A recent Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) report has revealed the U.S. cities with the highest rates of robberies. 

Robberies, for the purposes of the report, are defined as “theft or attempted theft involving force or the threat of force”. As of the middle of 2024, urban areas are “experiencing particularly high levels of this crime”, according to a new report from Newsweek.

The CCJ’s mid-year 2024 update shows a 6% average decrease in robbery rates across 34 U.S. cities from 2023 to 2024.

However, ten cities still face disproportionately high robbery rates: Baltimore, Minneapolis, Chicago, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Seattle, Denver, and Little Rock.

The Newsweek report notes that Baltimore tops the list with a high robbery rate of 67.05 per 100,000 residents, with persistently high rates.

Chicago and Philadelphia also face significant robbery issues, with rates of 30.96 and 21.80, respectively. St. Louis and Little Rock stand out for their high rates despite their smaller size.

Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. also rank highly, with D.C.’s proximity to federal institutions not deterring these crimes. San Francisco had a robbery rate of 26.58, Seattle 18.41, and Denver 17.3 per 100,000 residents, according to the report. 

Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice told Newsweek: “Robbery statistics depend on citizen reporting. A community might show higher rates of reported robberies because residents are more likely to trust the police and more likely to report crimes when they occur. Unreported crimes don’t show up in police statistics, but that’s not a public safety indicator.”

“They do a good job at clearing murders, but a poor job at clearing just about every other type of crime, including robbery. If the robber is not caught, then they are free to do it again. And they will, if it has payoffs,” added Jeffrey Fagan, a crime expert with Columbia Law School.