Violent crime inched up by about 5% in the United States in 2020. The increase was led by a 29% surge in homicides — the largest such increase on record. Not all forms of criminal violence increased in frequency last year, however. Continuing a multi-decade downward trend, the robbery rate declined in the U.S. in 2020 and is now at its lowest level since at least the mid-1980s.
According to the FBI, robbery is a crime in which force or the threat of force or violence is used to take, or attempt to take, anything of value from another person. The largest share of robberies in the United States are committed on streets or sidewalks. Handguns are the most commonly used weapon in robberies, and more often than not, among the cases where a suspect can be identified, the offender and victim are strangers to one another.
There were nearly a quarter of a million robbery cases reported in the U.S. in 2020, or 74 for every 100,000 people. In most states, there is at least one major metropolitan area where robberies are far less common than they are nationwide.
Using data from the FBI’s 2020 Uniform Crime Report, 24/7 Wall St. identified the metro area with the fewest robberies in each state. Metropolitan areas are ranked by their robbery rate — specifically, the number of reported robberies for every 100,000 residents.
It is important to note that in eight states, there is only one eligible metro area with available data. In each of these cases, which are noted, the metro area listed ranks as having the fewest robberies per capita by default only. In two states — Alabama and Pennsylvania — there are no qualifying metro areas with available crime data.
Though each of the metro areas on this list ranks as having the lowest robbery rate in its respective state, robbery rates in these places vary considerably, from 127.6 for every 100,000 down to 1.2 per 100,000. In the majority of the metro areas on this list, robbery rates are below the statewide rate.
There are four classifications of violent crime in the U.S. — rаpe, robbery, aggravated assault, and homicide — and robbery accounted for about 19% of the 1.3 million violent offenses reported in 2020. In most metro areas on this list, the overall violent crime rate is below the overall statewide rate.
Click here to see the metro with the fewest robberies in every state
Click here to read our detailed methodology
Source: Read Full Article