10 Most Dangerous Places in Georgia

Here at the Movoto Real Estate blog, we don’t like to point fingers. We’d rather leave it to math, facts, and figures to do the picking, so that when we create ranking like this one, they’re all by the numbers. Today we're using data to find the 10 most dangerous places in the otherwise safe state of Georgia, and a few of those spots might be a bit surprising. Here are the top 10:

1. City of College Park
2. City of East Point
3. City of Brunswick
4. City of Cordele
5. City of Jesup
6. City of Atlanta
7. City of Douglas
8. City of Macon
9. City of Moultrie
10. City of Griffin
If you’re wondering why exactly College Park made the top of this list, keep reading. We’ll go over the method of this analysis and just what makes each city so dangerous.

Our Methodology

Just like with our other Big Deal Lists, we started by gathering a list of all the places in Georgia with populations of 10,000 people or more. We then used the 2012 FBI Uniform Crime Report to look at each locale 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

After we got rid of any places in the state that didn’t report data to the bureau that year , we were left with a total of 72 places. We then calculated the number of crimes per person in each of our categories, in order to fairly compare Georgia cities of all sizes. Next, we weighted murders, violent crimes, and property crimes so that they each comprised 30 percent of the overall score, and the total number of crimes comprised 10 percent. For the final step, we averaged each city’s rankings into one overall Big Deal Score, where the lowest scores were our most dangerous places. To see more than these top 10 cities, you can check out the table of the 50 most dangerous places at the end of this post.

• This ranking is not a critique of police practices or effectiveness. It is simply an analysis of where crimes occurred.

1. College Park

“USA - GA - City of College Park Police (old style)”byDave Conneris licensed underCC BY 2.0

College Park had the most violent crimes, the most murders, the most property crimes, and the most total crimes in the state. With such high numbers, residents in College Park had just a 1 in 7 chance of being the victim of a crime—by far the greatest odds in the state.

2. East Point

“Mugging”byelchriso5is licensed underCC BY 2.0

Even though this Fulton County city didn’t have quite the high number of violent crimes in general as our No. 1 city, it did tie with it for its number of murders per person. It didn’t fare much better in the categories of property crimes and total crimes either, having the second highest numbers in each. Of course, most of these property crimes were thefts (arguably the least heinous of the categories), but there were also an unusually high number of burglaries and vehicle thefts in this city.

3. Brunswick

“Crime”byPaul Sablemanis licensed underCC BY 2.0

Brunswick had the second highest number of violent crimes in the state, and the majority of these were assaults. However, there were a high number of robberies, rapes, and the fifth most murders per capita. With the ninth highest number of property crimes, Brunswick had the fifth most total crimes per person in the state.

4. Cordele

In 2012, Cordele had the fourth most murders and the 10th most violent crimes overall per capita. It also had the fourth most property crimes, and when all things were added up, the fourth most total crimes per capita in the state. Residents here had just a 1 in 11 chance of being the victim of a crime.

5. Jesup

Jesup only ranked 16th out of 72 places in the category of violence overall. It had the third most murders per capita in 2012. It also had the fifth most property crimes, making for the seventh most crimes total. With these high numbers, Jesup residents had a 1 in 12 chance of being the victim of a crime. To put that into perspective for you, in Georgia’s safest place, Johns Creek, residents had just a 1 in 141 chance.

6. Atlanta

Atlanta had the third most violent crimes in 2012, including the seventh most murders per capita. Plus, with the 14th most property crimes, Atlanta had the eighth highest number of total crimes in the state.

7. Douglas

Out of all 72 places we looked at, Douglas had among the top 20 most murders per capita—and that’s the good news. It also had the seventh most violent crimes in general, and the third most property crimes per capita. Of those property crimes, a vast majority were thefts; however, there were also 42 robberies and 18 rapes that year. All told, Douglas had the third most total crimes per capita, giving residents pretty good chances of being the victim of one of those crimes: 1 in 10.

8. Macon

This central Georgia city had the sixth most murders per person in 2012: 21 total for the year. In the broader category of violent crimes in general, it ranked 18th. It even had a big property crime problem that year, with the sixth most property crimes per person in the state. With such high numbers, Macon had the 10th highest total number of crimes per person, and residents had just a 1 in 13 chance of being the victim of a crime.

9. Moultrie

In 2012, this city had the 20th most violent crimes out of the 72 places we looked at. Most of those violent crimes were robberies, followed by assaults, and then rapes. It also included a total of two murders, which meant that it was the 10th highest per person in the state (as Moultrie’s population was just over 14,000 people). It also had the seventh most property crimes in Georgia, making for the 11th most crimes per person overall.

10. Griffin

Out of 72 places, Griffin only ranked 23rd for its number of murders per capita. Even though the number of murders wasn’t as high as in some places, the number of overall violent crimes was much higher—it had the eighth most in the state. Plus, with the 11th most property crimes per person, Griffin had the ninth highest overall number of crimes, meaning residents were pretty likely to be the victim of one of those crimes. Just a 1 in 13 chance.

Staying Safe In Georgia

Our analysis also uncovered several Georgia cities that weren’t just less dangerous than these, but downright safe; places like Johns Creek and Acworth. To see where your city ranked, check the table below. If you see it there, and you’re thinking about making a move, feel free to let us know. We sell houses, after all, and we’d be happy to point you towards a safer bet. For Media Inquiries, Contact:
Randy Nelson
rnelson@movoto.com