Crime & Safety

5 Of America's Most Dangerous Cities Are In Pennsylvania

A new study ranks the most unsafe places to live in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania is home to five of America’s 100 most dangerous cities, including the fourth-most dangerous municipality in the nation. That’s according to a new study by the National Council for Home Safety and Security of Washington, D.C.

The organization arrived at is rankings by using the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting tool to collect data for 2017, the most recent year statistics were available. Data from 8,793 law enforcement agencies that represented more 193 million people was analyzed.

The most dangerous city in Pennsylvania by far was McKeesport, located about 15 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The city of about 19,000 people had 21.2 violent crimes per 1,000 residents in 2017, according to the study.

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That gives McKeesport the ignominious distinction of being the nation’s fourth-most dangerous city.

Other Pennsylvania cities that are among America's 100 most dangerous include: Darby (22nd), Chester (23rd), Harrisburg (74th) and York (98th).

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Here are the top 10 most violent cities in the country and their violent crime rates per 1,000 residents:

  1. Anniston, AL 34.3
  2. Bessemer, AL, 29.8
  3. Florida City, FL, 22.7
  4. McKeesport, PA, 21.2
  5. St. Louis, MO, 20.8
  6. Detroit, MI, 20.5
  7. Baltimore, MD, 20.2
  8. Memphis, TN, 20.0
  9. Camden County, NJ, 19.6
  10. Opa Locka, FL, 19.4

McKeesport also made the council’s most dangerous cities list last year, but was ranked just 21st.

You can see the entire study here.

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