Ironically, two regions in the St. Louis area have very different distinctions following the release of the CQ Press’ Safest Cities in America list. The rankings released today show that St. Louis is the second most dangerous city in the nation, while O’Fallon is the 14th safest.
Camden, New Jersey beat out St. Louis for the most dangerous city slot – a ranking held by St. Louis in 2006, who edged out Detroit.
The City Crime Rankings for 2009-2010 are an annual collection of data comparing crime numbers, rates and trends throughout the country.
In 2007, St. Louis dropped to number two. Last year, New Orleans took the top spot.
To prepare City Crime Rankings 2009-2010, which provides 90 tables of information, the crime rate rankings of cities of at least 75,000 residents were calculated using six categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft, as reported to the FBI in calendar year 2008.
Meanwhile O’Fallon, Missouri is once again ranked among the safest cites in America. Of the 393 cities that were studied, O’Fallon ranked 14th safest, and was at the top of all Missouri cities that were surveyed. It also ranks at the top on the safe list for Midwestern cities.
Lee’s Summit ranked 30th and was the only other Missouri city in the Top 100.
Information from the Associated Press and CQ Press contributed to this report.