These Are The 10 Murder Capitals Of Kentucky For 2019

Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Kentucky?

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 Kentucky.

The result is the 10 Murder Capitals of the Bluegrass State for 2019:

1. Frankfort (Photos)
2. Louisville (Photos)
3. Princeton (Photos)
4. Lexington (Photos)
5. Mount Washington
6. Nicholasville (Photos)
7. Shively (Photos)
8. Winchester (Photos)
9. Madisonville (Photos)
10. Bowling Green (Photos)

The city with highest murder rate in Kentucky? That would be Princeton with 32.9 murders per 100,000 people.

While the city with highest number of murders period? Louisville with 109.

Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town ranked. There were ‘only’ 25 cities in Kentucky where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 49 places had no murder.

If you’re curious, here are the places in Kentucky which had the least murder chances for its residents, based on population: Hopkinsville, Elizabethtown, St. Matthews, Newport, Bardstown.

For more reading on the Bluegrass State check out:

• 10 Best Places To Live In Kentucky
• 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Kentucky
• 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Kentucky

How we calculated the murder capitals of Kentucky

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 Kentucky for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 25 cities to rank.

Finally, averaged two scores:

• 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 one murder.
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.

Frankfort is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the seat of Franklin County. It is a home rule-class city in Kentucky; the population was 25,527 at the 2010 census. Located along the Kentucky River, Frankfort is the principal city of the Frankfort, Kentucky Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Franklin and Anderson counties.

Louisville LOO–vl or LUUV-l) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 29th-most populous city in the United States. It is one of two cities in Kentucky designated as first-class, the other being the state’s second-largest city of Lexington. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County.

Princeton is a home rule-class city in Caldwell County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 6,329 during the 2010 U.S. Census.

Lexington, consolidated with Fayette County and often denoted as Lexington-Fayette, is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 60th-largest city in the United States. By land area, Lexington is the 28th largest city in the United States. Known as the “Horse Capital of the World,” it is the heart of the state’s Bluegrass region. With a mayor-alderman form of government, it is one of two cities in Kentucky designated by the state as first-class; the other is the state’s largest city of Louisville. In the 2016 U.S. Census Estimate, the city’s population was 318,449, anchoring a metropolitan area of 506,751 people and a combined statistical area of 723,849 people. Due to constant increases in population, Lexington suffers some of the worst traffic congestion in Kentucky, because two interstates bypass the city to the north and east, resulting in a lack of freeways going through the most populated areas of the city.

Mount Washington is a home rule-class city in northeast Bullitt County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 9,117 at the 2010 census. The city is one of several surrounding Louisville that have experienced a sharp rise in population in the past three decades, becoming a commuter town.

Nicholasville is a home rule city in Jessamine County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 28,015 during the 2010 U.S. Census, making Nicholasville the 11th-largest settlement in the state.

Shively is a home rule-class city in Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States and a suburb of Louisville within the Louisville Metro government. As of the 2010 Census, the city’s population was 15,264, reflecting an increase of 107 from 15,157 in 2000.

Winchester is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Clark County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 18,368 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Madisonville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Hopkins County, Kentucky, United States, located along Interstate 69 in the state’s Western Coal Fields region. The population was 19,591 at the 2010 census. Madisonville is a commercial center of the region and is home to Madisonville Community College.

Bowling Green is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Warren County, Kentucky, United States. As of 2016, its population of 65,234 made it the third most-populous city in the state after Louisville and Lexington; its metropolitan area had an estimated population of 165,732; and the combined statistical area it shares with Glasgow has an estimated population of 218,870.

Next 10 Cities

There You Have It – The Places With The Most Murders In Kentucky For 2019

If you’re looking at the places in Kentucky 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 Kentucky reading, check out:

• 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Kentucky
• These Are The 10 Fastest Growing Cities In Kentucky
• 10 Safest Places In Kentucky
• 10 Best Cities For Singles In Kentucky
• 10 Worst Places To Live In Kentucky

Detailed List Of The Places With The Most Murder In Kentucky For 2019

Rank	City	Murders	Murders/100K
1	Frankfort, KY	6	21.45
2	Louisville, KY	109	15.93
3	Princeton, KY	2	32.87
4	Lexington, KY	29	9.0
5	Mount Washington, KY	2	13.78
6	Nicholasville, KY	3	9.89
7	Shively, KY	2	12.63
8	Winchester, KY	2	10.82
9	Madisonville, KY	2	10.35
10	Bowling Green, KY	4	6.03
11	Dayton, KY	1	18.44
12	Monticello, KY	1	16.47
13	Radcliff, KY	2	8.9
14	Mount Sterling, KY	1	13.7
15	Owensboro, KY	3	5.04
16	Henderson, KY	2	6.93
17	Franklin, KY	1	11.26
18	Richmond, KY	2	5.69
19	Mayfield, KY	1	10.01
20	Covington, KY	2	4.9
21	Bardstown, KY	1	7.5
22	Newport, KY	1	6.58
23	St. Matthews, KY	1	5.51
24	Elizabethtown, KY	1	3.33
25	Hopkinsville, KY	1	3.15