Rockford Named 11th Most Dangerous City In America

Website 24/7 Wall Street releases their list of America's Most Dangerous Cities each year, and once again, Rockford's on it.

Here's the methodology that 24/7 Wall Street used to come up with their numbers:

To identify the 50 most dangerous U.S. cities, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed violent crime rates in cities with at least 100,000 people from the FBI’s 2018 Uniform Crime Report. The total number and the rates of murder, non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, which are included in the violent crime rate, as well as burglaries, larceny, and motor vehicle theft, which are classified as property crime, also came from the FBI’s report.

In a effort to turn lemons into lemonade, I will point out that we come in at #11 on their list, so at least we're not in the top ten.

Speaking of, here are the cities that 24/7 Wall Street has in the first ten spots:

1. Detroit, Michigan
2. Memphis, Tennessee
3. Birmingham, Alabama
4. Baltimore, Maryland
5. St. Louis, Missouri
6. Kansas City, Missouri
7. Cleveland, Ohio
8. Little Rock, Arkansas
9. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
10. Stockton, California

Here's 24/7 Wall Street's take on Rockford:

Of the three cities in Illinois to rank on this list, Rockford is the most dangerous. While the city of Chicago regularly makes national news for its staggering rates of gun violence, the Windy City’s violent crime rate of 1,006 incidents per 100,000 people is considerably lower than the violent crime rate of 1,386 per 100,000 people in Rockford. As is often the case, Rockford’s violent crime rate is driven largely by cases of aggravated assaults. About three out of every four violent crimes reported in the city are aggravated assaults.

Cities with high crime rates often have struggling economies, and in Rockford, joblessness is a major problem. The city’s annual unemployment rate of 6.8% is well above the unemployment rate nationwide of 3.9%.

Click here to read 24/7 Wall Street's list of America's Most Dangerous Cities.