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

This claim is not quite true. Chicago is dangerous, demonstrated in the article you provided above, however it does not even qualify in the top ten most dangerous cities in the US. Therefore, this claim is exaggerated. Below are the top ten most dangerous cities in the US according to the World Population Review (going from 1 to ten) 

"Detroit, MI / Memphis, TN / Birmingham, AL / Baltimore, MD / St. Louis, MO / Kansas City, MO / Cleveland, OH / Little Rock, AR / Milwaukee, WI / Stockton, CA"

- https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/most-dangerous-cities-in-the-us

Comments

Chicago's image, as a city is sometimes exaggerated; it doesn't rank among the ten most unsafe cities in the U.S.. However, the article brings attention to safety issues related to disparities and limited resources in neighborhoods. While Chicago might not have the crime rates overall, the focused violence mentioned in the article highlights a requirement for targeted interventions that cater to the distinct challenges faced by the Chicago communities.

Answer 2

This statement seems to be accurate. According to an article called "The crime spike is no mystery". This article quoted, "In Chicago alone, over 250 more people were murdered in 2020 than in 2019, and that heightened level of violence continued into 2021. Murders are down slightly this year in Chicago and many other cities, but young lives continue to be lost to gun violence at a much higher rate than just a few years ago". This article goes into further detail on how crime has been going up significantly in Chicago, as well as the usage of guns. While Chicago isn't the most dangerous city in the world, this statement is true as Chicago crime has increased over the years and has become an issue. 

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/11/crime-wave-gun-violence-chicago-causes/672216/

Comments

This statement is very specific cites evidence that supports the claim. However, it would make this answer better if there was a statistic for 2021 as well rather than claiming "that heightened level of violence continued".

Answer 3

This statement is accurate. Chicago has always had a bad reputation with crime and danger. It averages around 12 shootings daily and has experienced more murders than Los Angeles and New York combined just last year. However, Chicago is not near the top of the list for most dangerous cities in the United States, cities like Saint Louis and Detroit sit near the top. Chicago sits near the 20s on the list of dangerous cities, while they have a big problem on their hands they are not as high on the list as expected.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/06/21/is-chicago-really-americas-most-dangerous-city-infographic/?sh=4638bc9b50da

Comments

Wow -- 12 shootings daily! That statistic really puts things in perspective. Thanks for sharing your fact-check and supporting it with an eye-opening fact!

Answer 4

Cities in the U.S. are rated on their murder rates relating to the "murder per capita" number, which means "murders per 100,000 people." With this information, Chicago is rated number 10 on the highest murder rates in the U.S., according to World Population review. https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/cities-with-most-murders 

"The 2016 estimated population of 2.7 million makes Chicago the third largest city in the United States, behind New York City (8.55 million) and Los Angeles (3.97 million). Chicago is by far the largest city in Illinois, with the next largest city, Aurora, being under 200,000 people." https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/chicago-il-population 

Concluding, Chicago is considered a dangerous city in the U.S., but because of its large population, the percentage of crime per capita, "towns like Tulsa, Mobile, and Greenwood are actually more dangerous to the average inhabitant." https://www.safehome.org/resources/crime-statistics-by-state/#crime-in-large-cities-populations-over-500000 

Comments

Your argument is fair and covers the basis of the article's claim. However, the article had community posts and data that showed just how many homicides are in Chicago unlike Los Angeles and New York, which is a high amount for a smaller population. So their population overall might not be as high but then that means they should not be having an inflactuated amount of murders and gun violence situations as well.

Answer 5

Chicago is widely recognized as one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. As indicated by crime statistics from the report (https://propertyclub.nyc/article/most-dangerous-cities-in-the-us), with a population of 2,746,388, Chicago reported a crime rate of 3,926 per 100,000 people, making it 67% more dangerous than the national average. In 2020 alone, the city witnessed 26,620 violent crimes, including 774 murders.

Answer 6

This is not true. While Chicago does have rising concerns of violence, it is often at the forefront when discussing the US murder capitals. Statistics show a different reality. According to the Howard University News Service, evidence from the FBI Uniform Crime Report shows: "Chicago’s murder rate ranks lower than the rates in Washington; Milwaukee; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Cleveland; Newark, New Jersey; Birmingham, Alabama; New Orleans; Detroit; Baltimore; and St. Louis." (Howard University News Service) 

Additionally, this article explains that Chicago's violent crime ratings are also beat by various other US and midwest cities according to the Uniform Crime Reporting system from the FBI. 

This concludes that while the growing violence in Chicago is an issue, Chicago's dense population in combination with the crime rates does not put the city at the top for US per capita murder and violent crime rates.

DISCLAIMER: I was unable to find official updated statistics, nor was I able to find what year the data referenced in this article was conducted. 

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

Answer 7

Based on one ranking company, I think Chicago is not the first dangerous but one of the most dangerous cities in the United Sates, Here is the link, Chicago is the 10th dangerous city in the United States.

https://propertyclub.nyc/article/most-dangerous-cities-in-the-us

Comments

It might be more beneficial to list and compare the statistics to other sources as well as post them as to why you think Chicago is the 10th most dangerous city in the United States.  When I did research, the data in the article that you found was different than two of the articles that I used when researching about Chicago crime rates.

Answer 8

I would say that this claim is true but we are not the first, In a New York Times quiz it was asked to its readers to rank Chicago in the murder rate nationally they believe the city is in. To their surprise, they saw that almost half of the people who responded to the quiz were choosing number one but actually, the city ranks seven in the U.S. It also talks about the many biases people can create based on the media coverage, and most of the time people don't realize that they numbers can be showing that there could be a decline in their cities.

Why People Misperceive Crime Trends (Chicago Is Not the Murder Capital)

Answer 9

The assertion that Chicago is one of the most dangerous cities in the United States is true. According to the Howard University News Service, "There were 765 murders in Chicago in 2016, by far the most murders in any U.S. city that year. It was a dramatic increase in the number of murders over the previous year and the preceding years, which, since 2003, hovered around 500 annually." 

This indicates that as of 2016, Chicago had the most murders. Since murders is an adequate measure of danger, this could be cited as reasonable evidence that Chicago is one of the most dangerous cities in America. 

Additional more current information suggests that Chicago is still one of the more dangerous cities in America. According to the World Population Review, Chicago has the 20th highest rate of violent crime as of 2023. 

https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/most-violent-cities-in-america

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

Answer 10

Chicago is in fact a city with a very high crime rate. However, the city is very segregated with the most dangerous neighborhoods being responsible for the majority of crime statistics. The south and west sides of the city are generally considered to be the most dangerous. This Chicago Sun-Times article states that the violence in some neighborhoods puts young men at a greater risk than U.S. troops faced in war zones.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/2/3/23583842/violence-garfield-park-chicago-neighborhoods-iraq-afghanistan-wars-60624-west-side