Columbia, SC (WLTX) - The city of Columbia is one of the most dangerous cities to live in, at least according to one study just released.
The website Work + Money published an article recently detailing the findings. It completed based on data from the FBI's most recent Crime in the United States report, released late last year.
For the purposes of the FBI, the Columbia area is defined not only as Richland County, but also Lexington, Fairfield, Kershaw, Calhoun, and Saluda Counties.
The data shows that there was 45 rapes per 100,000 . Violent crimes were 558 for every 100,000 residents, while the murder rate was 7.1 per 100,000.
The authors of the article said about Columbia, "like in many of the cities on the list, most of the violence is limited to poorer, historically disadvantaged neighborhoods that lack significant resources."
While it may be surprising to see Columbia on this list, remember this is done on based on per capita population, not on total number of crimes, which is why you don't see big cities dominate this list. The authors also point out that the areas that have high crime rates are, as just mentioned before, poor, and the high rate of meth use in the South and Midwest also plays a role in cities in those regions being high on the list.
Overall, the news across America is fairly good: There was a 0.2 percent decrease in violent crimes in 2017 after two years of increases nationwide. And while violent crime has risen over the last five years, over the last 10 years it's still gone down.
Here are the top 25 most dangerous areas, based on this data:
1. Memphis, TN
2. Anchorage, AK
3. Albuquerque, NM
4. Rockford, IL
5. Stockton, CA
6. Little Rock, AR
7. Baltimore
8. Wichita, Kansas
9. Flint, MI
10. Indianapolis
11. Milwaukee, WI
12. Corpus Christi, TX
13. Nashville, TN
14. Mobile, AL
15. Tallahassee, FL
16. Las Vega, NV
17. Shreveport, LA
18. Modesto, CA
19. Houston, TX
20. Fresno, CA
21. Springfield, MO
22. Tulsa, OK
23. New Orleans, LA
24. Bakersfield, CA
25. Columbia, SC
