Tiny Missouri Town Way More Dangerous than KC and Springfield?

I'm immediately gonna question the validity of this claim. Some new data I've come across says that a tiny Missouri town is way more dangerous than both Kansas City and Springfield. Let's explore if that's even possible.

Get our free mobile app

Let me just start by saying this is raw data and not someone's opinion. That's important to keep in mind as I am always suspicious of the internet claiming something by someone who has never set foot in any of our Missouri places.

This is a pure crime index made available by USA.com. It's nothing more than a database with this methodology exactly as stated by them (so I don't misrepresent their results):

The crime index value is calculated based on the data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the crime level in a region. Higher crime index value means more crime.

With all the numbers crunched, which small Missouri town has a higher crime index than both Kansas City and Springfield?

Answer: BRANSON

The data says little ole Branson has a crime index of 5,721 while Kansas City's is only 4,152 and gangster city Springfield is a mere 4,085.

I know that I have given my friends (and they are that) in Branson a hard time, but I love that part of Missouri and I think I can debunk this result a little bit. There are different kinds of crime some of which are way worse than others. It's true that property crime in Branson is terrible. But (and this is a big BUT), their violent crime rates aren't nearly as bad as the metros including St. Louis, KC and Springfield.

I think that's my biggest problem with using a raw crime index to determine how "dangerous" a Missouri place is. I'd prefer to call a town like Branson home (except for dealing with their congested traffic) over a big city like St. Louis, Kansas City or Springfield.