Report: Memphis, Nashville Rank Among Top Cities With Increased Homicide Rates

By Jon Styf | The Center Square, The Center Square Georgia

July 31, 2022

(The Center Square) — Memphis was 11th and Nashville was 21st in a new report on the cities with the highest increases in homicide rates.

The Wallethub report stated that homicide rates "homicide rates have risen by an average of 18% in 50 of the most populated U.S. cities between Q2 2020 and Q2 2022 and are still rising."

The report compares the top 50 cities in the U.S. and ranks the per capita homicide rate in each in the second quarter of 2022, comparing that to similar data in 2021 and 2020.

New Orleans, Baltimore and Louisville topped the list while Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska, and Tucson, Arizona, were at the bottom of the list.

"Homicide spikes will likely be taken as evidence that we need more policing by the conservative right, whereas the left may use that as evidence policing is ineffective," said Michael Rocque, Associate Professor of Sociology at Bates College. "It will be important to rely on the data to show just how and where policing reduces violence. The answer, in my view, is not more policing but better policing. And I do think it is important to replace slogans based on anecdotes with empirical evidence about what the police do or do not do."

The report showed that Democrat-led cities had a higher increase in homicide rate than Republican-led cities based on the mayor’s political affiliation.

Memphis ranked sixth in the second quarter of 2022 with a homicide rate of 9.99 while Nashville was 20th at 4.2.

The focus of the work of The Center Square Georgia is state and local-level government and economic reporting that approaches stories with a taxpayer sensibility.