Suddenly, 3 Tiny Missouri Towns Have Highest Crime Rate in State

I'll get this out of the way at the start. None of these 3 small Missouri places is a suburb of a larger city like Saint Louis, Kansas City or Springfield. Yet, suddenly they have zoomed to the top of the worst list in Missouri with the highest reported recent crime data.

I am mystified as to what is going on here. I was curious about current crime rates and did research into the "most dangerous cities in Missouri" for 2024. The most recent list I could find was provided by Population U and the top of their crime chart is a shocker (to me at least).

If I gave you 100 guesses, I would bet that you'd have a hard time coming up with any of these 3 as having the highest crime rate in the state. Keep in mind that this is the chance that you'll be a victim of a crime based on a number out of 1,000. Here are the top 3 "most dangerous" Missouri places with their associated crime rate number:

1. Potosi, Missouri - crime rate 81.95 out of 1,000

2. Caruthersville, Missouri - crime rate 65.81 out of 1,000

3. St. Clair, Missouri - crime rate 64.45 out of 1,000

I think I know what's going on here. The crime rate is based on per capita numbers meaning one crime in Potosi dings it much worse than one crime in Saint Louis (of which there are tens of thousands). When you look at the data based on raw violent crime numbers, you once again see Kansas City followed by Saint Louis and Springfield at the top of the list.

Still, it's a jarring thing to see such small rural Missouri communities suddenly appearing at the top of any crime ranking. Let's hope this is just numbers weirdness and not a new awful trend.