St. Louis, Detroit Most Dangerous Cities

from WDIV Detroit TV 4

Just days after the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers met in the World Series, their hometowns find themselves atop a list no one wants to lead: the most dangerous cities in the United States. St. Louis ranked first, Detroit second and Flint, Mich., third in the annual ranking of the nation's most dangerous cities, compiled by Morgan Quitno Press.

Among the nation's safest cities are the Detroit suburbs of Troy at No. 5 and Sterling Heights at No. 16. St. Louis has long been in the upper tiers of Morgan Quitno Press's annual rankings of the nation's safest and most dangerous cities.

Violent crime surged nearly 20 percent there this year, when the rate of such crimes rose much faster in the Midwest than in the rest of nation, according to FBI figures released in June.

The study looks at crime only within St. Louis city limits, with a population of about 330,000. It doesn't take into account the suburbs in St. Louis County, which has roughly 980,000 residents. Cities are ranked based on more than just their crime rate, Morgan said. Individual crimes such as rape or burglary are measured separately, compared to national averages and then compiled to give a city its ranking. Crimes are weighted based on their danger to people.