Missouri Place With the Highest Crime Index? Not What You Think

Normally when you hear anyone discussing crime rates in Missouri, you'll hear St. Louis, Kansas City or Springfield mentioned. Surprisingly, none of those metros has the highest crime index in the state of Missouri though. Number one is a small area with only just over 2,000 residents.

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USA.com used the latest crime data to compute the cities and towns in Missouri with the highest crime index. Here's their methodology explained by them:

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.

Before I reveal #1, I'll let you know where they ranked the usual (city) suspects. St. Louis is ranked at #3 with Branson at #5 and Kansas City at #10. Springfield is ranked at #12 among Missouri places with the highest crime index.

What is the Missouri place with the highest crime index?

The report says it's tiny Wellston, Missouri, population 2,010. USA.com added some other sad facts about Wellston saying "the total Wellston population is 2,010, which has shrunk 18.29% since 2000". Brief history lesson - two major employers left Wellston, Missouri in 1982 which led to many leaving the area and crime rising dramatically.

The irony of the crime index is the schools in the Wellston area are rated highly. Wellston is such a small Missouri town occupying less than a mile of land, so it's hard to gauge statistics about education and draw a conclusion along with crime rates.