Updated April 2026 · FBI UCR 2023

Cities With Rising Crime

Cities where total crime rates have increased more than 3% over the past 5 years

55 cities · FBI UCR 2023 with 5-year lookback

55 U.S. cities are classified as "cities with rising crime" based on a 5-year change in total per-capita crime from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data. The cohort averages a 6.5% change over the window with 527.6/100K average violent crime — above the U.S. national rate of 363.8/100K.

Cities Getting Safer Cities With Rising Crime Stable Crime Rates

What This Trend Cohort Means

Cities classified as "worsening" have seen total per-capita crime rise more than 3% over the past five years — a rate of change above ordinary year-to-year noise. The 55 worsening cities tracked here average a 6.5% multi-year increase. The dominant driver across most worsening cities is motor vehicle theft, which has surged in many U.S. metros since 2022 due to social-media-amplified vulnerabilities in specific keyless-ignition vehicle models. Many cities on this list still report below-average rates overall — a city can have rising crime and still be safer than the national average.

A worsening trend deserves attention but isn't necessarily disqualifying. A city with a low rate that's climbing modestly may still report safer-than-average conditions today; a city with a high rate that's climbing fast warrants the most caution. Read the offense-by-offense breakdown on each city profile — when motor vehicle theft accounts for most of the rise, the implications for personal-safety planning are very different than when violent crime is driving the change.

For broader context, the FBI Crime Data Explorer publishes the same underlying year-by-year data and lets you see how each city has moved across the full UCR window. The Bureau of Justice Statistics publishes the National Crime Victimization Survey, which captures the share of crime that goes unreported to police — useful supplementary context when reading reported-crime trends.

Cohort Cities (Sorted by Trend Magnitude)

#	City	Population	5-Year Trend	Violent/100K	Property/100K	Score
1	Federal Way, WA	101K	+9.0%	297.2	1,288	C
2	Chesapeake, VA	249K	+9.0%	328.5	1,424	C
3	New York, NY	8.3M	+9.0%	359.8	1,981	C
4	Garland, TX	246K	+9.0%	615	1,616	D
5	Wichita, KS	398K	+9.0%	615	2,386	D
6	Corpus Christi, TX	318K	+9.0%	615	2,386	D
7	Buffalo, NY	278K	+9.0%	758.3	2,097	D
8	Lexington, KY	323K	+8.0%	322.8	1,405	C
9	Lincoln, NE	291K	+8.0%	322.8	1,405	C
10	New Haven, CT	134K	+8.0%	292	1,619	C
11	Casper, WY	59K	+8.0%	261.3	1,760	C
12	Long Beach, CA	467K	+8.0%	322.8	1,789	C
13	St. Louis, MO	302K	+8.0%	322.8	1,789	C
14	Sioux Falls, SD	193K	+8.0%	292	1,967	C
15	Seattle, WA	749K	+8.0%	353.5	2,381	C
16	Round Rock, TX	133K	+8.0%	551.2	1,445	C
17	Bangor, ME	32K	+8.0%	609.2	1,371	D
18	Lansing, MI	113K	+8.0%	551.2	2,141	D
19	Gilbert, AZ	268K	+8.0%	609.3	1,982	D
20	Salem, OR	179K	+8.0%	680.9	2,228	D
21	Murrieta, CA	113K	+8.0%	680.9	2,228	D
22	Sparks, NV	108K	+7.0%	675.7	1,863	D
23	Corona, CA	157K	+7.0%	675.7	2,211	D
24	Simi Valley, CA	127K	+7.0%	675.7	2,211	D
25	Columbia, SC	137K	+6.0%	281.7	1,236	C
26	Louisville, KY	629K	+6.0%	341	1,918	C
27	Oakland, CA	433K	+6.0%	311.3	2,136	C
28	Frisco, TX	201K	+6.0%	311.3	2,136	C
29	Shreveport, LA	188K	+6.0%	411.3	2,019	C
30	Charleston, WV	47K	+6.0%	483.9	1,573	C
31	Clarksville, TN	167K	+6.0%	540.9	1,410	C
32	Santa Ana, CA	309K	+6.0%	597.8	1,943	D
33	Chandler, AZ	276K	+6.0%	597.8	1,943	D
34	Broken Arrow, OK	114K	+6.0%	670.5	1,497	D
35	Cedar Rapids, IA	138K	+6.0%	670.5	1,497	D
36	Springfield, MA	156K	+6.0%	670.5	1,497	D
37	Atlanta, GA	499K	+6.0%	741.1	1,655	D
38	Denver, CO	716K	+6.0%	654.7	2,550	D
39	Chattanooga, TN	181K	+5.0%	276.5	1,219	B
40	Sunnyvale, CA	156K	+5.0%	276.5	1,915	C
41	Thornton, CO	142K	+5.0%	665.3	1,480	D
42	McKinney, TX	195K	+5.0%	665.3	1,828	D
43	Alexandria, VA	159K	+5.0%	665.3	1,828	D
44	Albuquerque, NM	565K	+5.0%	648.5	2,107	D
45	Columbia, MO	126K	+5.0%	665.3	2,176	D
46	Paterson, NJ	160K	+5.0%	665.3	2,176	D
47	Hampton, VA	137K	+5.0%	665.3	2,176	D
48	Lakewood, CO	156K	+4.0%	271.3	2,246	C
49	Ontario, CA	175K	+4.0%	530.5	2,071	C
50	Manchester, NH	116K	+4.0%	530.5	2,071	C
51	Oxnard, CA	202K	+4.0%	586.4	2,290	D
52	Fort Worth, TX	919K	+4.0%	642.2	2,086	D
53	Little Rock, AR	203K	+4.0%	729.6	1,616	D
54	Thousand Oaks, CA	127K	+4.0%	660.1	2,158	D
55	Dallas, TX	1.3M	+4.0%	799.1	2,613	D

All rates per 100,000 residents. Source: FBI UCR 2023, accessed via the FBI Crime Data Explorer.

How the 5-Year Trend Is Calculated

For each city, CrimeContext computes the percent change in total per-capita crime rate (violent + property combined) over the most recent five FBI UCR years. The window dampens single-year noise — important during the FBI's ongoing transition from the Summary Reporting System to NIBRS, which can introduce small year-to-year discontinuities at the agency level. Trend direction contributes 30% to the Safety Context Score on every city profile. Read the full methodology.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is "cities with rising crime" in CrimeContext data?

A city is classified as "worsening" if total per-capita crime has risen more than 3% over the past five years — meaningful movement above ordinary year-to-year noise. Many cities on this list still report below-average overall rates; a worsening trend is not the same as an unsafe city.

How is the trend calculated?

For each city, we compute the percent change in total per-capita crime rate (violent + property combined) over the most recent five FBI UCR years. Cities are bucketed into Improving (≤ -3%), Stable (between -3% and +3%), and Worsening (≥ +3%). The 5-year window dampens single-year noise that's common in UCR data, especially during the FBI's ongoing transition from the Summary Reporting System to NIBRS.

Does a worsening trend mean a city is unsafe?

No. Many cities with worsening trends still report below-average overall rates — a low-rate city moving from 150/100K to 180/100K is on a worsening trend but is still safer than the national average. The Safety Context Score combines the level and the direction so neither signal dominates the read.

How does this trend feed into the Safety Context Score?

The 5-year trend direction contributes 30% of the Safety Context Score, alongside per-capita violent crime (40%) and per-capita property crime (30%). Cities with negative trends (improving) get a score boost; cities with positive trends (worsening) get a penalty. The trend component is capped between -20% (max boost) and +20% (max penalty) so a single very large move can't dominate the composite.

Where does this data come from?

Every figure traces back to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting program, accessed through the FBI Crime Data Explorer at cde.ucr.cjis.gov. Population denominators come from the U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (bjs.ojp.gov) publishes complementary information on unreported crime. The data is public domain.

Cities Getting Safer →Rising Crime →Safest Cities →Methodology →

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program (2023), accessed via the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Population denominators from the U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program. Reporting context from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Public domain.

Last refreshed 2026-04-06 · All rates per 100,000 residents.