Report Names Most Dangerous Cities in Illinois

While Chicago’s violence hovers in the national spotlight, the Windy City wasn’t listed in the rankings

Illinois ranks as the 20th most-dangerous state in the nation, according to a new report based on crime statistics from the FBI.

Law Street Media published a ranking of America’s “Safest & Most Dangerous States 2015” using the latest violent crime data from the FBI.

The report ranks 50 states from the most dangerous to the safest and details violent crime statistics for every city in the country with a reported population of 25,000 or more.

Alaska was named the most-dangerous state in the U.S. and Vermont was named the safest. Irvine, California was named the safest city and Detroit, Michigan took the most-dangerous city slot.

Chicago’s violence may hover in the national spotlight, but the Windy City wasn’t listed in any ranking as the FBI said Chicago’s data was underreported and could not be compared to any other city. Officials also said Chicago’s data collection methodology for rape, which is included in violent crime, does not comply with national Uniform Crime Report guidelines.

One list included in the report, which ranked violence in cities with populations between 100,000 and 200,000 people, named Rockford the second most-dangerous city in the nation.

With a violent crime rate of 1,375 per 100,000 people and a murder rate of 13 per 100,000 people, Rockford jumped up from last year’s third-place ranking, sitting only behind Little Rock, Arkansas.

The study noted that Rockford’s murder rate had more than doubled since last year, reporting 19 murders this year compared to last year’s nine.

The report named these as the 10 most-dangerous cities in Illinois.

1. Harvey
2. Rockford
3. Springfield
4. Carbondale
5. Champaign
6. Kankakee
7. Peoria
8. Granite City
9. Rock Island
10. Bloomington

The FBI cautioned against rankings based on the Uniform Crime Report because "there are many factors that cause the nature and type of crime to vary from place to place." The FBI says rankings "ignore the uniqueness of each locale."

See more of the Illinois crime statistics here.

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