Joe Edwards
Newsweek
August 9, 2024

As of mid-2024, robbery rates in the U.S. have varied widely across cities, with some urban areas experiencing particularly high levels of this crime. Robbery, defined in a recent Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) report as “theft or attempted theft involving force or the threat of force,” appears to remain a concern in these cities, despite a general downward trend in several types of crimes nationally.

According to the CCJ’s mid-year 2024 update, while robbery rates have decreased by six percent on average across the 34 sample U.S. cities from 2023 to 2024, certain urban areas continue to face disproportionately high rates of this offense. The 10 cities from the sample with the highest rates of robbery in June were: Baltimore, Minneapolis, Chicago, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Seattle, Denver, and Little Rock, Arkansas.

Baltimore leads the list with a comparatively high robbery rate of 67.05 per 100,000 residents. The data showed that rates in the Maryland city had been persistently high. Similarly, Chicago and Philadelphia have seen significant robbery challenges, according to the study. Chicago had a rate of 30.96, whilst Philadelphia’s rate was 21.80. St. Louis and Little Rock were also notable for their elevated robbery rates despite their smaller size. The cities of Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. also ranked highly, with D.C.’s proximity to federal institutions seemingly not deterring the occurrence of such crimes. San Francisco had a rate of 26.58, and Seattle had a rate of 18.41. Finally, Denver rounds out the list, with the city witnessing robbery rates of 17.3 per 100,000 residents.

Crime statistics such as these are not always straightforward to interpret.

“Robbery statistics depend on citizen reporting,” said Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “A community might show higher rates of reported robberies because residents are more likely to trust the police and more likely to report crimes when they occur. Unreported crimes don’t show up in police statistics, but that’s not a public safety indicator.”

Jeffrey Fagan, a crime expert with Columbia Law School, told Newsweek that police clearance rates should also be considered when interpreting robbery data. “They do a good job at clearing murders, but a poor job at clearing just about every other type of crime, including robbery. If the robber is not caught, then they are free to do it again. And they will, if it has payoffs.” Clearance rates are a critical part of crime control, and police are not often held accountable for clearance rates in crimes other than murder,” he added.

Which Cities Had the Highest Robbery Rates?

Cities with the Highest Robbery Rates
Map shows 10 cities from the CCJ’s sample of 34 that had the highest rates of robbery in June