In another recent
ranking here at the
Movoto Real Estate blog, Alabama ranked 44 out of 50 in terms of safety among all the states. That’s not great, but how does crime look wthin the Heart of Dixie?
These 10 are the 10 most dangerous places in Alabama:
1.
City of Anniston
2.
City of Bessemer
3.
City of Fairfield
4.
City of Selma
5. City of Prichard
6.
City of Birmingham
7.
City of Opelika
8.
City of Talladega
9.
City of Troy
10.
City of Huntsville
To find out how we came up with this list, keep reading. Then we’ll take a closer look at each of our top 10.
Our Methodology
In order to create this list, we started by making a list of all of the places in Alabama with populations of 10,000 people or more, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Then we used the
2012 FBI Uniform Crime Report to look at each place according to the following criteria:
- Murder
- Rape
- Robbery
- Assault
- Burglary
- Theft
- Vehicle theft
We then divided these crimes into four different categories:
- Murders
- Violent crimes
- Property crimes
- Total crimes
We omitted any place that didn’t report data to the bureau that year, which left us with a total of 52 places. We then calculated each place’s number of crimes per person in order to fairly compare cities of all sizes. We gave each place a score from 1 to 52 in our four categories—murders, violent crimes, property crimes, and total crimes—all per capita.
Next, we weighted murders, violent crimes, and property crimes so that they each comprised 30 percent of the overall score, whereas the total number of crimes comprised 10 percent.
Finally, we averaged each city’s rankings into one overall
Big Deal Score, where the lower the score, the more dangerous the place.
To see more than just these top 10, feel free to hop down to the bottom of the post for a more complete ranking.
This ranking is not a critique of police practices or effectiveness. It is simply an analysis of where crimes occurred.
1. Anniston
In 2012, Anniston residents were some of the most likely in the state to be the victim of a crime: they had a 1 in 8 chance.
To put this into perspective for you, residents in safer places like
Helena or Mountain Brook had just a 1 in 92 and 1 in 66 chance, respectively.
Anniston residents’ higher likelihood was due to the high number of both violent crimes and property crimes per capita. It ranked second and third in these categories.
2. Bessemer
This city in
Jefferson County ranked high on our list for having both the highest number of property crimes and overall crimes per capita. Most of these property crimes were thefts, but there were also many reported burglaries and vehicle thefts.
Bessemer also had a high number of violent crimes, the third most per capita in the state.
3. Fairfield
In Fairfield during 2012, your odds of being the victim of crime were just 1 in 7. These odds are due to the high number of crimes in all categories. Fairfield had the second highest number of property crimes, the fifth highest number of violent crimes, and the sixth highest number of murders, all adding up to the second most total crimes per capita.
4. Selma
Selma had the third highest number of murders per capita in the state. Residents weren't exempt from property crime either, though, as Selma had the fourth highest number of property crimes, making for the fourth highest number of crimes overall.
5. Prichard
In terms of violent crimes, Prichard had the most per capita in the state. Most of these were assaults, followed by robberies, but there were also a high number of rapes per capita and even the second most murders per capita.
Overall, Prichard had the eighth highest number of crimes per capita in the state of
Alabama.
6. Birmingham
Birmingham ranked fourth for its number of violent crimes in general, and even eighth for its number of property crimes. Birmingham has previously been ranked the third most dangerous city in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, where only
Atlanta and
St. Louis placed higher.
7. Opelika
What made Opelika particularly dangerous in our analysis was its high number of murders per capita: the sixth highest in the state. It also had the 10th highest number of violent crimes overall and the 11th highest number of property crimes per person.
All told, Opelika residents had a 1 in 14 chance of being the victim of a crime for the year of our study.
8. Talladega
In 2012, Talladega had the fifth most in the state. Most of these property crimes were thefts, but there were also over 2,300 burglaries for every 100,000 residents in 2012 (or think of it as .02 per person), which was comparatively high for the state.
It ranked 13th for its number of violent crimes per capita, adding up to give it the sixth highest number of total crimes per capita in the state.
9. Troy
This college town had an alarmingly high number of murders in 2012—the eighth most per capita in the state. More generally, it had the 14th most violent crimes and it didn’t do a whole lot better in the property department, where it ranked 17th.
10. Huntsville
In 2012, Huntsville had the eighth highest number of violent crimes per capita. The majority of these were assaults, but this also included the 16th most murders per capita.
Overall, with the 15th most crimes per capita for the year, residents had just a 1 in 17 chance of being the victim of a crime. Compared to Fairfield's 1 in 7 odds, Huntsville's weren't as bad, but compared to Helena, where it was 1 in 92, Huntsville doesn’t look so good.
You’re Still The Heart Of Dixie
Just take a look toward the bottom of the table below; there are plenty of safe places in Alabama. If you feel like moving to one of these safer places, feel free to get in touch. In addition to creating lists like this one, we sell houses, and
Helena is looking pretty good right about now.
For Media Inquiries, Contact:
Randy Nelson
rnelson@movoto.com
