The bad news is, there are still cities in America plagued by violence. The good news is, most of the worst ones are getting safer.
That's one of the takeaways from Law Street's new list of America's most dangerous cities.
The list is based on newly released FBI Uniform Crime Report data from 2013. Law Street looked at the totals for four violent crimes: murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, to come up with overall violent crime rates for cities with more than 200,000 residents.
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The top five are below. See the rest of the list here.
5. Cleveland, Ohio
Flickr: Joshua Rothhaas
Cleveland jumped up the list this year from #8 in 2014 to number 5. In addition to contending with a violent crime rate of 1,478 violent crimes per 100,000 people, the city must also deal with a poverty rate of 34 percent and an average median income of just $26,556. Cleveland is one of the few cities on Law Street's list that saw its overall crime rate increase. The city saw its number of robberies and aggravated assaults climb and as a result, the violent crime rate ticked up by 7 percent.Photo credit: Flickr: Joshua Rothhaas
4. St. Louis, Missouri
Flickr: Ron Reiring
St. Louis dropped one stop from last year's list to number 4. But even so, the city has the highest murder rate of any locale in the top five, with 38 murders per 100,000 people. Its overall violent crime rate is 1,594 violent crimes per 100,000 people. That rate dropped by an impressive 10 percent from 2012.Photo credit: Flickr: Ron Reiring
3. Memphis, Tennessee
Flickr: Bethany Khan
Memphis moved up a spot to number 3 on this year's list, but the city still managed to reduce its overall violent crime by 5 percent rom 2012. There were 1,656 violent crimes per 100,000 people.Photo credit: Flickr: Bethany Khan
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2. Oakland, California
Flickr: A Syn
Oakland saw its crime spike by 10 percent in the first six months of 2013 compared to the previous year. But by the end of 2013, crime had dropped so much that the city's overall violent crime was down by 1 percent year-over-year. Law Street notes that part of this reduction could be due to an increase in police precincts, which made the captains in each district responsible for their local crime numbers.Photo credit: Flickr: A Syn
1. Detroit
Flickr: Ann Millspaugh
Once again, Detroit tops the list. But, as with many cities on the list, there is good news for Detroit. The city saw its violent crime drop by 2.5 percent to 2,072 crimes per 100,000 people.Photo credit: Flickr: Ann Millspaugh
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