Do you live in one of the most dangerous cities in Louisiana?
We all watch the news and see reports on Facebook of the latest crimes that happen in our hometowns. But it can be hard to tell at a big picture level how dangerous our town actually is.
No one wants to feel unsafe, and statistically speaking, odds are that where you live is most likely relatively safe. In order to help the good people of Louisiana — and anyone looking to move to Louisiana — know just how close they are to danger, we took data from the annual FBI report and did some serious analysis.
Here are the 10 most dangerous cities in Louisiana for 2019:
- Hammond (Photos)
- Bastrop (Photos)
- Opelousas (Photos)
- Monroe (Photos)
- Alexandria (Photos)
- Ponchatoula (Photos)
- Pineville (Photos)
- Marksville
- Natchitoches (Photos)
- Crowley (Photos)
So what is the most dangerous city in Louisiana? After analyzing 55 cities in Louisiana, Hammond takes the top spot as the most dangerous city in Louisiana based on the most recent FBI data.
For a detailed explanation of the data and analysis we used in creating this ranking, read on.
Or learn more about the safest places in Louisiana.
If you’re looking for something more national, check out the most dangerous cities in America or the most dangerous states in America.
For more Louisiana reading, check out:
- 10 Best Places To Live In Louisiana
- These Are The 10 Best Counties To Live In Louisiana
- 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Louisiana
Graphing The Most Dangerous And Safest Places In Louisiana
The 10 Most Dangerous Places To Live In Louisiana For 2019
It seems like the far eastern side of the state of Louisiana is where criminals hang out the most. At least those who prey on smaller towns.
Here in Hammond, you’ve got the 1st best chance statistically to be robbed on any given day. If you’re within Hammond’s city limits for a year’s time, there’s a 1 in 9.0 chance you’ll encounter a criminal who wants to take something from you.
Hammond is right off of I-20. Crime here has ticked downwards over the last few years, but you’re in no way safe here.
Ive lived in Hammond most of my life. I was a teacher there for several years and my children went school in Hammond for all of their education. I found the schools to be very good. Ive lived in the same house for twenty years and have never had been robbed or had any other crime committed on me or my property. I dont live in a ritzy neighborhood thats gated. I live right by the interstate in a 58,000.00 house when I bought it 20 years ago. Its a wonderful place to live and raise children!!
There are great restaurants and SLU is here and they put on all kind of events and entertainment. We also have Columbia Theater which puts on plays. Also we have a great movie theater, skate park, safari quest, laser tag, childrens museum, open air mall, many parks, and recreation. Were 50 min. from Baton Rouge and a hour from New Orleans.
Bastrop is another city in the Louisiana panhandle that you’re simply not safe in.
If you’re within Bastrop city limits, you have a 1 in 66 chance of having your life threatened every year. Additionally, you have a 1 in 10.6 chance of being robbed or having something you own vandalized. Scary stuff.
Or, put another way, in the safest city on our list, Addis, residents had a 1 in 693 chance of being robbed. That’s the way it should be.
I agree I live in Bastrop and I will admit that the town has gone down a little since the mill closed but I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as he is making it out to be
Opelousas is the 3rd oldest city in Louisiana, and one that was known as a haven for gambling and prostitution. It seems as if the people there are having a hard time moving away from those sorts of criminal activities, as every year, you have a 1 in 55 chance of being the victim of a rape, attack or outright killed when you’re within the city limits.
Legendary adventurer Jim Bowie grew up here. They need some more of his spunk around here to put the criminals in their place.
Opelousas is just north of Lafayette off of I-49. It’s beginning to sound like it’s pretty scary to travel north-south on this stretch of road. It’s no wonder the population here has plummeted 23% in the last 10 years.
Monroe, in the eastern part of the state, is the largest city to make the top of this list, meaning it has the most criminals per capita prowling the streets of Louisiana. Outright poverty might play into this ranking, as nearly a third of the residents here live below the poverty line.
Or, perhaps it’s due to its location, since it is a major stop heading east-west on I-20.
You’ve got a 1 in 12.1 chance of being robbed here every year. Additionally, Monroe saw 13 murders in 2017.
This article speaks the truth. Monroe is a horrible city to live in. I knew it was bad, but the highest rate of violent crimes in the country just a year ago and third this year, yikes. It seems to me to have been on a downward slide for quite a while now too. A very poor city indeed, and it shows everywhere you look. It is one of the poorest looking, eyesores I have ever seen for a town of its size, at least in the city limits. The schools could be better, but I have seen much worse in this area of the state. Thats probably one of the only things that doesnt line up with this awful place. For the highest per capita violent crime in the nation, you would think the schools would be much worse…very strange. Extreme poverty and rampant drug use are the biggest factors imo, and we have them both in spades. I would bet Monroe has some of the highest per capita users of drugs in the country as well, specifically m**h, crack, and opioids. And if you spend much time here, I hope you have a very good imagination and are easily entertained, because there is literally NOTHING TO DO…ever. I think the constant boredom that comes with a place like this is probably another driving force in the rampant criminal behavior here. I am suddenly overcome with the desire to move…
There is absolutely nothing special or memorable about this place at all. Everyone that will inevitably have some great praise to sing about anything in this town has clearly never been very far from this town. Monroe is worse than mediocrity in just about everything imaginable.
If you live in Alexandria, you already know know to avoid the city’s northeast side. But did you know you have a 1 in 69 chance of being raped, attacked or outright killed every year? Those are the stats. And it’s getting worse there by the year.
Plus, 1 in 11.4 people has their lives screwed up due to a property crime of some sort. Odds are if you’ve lived in Alexandria for a long time, you’ve been robbed at least one time in your life.
Alexandria is smack dab in the middle of Louisiana off of I-49.
I live in Alexandria, and it’s much more boring than those places because there are hotels everywhere, but no attractions. And, given that, THOSE places are much more interesting than that of Alexandria.
AL is so… dystopian.
Go downtown and you will find some futureless drughead any 3 blocks you move.
Ponchatoula ranks as the 6th most dangerous in Louisiana.
The city has not seen any improvements in its violent crime in recent years, but property crime did drop between 2015-17.
That’s good, because without this improvement, Ponchatoula’s property crime rate might be the worst in Louisiana.
I’m from Ponchatoula, La. and I have to say this sounds about right. I moved almost 3 years ago and haven’t looked back.
Pineville has the smallest population of any city on our list of the most dangerous in Louisiana.
The Pineville saw a total of 1,047 property crimes in 2017, which calculates out to a 1 in 13.8 chance of being a victim of theft.
Pineville ranked 13th for violent crime.
/10
Population: 5,489
Rank Last Year: 7 (Down 1)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,184 (9th most dangerous)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 6,722 (13th most dangerous)
More on Marksville: Data
Marksville is certainly lively when it comes to nighttime activities. This tiny city ranks 14.9 in the state for property crimes.
Residents here in Marksville have a 1 in 12.6 chance of being the victim of a crime in 2017, which was the last reporting year. That means if you live in Marksville, someone you know was likely the victim of a theft, home break-in or arson.
It’s still pretty violent here, but you have to be more concerned about being robbed when you’re in Natchitoches. Within city limits, you have a 1 in 15.5 chance of being robbed. That’s a lot of car break-ins and home invasion robberies.
Like some of the cities mentioned elsewhere on the list, there’s no doubt that the poverty level here is playing a part in the sheer number of crimes that are going on here. When people are desperate, they’ll do whatever it takes to survive.
Natchitoches is south of Shreveport on I-49.
Natchitoches, Louisiana has lots of activities and festivals throughout the year. Natchitoches also has NSU, which is a college that has many degree programs for an individual to obtain a degree. My parents took me to Natchitoches since I was a little girl, therefore I have lots of special memories. I also met my fiance while attending NSU.
There are several key aspects that make Natchitoches a great city. One being Natchitoches is the oldest city in Louisiana. There are numerous historical sites visitors can tour including several plantations, Cane River Heritage, and even the Steel Magnolia house from the movie.
Natchitoches is also known for their Christmas festival. Lots of tourist come to see all the beautiful lights and festival activities. Natchitoches also is the home of the meat pie, which is one of the the official state foods of Louisiana.
The only negative thing about Natchitoches is the traffic. Since it is a fairly small city, traffic from college and tourists can be a bit heavy.
Crowley has placed 21st for property crime per capita in the state.
Residents of Crowley faced a 1 in 21st chance of being the victim of theft or arson in 2017.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, violent crime bumped up between 2015-17, making Crowley the 3rd most violent city in Louisiana.
How Is Your Town In ?
How we determined the most dangerous cities in Louisiana for 2019?
Every year the FBI release two crime datasets, a preliminary dataset limited to the biggest cities in the country, followed by a more detailed release at the end of the year.
For our analysis, we focused on the JUST released 2017 data, specifically the 2017 Crime In The United States Report. We will update the results when data becomes available in September 2019.
So what criteria did we use? Have a look:
- Violent Crimes Per Capita
- Property Crimes Per Capita
In order to make the analysis as apples to apples as possible, we only considered cities over 5,000 in population. That left us with 55 cities in Louisiana.
We then ranked each city from 1 to 55 for the two criteria with a #1 ranking being the most dangerous for the particular criteria.
Next, we averaged the two rankings into one “Dangerous Index”.
Finally, we ranked every city on the “Dangerous Index” with the lowest index being the most dangerous in Louisiana — Hammond.
Read on for a detailed look at the 10 most dangerous cities in Louisiana.
Locking It All Up In Louisiana
The latest FBI crime data shows that Hammond ranks as the most dangerous city in Louisiana for 2019.
We want to point out again that there’s still safes places in Hammond and that this isn’t a comment on the people that live there. So please don’t beat us up.
If you’re curious enough, here are the safest cities in Louisiana:
- Youngsville (Pop. 13,679)
- Minden (Pop. 12,497)
- Addis (Pop. 5,117)
For more Louisiana reading, check out:
- 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Louisiana
- These Are The 10 Best Places To Retire In Louisiana
- These Are The 10 Richest Cities In Louisiana
- 10 Safest Places In Louisiana
- 10 Worst Places To Live In Louisiana
Where Are The Most Dangerous Cities In Louisiana?
| Rank | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hammond | 20,712 |
| 2 | Bastrop | 10,458 |
| 3 | Opelousas | 16,504 |
| 4 | Monroe | 49,354 |
| 5 | Alexandria | 47,860 |
| 6 | Ponchatoula | 7,317 |
| 7 | Pineville | 14,473 |
| 8 | Marksville | 5,489 |
| 9 | Natchitoches | 18,284 |
| 10 | Crowley | 13,026 |
This list is bogus by having Denham Springs listed to start with. Tommy Peters is correct about I-20, it’s in the northern part of the state, from Shreveport to Vicksburg, MS. Not enough research done for this.
I am appalled at the fact that this report list Amite as the number one dangerous city. Obviously you have your facts wrong. I am sure that I people who lived there are offended that this report has put a negative spend on the city in which they live and love. As a native of that town I am offended because my family and friends still live there and I love going back for vacation.
Yes the city need some economic recovery,but Amite does not deserve this negative publicity.
I respectfully ask the editor and publisher of this article to retract this story and stop the publishing of this shred information.
I don’t know about these other cities but I completely agree about Alexandria and I really thought it would have been higher on the list. My city has gotten so bad. Within the past months we have had so many people get shot and killed and females found dead.
Alexandria and the other cities, especially Nactitoches are mostly black, reckon that has anything to do with it?
Garbage check your facts you obviously have never been to louisiana or any of these towns this list is a joke.
To blame race for the crime rate and not poverty is so bigoted. As an upwardly mobile professional African American who lives in Louisiana, it saddens me that we are all lumped into the same pot. Some of these comments sicken me. Last I checked, criminals come in a myriad of colors.
Bologna……Its true and you know it…..blacks commit 4-1 more crimes than any other race…truth is truth…Get real buddy
I don’t know where you are getting your facts from, but they are blatently wrong. Let’s start with Hammond not being off of I-20. It is off of I-12 and I-55. I-20, at it’s nearest is 2 1/2 hours away, in Mississippi. Hammond and Ponchatoula are not more dangerous than New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Being that I live in Hammond, my shop is in Ponchatoula, and have been working all over the state for the last 20 years, I can tell that you are pulling facts out of thin air. I also happen to be born in New Orleans. I live in Hammond/Ponchatoula (5 minutes apart, since you have no real spectrum of the area) because they are safer than New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and a few others on your list. Stop pushing crap facts.
Put Houma in there to
Whoever wrote this is a complete idiot!!! Slidell, La and Mandeville, La, are not redneck you idiot!!! You must also think everybody in Louisiana, has an alligator as a pet and that we walk them on a leash!!! Not everybody yells “Shoot em, Shoot em!!!!!!!” Big dummy!!