Homicide Rates Increased During Pandemic: Where Minneapolis Ranks

MINNEAPOLIS — Homicide and other violent crimes have spiked across the United States since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, including in Minneapolis.

A new study from WalletHub ranked the American cities with the highest increase in homicide rates during the pandemic. The report used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and local crime statistics.

"The homicide rate is increasing rapidly in the U.S., so much so that President Joe Biden has made tackling the problem a priority and spoke in his State of the Union address about his plans to reduce violence," WalletHub notes.

"In order to determine which cities have the biggest homicide problems, WalletHub compared 50 of the largest U.S. cities based on per capita homicides in Q1 2022, as well as per capita homicides in Q1 2022 vs. Q1 2021 and Q1 2020."

Overall, homicide rates have risen by an average of 17 percent in 50 of the most populated U.S. cities, according to the data.

These cities saw the sharpest rise in homicides between quarter one of 2020 and quarter one of 2022:

1. New Orleans, LA
2. Cincinnati, OH
3. Atlanta, GA
4. Baltimore, MD
5. Memphis, TN
6. Milwaukee, WI
7. Louisville, KY
8. Norfolk, VA
9. Detroit, MI
10. Dallas, TX
11. Las Vegas, NV
12. Washington, DC
13. Durham, NC
14. Chicago, IL
15. Albuquerque, NM

Minneapolis ranks No. 16, just behind Albuquerque. Minneapolis' homicide rate is 4.00 per capita, up from 2.35 before the pandemic started in 2020.

According to city data:

• In 2019, Minneapolis recorded 54 cases of homicide.
• In 2020, Minneapolis recorded 86 cases of homicide.
• In 2021, Minneapolis recorded 101 cases of homicide.

So far in 2022, Minneapolis has seen 21 cases of homicide.

Check out the entire WalletHub study here.