22. Newark, New Jersey
Newark is one of the most dangerous cities in the entire United States. Newark had a rate of 42.8 violent crimes per 10,000 in 2017. In the previous year, there were 36 murders per 100,000 residents in this city of more than 218,000. That’s three times more than other cities in New Jersey and the fifth highest murder rate in the entire country. Your chance of being a victim of crime in Newark is 1 in 31. One of the main factors contributing to Newark’s high rate of violent crime is the poverty and unemployment rates. Newark had an unemployment rate of around 8% and a poverty rate of 29.7%. Most of the violent crime takes place in the South and West Wards, which are the poorest areas, and most of the murder in Newark are gang and drug-related crimes.
