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Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Virginia?
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 Virginia.
The city with highest murder rate in Virginia? That would be Petersburg with 76.9 murders per 100,000 people.
While the city with highest number of murders period? Richmond with 66.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town ranked. There were 'only' 35 cities in Virginia where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 27 places had no murder.
For more reading on the Old Dominion check out:
- Best Places To Live In Virginia
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- Most Dangerous Cities In Virginia
The 10 Murder Capitals Of Virginia For 2022
How we calculated the murder capitals of Virginia
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 Virginia for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 35 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 Virginia For 2022
If you're looking at the places in Virginia 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 Virginia reading, check out:
- Best Places To Raise A Family In Virginia
- Fastest Growing Cities In Virginia
- Safest Places In Virginia
- Best Cities For Singles In Virginia
- Worst Cities In Virginia For 2017
Detailed List Of The Places With The Most Murder In Virginia For 2022
| Rank | City | Murders |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richmond, VA | 66 |
| 2 | Portsmouth, VA | 34 |
| 3 | Petersburg, VA | 24 |
| 4 | Norfolk, VA | 49 |
| 5 | Hopewell, VA | 6 |
| 6 | Hampton, VA | 24 |
| 7 | Newport News, VA | 25 |
| 8 | Roanoke, VA | 15 |
| 9 | Emporia, VA | 2 |
| 10 | Franklin, VA | 2 |
| 11 | Danville, VA | 5 |
| 12 | Warrenton, VA | 2 |
| 13 | Charlottesville, VA | 5 |
| 14 | Chesapeake, VA | 15 |
| 15 | Fredericksburg, VA | 3 |
| 16 | Virginia Beach, VA | 17 |
| 17 | Culpeper, VA | 2 |
| 18 | Big Stone Gap, VA | 1 |
| 19 | Covington, VA | 1 |
| 20 | Waynesboro, VA | 2 |
| 21 | Bedford, VA | 1 |
| 22 | Staunton, VA | 2 |
| 23 | Winchester, VA | 2 |
| 24 | Lynchburg, VA | 3 |
| 25 | South Boston, VA | 1 |
| 26 | Suffolk, VA | 3 |
| 27 | Alexandria, VA | 3 |
| 28 | Martinsville, VA | 1 |
| 29 | Falls Church, VA | 1 |
| 30 | Radford, VA | 1 |
| 31 | Herndon, VA | 1 |
| 32 | Salem, VA | 1 |
| 33 | Manassas, VA | 1 |
| 34 | Harrisonburg, VA | 1 |
| 35 | Leesburg, VA | 1 |
