These Are The 10 Most Dangerous Places in Oklahoma

In the latest Movoto Real Estate Blog crime analysis, we’ve discovered that certain cities in Oklahoma are actually pretty dangerous when it comes to crime. But which are the ones to be most avoided? Here are the 10 most dangerous places in Oklahoma: 1. City of Oklahoma City
2. City of Ardmore
3. City of Tulsa
4. City of Lawton
5. City of Ada
6. City of Del City
7. City of Shawnee
8. City of Midwest City
9. City of Muskogee
10. City of Warr Acres
To find out more about our analysis, keep reading. Then, we’ll take a more detailed look at each of our 10 most dangerous cities.

Our Methodology

To create this Big Deal List, we started by gathering all of the places in Oklahoma with populations of 10,000 people or more. We then used the 2012 FBI Uniform Crime Report to look at each 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

Once we eliminated any places that didn’t report data to the bureau that year, we were left with a total of 40 places. From there, we calculated each place’s number of crimes per person and ranked them with scores from 1 to 40, according to the above criteria. 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 was, the more dangerous the place. Oklahoma City…had a preeettty low score. For a look at more than just these top 10, head to the bottom of our post.

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

1. Oklahoma City

The reason Oklahoma City came in as the most dangerous in the state was its high number of property crimes per person (the most out of anywhere we looked at). It also shared the first place rank with one other city for its high number of murders per person. Overall, residents had a 1 in 15 chance of being the victim of a crime. To put that into perspective, in most places it was more like 1 in 20, and in some of the safer cities, like Edmond, it was almost 1 in 50.

2. Ardmore

While this Carter County city didn’t have nearly the number of murders per person as our first city (Ardmore ranked 10th in this category), it did have more violent crimes overall. In fact, it had both the second most violent and property crimes per person in the state. This combination gave it the highest number of total crimes per person in 2012, which meant that in Ardmore, residents’ chances of being the victim of one of these crimes was just 1 in 14.

3. Tulsa

Tulsa had the sixth highest number of crimes overall in 2012. This was because of its high number of both property crimes and violent crimes—but murders in particular. It had the fifth most murders per person out of anywhere in the state.

4. Lawton

Lawton may have one of the most law-abiding names in the country, but clearly, it doesn’t translate to the city’s crime rates. In 2012, Lawton had the seventh most crimes per person in the state. Many of those crimes were murders; in fact, Lawton had the third most murders per person in Oklahoma. It also had the eighth most property crimes (most of which were thefts, followed by burglaries), and seventh most violent crimes overall.

5. Ada

In 2012, Ada had the ninth highest number of crimes per person in the state. Unfortunately, here’s some more bad news: this was mostly due to its high number of violent crimes (the fifth most in the state), including the fourth most murders per capita.

6. Del City

This city didn’t rank as bad as it could have for its overall number of violent crimes per person (it ranked 12th highest here). In 2012, Del City had some of the most murders per person in the state (tied with Oklahoma City in first place in this category). It also had the seventh highest number of property crimes per person. A majority of these were merely thefts, but there were also plenty of burglaries and even 430 vehicle thefts for every 100,000 people.

7. Shawnee

Just after Oklahoma City, Shawnee had the third most crimes overall in the state. This was made up of the fourth most property crimes and the sixth most violent crimes per person. Most of these violent crimes were assaults, which were followed in numbers by rapes, robberies, and even the thirteenth most murders per capita.

8. Midwest City

In 2012, Midwest City had the 11th highest number of crimes per person in Oklahoma. More shocking, though, was its high number of both murders and violent crimes per person; it ranked fifth in both categories.

9. Muskogee

In 2012, Muskogee had the most violent crimes per person out of anywhere in our analysis. These mostly consisted of assaults, but there were also a number of robberies, rapes, and even one murder. With such a high number of violent crimes, Muskogee’s total number of crimes per person was bumped up to the eighth highest in the state.

10. Warr Acres

Warr Acres had the 11th most violent crimes in the state. Most of these were assaults, followed by robberies, and then rapes; but there was also one murder, making it the seventh most murders per person in the state. Overall, it had the 12th highest number of crimes per person, giving residents just a 1 in 18 chance of being the victim of a crime.

Oklahoma: Still OK

Oklahoma is still the place where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain, and the…well, you know the rest, and you’re probably even sick of it by now. It is still a beautiful and wonderful state—and in fact, it is still a hell of a place to live. You just might want to choose carefully if you’re looking at any of these 10 cities. Don’t worry; we can help you there. For Media Inquiries, Contact:
Randy Nelson
rnelson@movoto.com