Chicago is one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S.

Question

The increasing divergence between neighborhoods creates a dissonant backdrop for the ideological debate that's raging around Chicago's crime problem. Overall, Chicago’s per-capita murder rate is higher than in New York City or Los Angeles, but is lower than in Midwestern cities such as Detroit, Milwaukee and St. Louis.

Comments

According to an article published by Property Club, Chicago is the last on the list of the top 13 most dangerous cities in the US as of 2024. However, according to data published by The Hill, Chicago did not appear as one of the top cities with the highest crime cost per capita. According to the World Population Review, "a city with a high violent crime rate does not indicate that the entire city is unsafe." So, in a sense, it is true that Chicago is ONE of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. but certainly not the worst.

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Based on what you hear or see it could be true but you never know what could happen in other cities. But if we are going based on the past then I'd say it could be Chicago but there definitely other cities we should take into consideration based on based and news.

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The evidence in the article linked does provide some compelling data that shows Chicago is a dangerous city. Looking at other sources the stats do seem to be correct and backed up by the official CPD statistical reports. However, just because certain areas of the city are dangerous does not dictate that the city as a whole is dangerous. It all depends on where you are in the city and I feel that's true with all large cities. So while there is data showing parts of Chicago are dangerous the claim states that Chicago as a whole is dangerous which I think is up for interpretation. Below I linked the Chicago Police departments statistical reports.
https://www.chicagopolice.org/statistics-data/statistical-reports/

Answer 1

The statement is accurate. According to the latest available crime statistics from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program, Chicago's per-capita murder rate in 2019 was higher than New York City or Los Angeles but lower than several Midwestern cities such as Detroit, Milwaukee, and St. Louis. The rate of violent crime in Chicago has fluctuated in recent years, but the city has consistently had one of the highest murder rates in the country. The increasing divergence between neighborhoods in Chicago, as mentioned in the article, has been a concern for many residents and policymakers as it contributes to social and economic inequality.

Comments

FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program is a credible source. However, what are the specific statistics or numbers relating to the danger in Chicago that can prove that claim? Also, "one of the most" is unclear as it gives no ratio of how dangerous the city is compared to others.

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I think that this is a very good fact check. You very clearly describe your thoughts and reasoning throughout the response. However, you used an article to back up your claim which was good but you did not use any statistics that would support your claim. Doing both of those two things can drastically improve your answer and make what you are saying harder to debuff.

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While the statistics show that Chicago's murder rate is high, I think it's crucial to consider the context. Crime rates can be heavily influenced by socio-economic factors, and simply comparing raw numbers doesn’t capture the complexities of the issue. It might be helpful to look at the underlying causes of crime in different cities, rather than just the rates themselves.

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While I do like your inclusion of different statistics to try to fact-check this claim, I'm not sure if these statistics can simply be taken at face value in order to determine whether or not Chicago is one of the "most dangerous" cities in the US. In addition, to there not being determined causes in this analysis, the term "dangerous" is vague, and there are a plethora of other crimes or phenomena that can make a city more dangerous, outside of just murder.

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The apparent citation of FBI data is a good sign; however, the lack of provided sources concerns me. A better fact check would have linked sources to either support or discount the initial claim.

Answer 2

 Based on the latest FBI Crime Data, Chicago ranks as the #44 safest out of 320 major cities over 100,000 people in the United States. However, based on the violent crime rate, Chicago is the 20th most dangerous city in the United States.

Is Chicago Dangerous? (20th Most Dangerous in the USA!) - Home and City Living (homecityliving.com)

Comments

I believe that even though it is the 20th most dangerous city, the claim above is still exaggerated. This is a great factcheck though!

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The way it's referred to as Chiraq, you'd think it was easily number 1 in the USA in crime, but far from it, especially when accounting for its population.

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I think the claim seems a bit dramatic, but is still over all true, since being the 20th most dangerous is still really high.

Answer 3

This claim is accurate. Property Club states, "Chicago constantly makes the news as one of America’s most dangerous and violent cities. With a population of 2,746,388, Chicago has a crime rate of 3,926 per 100,000 people, making it 67% more dangerous than the US average." Chicago is listed 10th on this list, and much of the violence is related to gang relations.

https://propertyclub.nyc/article/most-dangerous-cities-in-the-us#:~:text=10.-,Chicago%2C%20Illinois,dangerous%20than%20the%20US%20average.

Comments

Where does Property Club get its data? I couldn't find any citation or source information on the page you linked to.

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I also use this data, I think the data is true based on people's idea.

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Why did you use Property Club as a source? They are a real estate company based out of New York, and they did not apply any citations for the statistics on why Chicago is dangerous.

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What source or research does Property club use to get its data? While it may be a source, finding out how they get their information may make or break your claim.

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Thanks for linking your source! Do you know where Property Club got this data? It might be helpful to include the original study as a source as well.

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What made you chose Property Club as your source and do you know where they get their data? Although, I agree that a lot of the violence in Chicago is related to gang relations.

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There are a couple tactics you should try next time to improve your fact checking. Next time, dive deeper into your source and if they are trustable. You cite Property Club- who are they? Are they qualified/trustable in the area of geography and demographics? Additionally, you could fact check the specific statistics. Find a different reliable source, and see if the statistics from Property Club match.

Answer 4

source: https://propertyclub.nyc/article/most-dangerous-cities-in-the-us#:~:text=10.-,Chicago%2C%20Illinois,dangerous%20than%20the%20US%20average.

According to this article, "Chicago constantly makes the news as one of America's most dangerous and violent cities. With a population of 2,746,388, Chicago has a crime rate of 3,926 per 100,000 people, making it 67% more dangerous than the US average"

Comments

Where does Property Club get its data? I couldn't find any citation or source information on the page you linked to.

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I cannot find any sources on propertyclub.com that back up these statistics. Additional research of some of the distinct numbers mentioned in other cities (Memphis having 317% above the national average in crime) only leads me back to the same article.

Answer 5

There is no doubt Chicago has increasing crime rates, struggling to keep a safe and welcoming image to the public. However, Forbes just put out their ranking for the most dangerous cities in America for 2023, and Chicago did not even make it in the top 15 list. St. Louis took the lead ranking in as the most dangerous city in America. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2023/01/31/report-ranks-americas-15-safest-and-most-dangerous-cities-for-2023/?sh=73637fc1309a

Comments

Thanks for finding a reputable source to base your fact-check on. I wonder how one would determine what qualifies as "one of the most" dangerous cities. Top 15 like you suggested or top 50, for instance?

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I  completely agree with this statement, and it uses a very reliable source.

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I agree with the source you used. I had a similar reasoning to why I did not fully agree with the statement since there are different ways to quantify crime rates.

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Forbes is quite reputable, a very good journalistic source.

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I agree with the source you used. It is a reliable source and has good data.

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This is a source I searched up while fact-checking the above claim. Every ranking is a little bit different which is why I didn't personally use it when researching.

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I agree with your statement. The information you provided seems to be accurate and checks out with the sources you provided. This was a very helpful fact check.

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This statement is true. While the crime rates are continuously rising and surely are troubling, it is not as bad compared to other cities in the U.S. with higher crime rates.

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How does one determine what makes a city the most dangerous. Would it have to do with just crime rate or a combination of other factors such as infrastructure or policing policies.

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I agree with the source you used using Forbes is a very reliable source it allows us to see the true data that we can back and see that Chicago is not in fact the most dangerous city in the USA. I  did not fully agree with the statement since there are so many different ways to define what crime is and how to determine the crime rate and I your factchecking gives us a accurate idea of the true most dangerous cities.

Answer 6

This is true. Chicago has one of the highest crime rates and murder rates in the United States. This trend continues into 2023, with Chicago being the 10th highest city for murders across the entire US thus far.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/cities-with-most-murders

Answer 7

According to MonkeyGeek (backed up by Forbes), this statement is exaggerated/misleading. While the Chicago Business article compares Chicago with NY and LA under the assumption that those cities have the highest crime rates, it doesn't compare Chicago with other U.S. Cities. While Chicago Business (linked in the original post) is correct in stating that Chicago crime is getting worse and homicide rates are growing worse than NY and LA recently, and while crime is considered high in certain areas of Chicago, it would be misleading to say that Chicago is one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S.

According to the University of Chicago's Crime Lab graph (source: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/crains-forum-safer-chicago/chicago-violence-problem-debate-safety-inequality ), Chicago homicide rates have increased from 2000 to now, towering above New York and LA's. In addition, much crime in Chicago has been increasing when compared to New York and LA specifically.

However, Forbes' list of 2023's most dangerous cities measured "dangerous" by per-capita crime. St. Louis has consistently ranked as the most dangerous according to per-capita crime. ( https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2023/01/31/report-ranks-americas-15-safest-and-most-dangerous-cities-for-2023/?sh=5f28fa6b309a )

According to Forbes' per-capita count (sourced from MonkeyGeek), these are the 15 most dangerous cities (Chicago not included): St. Louis, Missouri; Birmingham, Alabama; Baltimore, Maryland; Memphis, Tennessee; Detroit, Michigan; Cleveland, Ohio; New Orleans, Louisiana; Shreveport, Louisiana; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Little Rock, Arkansas; Oakland, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Kansas City, Missouri; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Richmond, Virginia. ( https://www.moneygeek.com/living/safest-cities/ )

By another measure, Forbes also indicated a list of the top 5 cities with the most mass shootings, and Chicago was not on the list of the top 5. These were the results: Boulder, Colorado; San Jose, California; Indianapolis, Indiana; Atlanta, Georgia; and Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( https://www.moneygeek.com/living/safest-cities/ )

Depending on your definition of "most dangerous cities," you could argue Chicago is closer to "dangerous" on a scale of "safe" to "dangerous," but today, it does not rank in the top 15 most dangerous cities of crime per-capita nor in the top 5 cities for most mass shootings.

Comments

Great factcheck! You used a lot of good sources and I believe that misleading could be possible for this claim. Being outside of the top 15 still probably indicates danger but maybe not to the extent of the claim.

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I agree with your reasoning. All the sources you used are very good as well and using multiple sources really helps your argument.

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This is a fantastic factcheck. Here, you have provided ample evidence of thorough research. You have determined that the originally claim was true with the evidence that you have provided.

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This is a really good check! It was very detailed and I appreciated how you explained each source!

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Great fact check- I definitely agree that if Chicago was ranked from safe to dangerous it would be in the dangerous category but I also found that it was not one of the top dangerous cities in the U.S. Using that analogy of the scale was a great way to picture all of the data to draw a conclusion on the factcheck.

Answer 8

Yes, Chicago is one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. According to Howard University, there were 765 murders in Chicago in 2016. That was the highest amount in the country. This article also mentions frequent cases of gang violence and rape. This source however does not classify Chicago as in the top 10 for the most murderous cities. With Chicago's murder rate at 28 deaths per 100,000 people, some cities do rank higher.

https://hunewsservice.com/news/is-chicago-americas-most-dangerous-city/

According to Pew Research Center, St Louis does have the highest murder rate. Chicago ranks 14th among cities with at least 100,000 people in 2017.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/11/13/despite-recent-violence-chicago-far-from-u-s-murder-capital/

Chicago may not top for the highest amount of crime rates, but it frequently tops for the highest amounts of crime in the U.S. Since 2012, Chicago has led the U.S. in murder totals, making it one of the most dangerous cities in the nation.

Comments

Great source! It is good that you had multiple sources for different subjects in your answer.

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This was a reliable and accurate statement to include! According to the data, everything proves that there is a substantial amount of crime in Chicago which yes, does make it just one of the many dangerous cities.

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The sources you have provided are very reliable, but I would argue that Chicago is not the number most dangerous city in the U.S. just based on murder or crime. You stated that St. Louis has the most murders but Chicago frequently has led the murder totals which I find to be confusing since if St Louis has the most murders as of now wouldn't they also lead the U.S. in murder totals too? Not discrediting your work but I believe this factcheck to be exaggerated, even though Chicago is still a dangerous city, just not the top.

Answer 9

Chicago's crime rate is high compared to other major U.S. cities, with a murder rate of about 18 per 100,000 people in 2020, higher than the national average of 6.9 per 100,000 people. However, the crime rate signifying it as a dangerous city is not evenly distributed throughout the city, with some neighborhoods being much safer than others. In recent years, Chicago's crime has been declining, with murder rates decreasing by over forty percent in the past 5 years.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-geography-of-crime-in-four-u-s-cities-perceptions-and-reality/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/06/21/is-chicago-really-americas-most-dangerous-city-infographic/?sh=12e464ef50da

https://www.security.org/resources/most-dangerous-cities/

Answer 10

This claim in accurate. This article talks about U.S. cities with the most crime and are the most dangerous. Chicago is consistently ranked in the top 10 of most dangerous cities in the U.S. More specifically, this article puts Chicago at #3 with the most amount of violent crimes, #2 for robbery, and #1 for intentional murder (with almost double the amount of the #2 city).

https://www.security.org/resources/most-dangerous-cities/

Comments

I like how you added in specific metrics to make your argument more convincing. These metrics put the danger into context well.