In this piece, we will take a look at the top 20 U.S. cities with the highest murders in 2024.

While it’s impossible to completely root out crime, it is possible to reduce it. This also seems to be the case in the U.S. where the crime rate has dropped in 2021 and 2022. The most common kinds of crime in America are property crimes, and data from the FBI compiled by USAFacts shows that violent crime in America fell for the second consecutive year in 2022. It stood at 381 per 100,000 people in 2022, for a 1.5% drop over 2021’s figure of 387 which itself had marked a 3% drop over 2021’s figure of 399.

Violent crime covers four major crimes. These are rape, robbery, aggravated assault, and homicide or murder. Thankfully, homicide accounts for the smallest percentage of violent crime since data is available, but unlike broader violent crime trends, it did not fall for two consecutive years in 2022. In fact, this trend is influenced solely by the sharp drop in the number of aggravated assault cases since 2020, which some believe rose to an unusual level due to coronavirus lock downs forcing people to live in close proximity of each other for extended periods of time. Specifically, murder rates in U.S. cities, or the homicide rates sat at 6.5 per 100,000 people in 2020. This jumped to 6.8 in 2021 before dipping to 6.3 in the following year. However, on a positive note, the 7.4% drop in homicide rates in 2022 was the highest among the four violent crime categories.

Not only do homicides and murders devastate the families of the victims, but they also have a significant economic impact. After all, not only do homicides remove individuals from the economy to reduce output, but they also cost resources to investigate and solve. Then, those convicted have to be housed in corrections facilities, and for regions that disproportionately suffer from them, broader economic activity is also affected due to a loss of business confidence.

Data shows that violence as a whole cost the global economy a whopping $14.4 trillion in 2019 when adjusted for purchasing power parity. This covers direct and indirect costs, and zooming in specifically on murders shows that their total cost sat at $1 trillion, and crucially, within this, 87% or $877 billion were in the form of indirect costs. Not only does crime not pay, but it also costs a lot it seems as these indirect costs were the highest among the 18 indicators of violence. These costs also seem to be reflected in GDP per capita. Researchers from India studied the link between GDP per capita, foreign direct investment (FDI), exports, and other economic indicators with homicide rates over time and found that a percentage increase in homicide rates led to a 0.25% drop in GDP growth.

Since businesses form a crucial chunk of the economy, the next logical step in our analysis of the impact of homicide and violent crime is to see their response. This helps with determining the economic impact on U.S. cities with the highest murders. On this front, research from the UCLA, which analyzed the effects of homicide on market prices and market size as well as its effects on workers’ welfare shares some insights. It outlines that in areas with higher crime, firms raise prices which translates into higher non housing living costs. As one would expect, higher crimes also lead to lower housing costs as more workers leave the area. In terms of numbers, a 48% drop in homicide rates between 1995 and 2010 in Colombia led to an 8.1% growth in production and a 22.5% increase in worker welfare. Blue collar workers are also hit the hardest by violence as not only do their costs grow but their income does not rise. Since human nature rarely differs in its response to tragedy, it’s not far fetched to think that these trends will also be present in the U.S. cities with the most murders in 2024 and otherwise.

Shifting gears, while crime does not pay, it does pay to help prevent crime. Since Insider Monkey is primarily a hedge fund tracking website dedicated to spotting the best stocks that smart money is investing in, we go through hundreds of stocks daily as part of our coverage. One such piece is 11 Best Prison and Law Enforcement Stocks To Buy Now which analyzed a handful of companies that help law enforcement prevent and solve murders and other violent crime cases. One firm that helps save lives and solve cases is Cadre Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CDRE). Cadre makes body armor, forensic investigation equipment, energy absorbing seats, and other associated products. It has $1.49 billion in market capitalization, and the stock is up 13.4% year to date and 67% over the past year despite the broader industrial sector having struggled due to high interest rates.

One key reason that Cadre Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CDRE)’s shares have gained is because of a string of acquisitions that have diversified its business model and show management’s focus on emerging technologies. One of the hottest technologies these days is robotics due to the sharp growth in data computation capabilities that enable our digital companions to work better. On this front, Cadre Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CDRE) bought law enforcement robotics firm ICOR in January. ICOR makes a variety of robots for Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) and SWAT teams, and while Cadre Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CDRE) did not share the price tag of its deal, it was careful to note that ICOR is a $19 million revenue generating business. The firm’s acquisition of Alpha Safety seeks to target a growth in interest in nuclear energy since Alpha allows nuclear operators to manage their occupational health safety needs.

Cadre Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CDRE)’s management shared some insights behind its thought process of acquiring Alpha Safety during the Q1 2024 earnings call where it shared:

Their diversified portfolio of products and services expand the nuclear value chain and are best understood by highlighting the three key nuclear missions they serve. First and the largest by revenue is environmental safety. Approximately 50% of Alpha’s 2023 revenues relate to this mission and Alpha provides advanced engineered containers, ventilation and containment solutions and analysis services for the cleanup initiatives that relate to decades of U.S. Nuclear material processing and handling.

These include Department of Energy mission critical and mandated cleanup efforts spanning numerous sites from decades of nuclear weapons development and government sponsored nuclear energy research. Second is national security missions, which reflect ongoing and expanding national defense initiatives. For Alpha Safety, this involves advanced engineered container solutions and specialty filters as the U.S. ramps its plutonium pit production. Third, related to nuclear energy, this key mission includes the decommissioning and decontaminating of legacy nuclear power plants. Alpha provides an engineered container solutions and ventilation containment systems. Increasing global demand for sustainable energy sources will drive demand for both legacy and new nuclear power.

With these details in mind, let’s take a look at the U.S. cities with the highest murders in 2024.

Our Methodology

To make our list of the U.S. cities with the highest murders in 2024, we used AH Datalytics‘ year to date murder comparison dashboard which aggregates publicly available information for 272 American cities either from city officials, the FBI, or media reports to share the latest year to date homicides for American cities. For added value, the nature of the data source is also provided. Of course, the number of murders is different from murder rates, and if you’re interested in the latter, be sure to check out 30 US Cities With Highest Homicide Rates In 2024.

20. Cleveland, Ohio

Murders in 2024: 65

Data Source: Official

Cleveland is one of the most populated cities in the U.S. There were 65 murders in the city according to the City of Cleveland’s Public Safety Data Initiatives which makes places it at the bottom of the 2o U.S. cities with the highest murders in 2024. It also houses the headquarters of a Coast Guard District, and a key pillar of the Cleveland economy is the healthcare industry. Overall, Cleveland has a crime rate of 60 per thousand residents, with the metro area’s violent crime rate being higher than the national average in 2022.

19. Atlanta, Georgia

Murders in 2024: 67

Data Source: Official

Atlanta is Georgia’s largest city in terms of population and also its capital. Its crime rate is lower than Cleveland’s, as it sat at 44.8 crimes per 1,000 people in 2022. The violent crime rate in the city is 1 in 116, with the property crime rate naturally being higher at 1 in 25.