note that the map shows the percent change in the murder rate from 2014 to 2015, not the actual rate for each city.

Scroll over each city for additional details and change the view by zooming or selecting a region in the filter below the map. To reset the map hit the home button on the top left panel.

Kevin Rizzo

Kevin Rizzo is the Crime in America Editor at Law Street Media. An Ohio Native, the George Washington University graduate is a founding member of the company. Contact Kevin at krizzo@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post How Have Murder Rates Changed in America’s Largest Cities? Here’s a Map appeared first on Law Street.

Law Street Media’s comprehensive Crime in America 2017 coverage provides a look at the safety of our cities and towns around the United States. Based on data provided in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports, Law Street analyzes the data to provide lists of the safest and most dangerous cities around the U.S. Take a look at the rankings and features below to discover how safe your city actually is. Check back regularly for continued reporting and additional features.

Rankings

Most Dangerous Cities Over 200,000

Most Dangerous Cities Under 200,000

Safest Cities Over 200,000

Safest and Most Dangerous States

Interactive Dashboard

Crime Trends in America’s Largest Cities

Charts and Data

NOTES

• What the FBI Says About Its Uniform Crime Reports
• Methodology

Kevin Rizzo

Kevin Rizzo is the Crime in America Editor at Law Street Media. An Ohio Native, the George Washington University graduate is a founding member of the company. Contact Kevin at krizzo@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Crime in America 2017 appeared first on Law Street.

Irvine, California, and Gilbert, Arizona, remained the two safest cities in the United States with populations over 200,000 for the fourth year in a row. Newcomers to this year’s list included Glendale, California, which previously wasn’t included because its population was below the 200,000 person threshold, and Scottsdale, Arizona, which was not included in the FBI’s statistics last year. While the overall rate of violent crime rose by a small margin in the United States–roughly 3 percent–the safest cities were a mixed bag, with both notable increases and decreases in violent crime rates.

All statistics are based on 2015 data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. Check out the slideshow below for the Top 10 Most Safest Cities Over 200,000.

Click here for the Top 10 Most Dangerous Cities Over 200,000

Click here for the Top 10 Most Dangerous Cities Under 200,000

#1 Irvine, California

Image courtesy of Orbitgal via Flickr

Irvine topped the list of  Top 10 Safest Cities Over 200,000 for the fourth year running. Irvine’s violent crime rate did rise by about 14 percent, but it was not enough to drop the California city from the #1 spot on the list. In raw numbers, Irvine only had 24 more violent crimes in 2015 than in 2014. Irvine’s population also rose, by over six percent. Additionally, Irvine saw two murders in 2015, compared to zero in 2014. The increase in the overall count mainly came from the increased instances of robbery, which rose by almost 60 percent to a total of 58.

Violent Crime Rate:  56/100,000 people*
Murder Rate: 1/100,000 people
Population: 258,198
Officer to Population Ratio: 1:1,272
Rank Last Year: #1

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*Irvine, California switched the way it reports rape incidents during the 2015 calendar year, moving from the FBI’s legacy definition to the FBI’s revised definition, which is more inclusive. For more information about the definition change, click here.

Research and analysis by Law Street’s Crime in America Team: Kevin Rizzo, Alexis Evans, and Anneliese Mahoney.

Click here for additional information on Law Street’s crime-ranking methodology.

Source:

FBI: Violent crime, population, murder, and officer statistics, measured January – December 2015.

Kevin Rizzo

Kevin Rizzo is the Crime in America Editor at Law Street Media. An Ohio Native, the George Washington University graduate is a founding member of the company. Contact Kevin at krizzo@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Crime in America 2017: Top 10 Safest Cities Over 200,000 appeared first on Law Street.