MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee ranks within the top three for largest cities with the highest violent crime rate, according to a new report by SafeHome.org, which pulled from FBI data.
Amongst the largest cities, Milwaukee ranked third highest for murder, aggravated assault, and robbery.
This is not unlike national trends, which saw these three crimes surge in 2020 and rise again slightly in 2021. Murder rates jumped nearly 50% in a decade, from 2011 to 2021.
These rates are even more daunting when you look at large cities, or those where populations exceed a half million people. Collectively, large cities’ crime rates last year jumped to almost 10 times the national urban average, according to the report.
Memphis ranked the highest, considered by the report as the “deadliest large city in the nation.”
There are some areas where crime has been reduced.
Robbery was the only crime to drop within the last decade, declining by 50%. National property crime rates have also gone down by more than a quarter since 2011.
But, the property crime rate has still risen slightly over the last year. In larger cities, such as Milwaukee, property crime rates have grown more rapidly in the last year, increasing by 22%.
Of property crimes, motor vehicle theft has continued to climb across the board. Milwaukee ranked number one in motor vehicle theft, according to the report.
This is not surprising, as Milwaukee Police Department data showed that the crime spiked during the pandemic. From 2020 to 2022, car thefts increased 111% in Milwaukee, according to the data.
In November, Winnebago County Executive Jon Doemel’s car was stolen in Milwaukee after he and his wife were getting ready to head home.
Earlier this month, several were injured after a stolen vehicle crashed into a school bus.
Many of these thefts have centered around Kia and Hyundai cars, which was spurred by a social media challenge. Attorneys General from Illinois and more than 20 other states in March had written Kia and Hyundai. They criticized the automakers for lack of speed for addressing large increases in vehicle thefts.