Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Florida?
We all watch the news with horror when we hear about a homicide that happens not that far away from us. While a murder just blocks or even a couple of towns away from your house would make anyone uneasy, in the long run, most likely, where you live is relatively safe.
So we wanted to get the facts straight and dug into the FBI crime data in order to identify the places with the most murders and the highest murder rates per capita in Florida.
The result is the Murder Capitals of the Sunshine State for 2020:
- Parkland (Photos)
- Florida City (Photos)
- West Palm Beach (Photos)
- Miami Gardens (Photos)
- Opa Locka (Photos)
- Riviera Beach (Photos)
- Orlando (Photos)
- Lauderhill (Photos)
- Jacksonville (Photos)
- Cocoa (Photos)
The city with highest murder rate in Florida? That would be Florida City with 81.4 murders per 100,000 people.
While the city with highest number of murders period? Jacksonville with 110.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town ranked. There were ‘only’ 112 cities in Florida where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 92 places had no murder.
For more reading on the Sunshine State check out:
- 10 Best Places To Live In Florida
- 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Florida
- 10 Most Dangerous Places In Florida
The 10 Murder Capitals Of Florida For 2020
Parkland is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States.
Parkland is known for its zoning laws, which are designed to protect the “park-like” character of the city. Initially, there were no stores or traffic lights in Parkland, though this began to change in the mid 1990s and early 2000s with the additions of large neighborhood developments including Heron Bay and Parkland Isles.
West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is one of the three main cities in South Florida. The population was 100,343 at the 2010 census. The University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research estimates a 2016 population of 108,896, a 7.9% increase from 2010. It is the oldest municipality in the Miami metropolitan area, having been incorporated as a city two years before Miami in November 1894. Although West Palm Beach is located approximately 68 miles north of Downtown Miami, it is still considered a principal city within the Miami metropolitan area, due to the solid urbanization between both cities. The estimated population of the Miami metropolitan area, which includes all of Palm Beach County, was 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.
Miami Gardens is a suburban city located in north-central Miami-Dade County, Florida. Its boundaries stretch from I-95 and NE 2nd Avenue on the east, to NW 47th and NW 57th Avenues on the west, and from the Broward County line on the north, to 151st Street on the south. The city name comes from one of the major roadways through the area, Miami Gardens Drive. According to a 2011 estimate from the US Census Bureau, the city had a population of 109,680, and it is the largest city in Florida that has a majority African American population. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.
Riviera Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, which was incorporated September 29, 1922. Due to the location of its eastern boundary lies, it is also the easternmost municipality in the South Florida metropolitan area. The population was 29,884 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population was estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau to be 32,522.
Orlando is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Orange County. Located in Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,387,138, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures released in March 2016, making it the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States, and the third-largest metropolitan area in Florida. As of 2015, Orlando had an estimated city-proper population of 270,934, making it the 73rd-largest city in the United States, the fourth-largest city in Florida, and the state’s largest inland city.
Lauderhill, officially the City of Lauderhill, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city’s population was 66,887. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census. Its sister city is Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago.
Jacksonville is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Florida and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968. Consolidation gave Jacksonville its great size and placed most of its metropolitan population within the city limits; with an estimated population of 913,010 as of 2017, Jacksonville is the most populous city in the state of Florida and the southeastern United States. The Jacksonville metropolitan area has a population of 1,626,611. It is the 34th largest MSA in the United States and fourth largest in Florida.
Cocoa is a city in Brevard County, Florida. The population was 17,140 at the 2010 United States Census. It is part of the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
How we calculated the murder capitals of Florida
While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in a state are the most dangerous, we didn’t want to rely on speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from the FBI’s last year of reporting. Specifically, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report which summarizes the number of murders that may happen in each city per year.
We only looked every single city in Florida for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 112 cities to rank.
Finally, we averaged the two scores into an index:
- The raw number of murders in each city
- The murders per person
We felt as if a small place with 2,500 people and two murders makes it a lot more dangerous than a city of 25,000 people with three murders. Any ties went to the larger city. You can download the data here.
We must note that this report is not an analysis of the effectiveness of local police departments. It simply states where murders occurred most frequently on an absolute and rate basis.
There You Have It – The Places With The Most Murders In Florida For 2020
If you’re looking at the places in Florida with the most murders, and where residents have the highest chances of being killed themselves, this is an accurate list. Again, these statistics are an indication of where crimes occur, not a statement about the effectiveness of the law enforcement in the areas they serve.
For more florida reading, check out:
- 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Florida
- These Are The 10 Fastest Growing Cities In Florida
- 10 Safest Places In Florida
- 10 Best Cities For Singles In Florida
- 10 Worst Places To Live In Florida