5 Out of 10 Most Dangerous Cities in U.S. Are in the Midwest

East St. Louis, Ill., and Camden, N.J., rank first and second in an annual ranking of the country’s most dangerous cities.

New Orleans (70), Philadelphia (65), Miami (63), Washington, D.C. (35) and Baltimore (19) are on the list but some major cities including New York, Chicago, Boston, Houston and Los Angeles are not in the Top 100 Most Dangerous Cities, a list prepared by NeighborhoodScout, a nationwide neighborhood search engine and provider of location-based analytics for real-estate investors and homebuyers.

The list is populated with midsized and smaller cities including Stockton, Calif. (20); Pine Bluff, Ark. (30); Niagara Falls, N.Y. (38); Nashville, Tenn. (45); Newark, N.J. (51); Hartford, Conn. (53); Tallahassee, Fla. (82) and Beaumont, Tex. (100).

This annual list is comprised of cities with a population of 25,000 or more and is based on the number of violent crimes per 1,000 residents. Violent crimes include murder, rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault. Data used for this research are the number of violent crimes reported to the FBI to have occurred in each city and the population of each city.

Worcester, Mass.-based NeighborhoodScout says its analysis is more comprehensive than others because it takes into account all 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. Many cities across the country are served by more than one agency (municipal police, county sheriff, transit police, etc.).