Report finds Kansas City has 5th largest issue with homicides

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - A new report has found that Kansas City has the fifth largest issue with homicides in the nation in the last quarter of 2022.

With homicide rates decreased by about 7% in 45 of the largest cities in the nation in the fourth quarters of 2021 and 2022, personal-finance website WalletHub.com says it released its report on the Cities With the Biggest Homicide Rate Problems on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

To find which cities have the largest issues with homicide, WalletHub said it compared 45 of the largest cities in the nation based on per capita homicides in the fourth quarter of 2022 as well as the same rates in the same quarter of 2021 and 2020.

Source: WalletHub

According to the report, Kansas City ranked as the city with the fifth largest homicide rate issue with a total score of 65.37. It had nearly 8 homicides per 100,000 residents in the fourth quarter of 2022. That is a 2.19 change from 2021 and a -0.99 change from 2020.

To the west, Denver and Colorado Springs were found to be nearly as dangerous. The Mile High City ranked 10th overall with a total score of 48.34. There were just over 3 homicides per 100,000 residents in the fourth quarter of 2022. There was no change from 2021 and a 0.85 change from 2020. Colorado Springs ranked 11th overall with a total score of 46.35. There were nearly 3 homicides per 100,000 residents in the last quarter of 2022 which is the same as it was in 2021 and a 0.63 change from 2020.

To the east, St. Louis ranked 12th overall with a total score of 45.23. It had more than 12 murders per 100,000 residents which is a -5.61 change from 2021 and a -6.28 change from 2020.

To the north, Omaha ranked 26th overall with a total score of 37.66. It had more than one murder per 100,000 residents which is a -0.2 change from 2021 and was the same as in 2020.

To the south, Oklahoma City ranked 27th overall with a total score of 37.31. It had just over two murders per 100,000 residents which is a -0.15 change from 2021 and a -0.89 change from 2020.

Lastly, Lincoln was ranked 38th overall with a total score of 33.2. It had less than one murder per 100,000 residents which is a -0.35 change from 2021 and was the same as in 2020.

The report found St.Louis had the second-highest homicides per capita while Lincoln had the third least. It also found that Kansas City had the second-highest increase in homicides from 2021 while St. Louis had the lowest increase. Lastly, Denver was found to have the third-highest increase in homicides from 2020 while St. Louis tied New Orleans for the lowest increase.

The report found the cities with the biggest homicide problems are: