Prairie State Wire

Chicago ranked 19th highest in a new analysis of pandemic-era homicide rate data among the 50 largest American cities, according to the personal finance website WalletHub. 

Illinois’ largest city received a score of 49.32 in the study, with 100 representing the highest possible municipal homicide rates, WalletHub reported. As of the second quarter of this year, the homicide rate in Chicago was 7.42 per 100,000 residents, the study said.

The number of homicides in the city during the second quarter of this year was down by 1.51 per 100,000 compared to what it was during the same time period in 2020, the analysis found. And comparing Q2 2021 to Q2 2019, the number of homicides was up 1.25 per 100,000, according to WalletHub. 

Among the 50 most populous cities, the homicide rate has increased by a third between Q2 2019 and Q2 2021. The study was based on data from local crime statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau. 

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Large-City Homicide Rate Changes During Pandemic

Overall Rank	City	Total Score	Homicide Cases per Capita (Q2 2021)	Change in Homicide Cases per Capita (Q2 2021 vs Q2 2020)	Change in Homicide Cases per Capita (Q2 2021 vs Q2 2019)
1	New Orleans, LA	95.17	17.91 (1)	0.00 (30)	7.42 (1)
2	Cincinnati, OH	91.22	16.26 (3)	2.65 (5)	6.30 (2)
3	Baltimore, MD	72.63	15.27 (5)	0.00 (30)	0.82 (25)
4	Philadelphia, PA	68.2	9.63 (8)	2.79 (3)	4.43 (4)
5	Detroit, MI	67.03	12.45 (6)	1.04 (15)	1.33 (21)
6	Milwaukee, WI	66.32	9.08 (9)	2.02 (10)	4.71 (3)
7	Louisville, KY	65.14	8.90 (10)	3.88 (1)	3.40 (8)
8	Atlanta, GA	60.99	8.18 (11)	2.05 (8)	3.48 (6)
9	Memphis, TN	59.02	10.12 (7)	-1.84 (47)	2.30 (10)
10	Kansas City, MO	57.69	16.45 (2)	-16.24 (50)	1.64 (15)
11	Minneapolis, MN	56.1	6.19 (16)	1.67 (11)	4.04 (5)
12	St. Louis, MO	55.45	15.58 (4)	-6.49 (49)	-3.57 (50)
13	St. Petersburg, FL	53.49	4.97 (20)	3.44 (2)	3.44 (7)
14	Washington, DC	53.3	7.22 (13)	1.01 (17)	1.88 (13)
15	Indianapolis, IN	51.53	6.48 (14)	0.69 (19)	2.20 (11)
16	Norfolk, VA	50.94	6.13 (17)	2.04 (9)	1.64 (16)
17	Albuquerque, NM	49.99	6.26 (15)	2.68 (4)	0.72 (28)
18	Nashville, TN	49.66	4.97 (21)	2.26 (6)	2.41 (9)
19	Chicago, IL	49.32	7.42 (12)	-1.51 (46)	1.25 (22)
20	Durham, NC	49.19	5.56 (18)	2.22 (7)	1.48 (19)
21	Sacramento, CA	45.8	4.99 (19)	0.60 (21)	1.60 (17)
22	Tucson, AZ	44.27	4.25 (23)	1.29 (13)	1.48 (20)
23	Oklahoma City, OK	41.69	3.26 (28)	0.78 (18)	1.86 (14)
24	Winston-Salem, NC	41.24	4.10 (24)	0.41 (24)	0.82 (26)
25	Riverside, CA	39.43	2.45 (33)	0.31 (26)	2.14 (12)
26	Charlotte, NC	39.33	3.50 (27)	0.47 (22)	0.70 (30)
27	Austin, TX	38.9	2.21 (34)	1.47 (12)	1.58 (18)
28	Oakland, CA	37.64	4.47 (22)	-1.41 (44)	-0.24 (42)
29	Denver, CO	37.16	3.12 (30)	-0.43 (39)	0.71 (29)
30	Dallas, TX	35.91	3.91 (26)	-0.30 (37)	-0.90 (48)
31	Colorado Springs, CO	35.87	1.72 (38)	1.08 (14)	1.08 (23)
32	Phoenix, AZ	35.54	2.69 (32)	-0.24 (36)	0.43 (33)
33	Los Angeles, CA	34.37	2.12 (35)	0.28 (27)	0.35 (35)
34	Las Vegas, NV	34.05	3.15 (29)	-1.42 (45)	-0.16 (40)
35	Seattle, WA	33.62	1.66 (39)	-0.14 (35)	0.83 (24)
36	Raleigh, NC	33.38	1.72 (37)	0.65 (20)	0.22 (37)
37	Fort Worth, TX	33.18	1.83 (36)	0.00 (30)	0.34 (36)
38	New York, NY	33.02	1.44 (41)	0.04 (29)	0.75 (27)
39	Jacksonville, FL	33	2.81 (31)	-1.35 (43)	-0.22 (41)
40	Tulsa, OK	32.82	3.98 (25)	-3.23 (48)	-0.75 (47)
41	San Diego, CA	32.53	1.42 (42)	0.14 (28)	0.50 (31)
42	El Paso, TX	30.83	0.74 (47)	0.44 (23)	0.44 (32)
43	Boston, MA	30.68	1.46 (40)	0.00 (30)	-0.29 (43)
44	Anchorage, AK	30.59	1.02 (44)	1.02 (16)	-0.34 (44)
45	Lincoln, NE	29.62	0.70 (48)	0.35 (25)	0.00 (38)
46	Arlington, TX	29.01	1.26 (43)	-0.51 (40)	-0.51 (46)
47	Madison, WI	28.21	0.39 (50)	-0.78 (41)	0.39 (34)
48	Chesapeake, VA	28	0.83 (46)	-1.25 (42)	0.00 (38)
49	Chandler, AZ	26.91	0.40 (49)	-0.40 (38)	-0.40 (45)
50	Virginia Beach, VA	24.15	0.89 (45)	0.00 (30)	-2.44 (49)

Source: WalletHub.com