Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Maryland?
We all watch the news with horror when we hear about a homicide that happens not that far away from us. While a murder just blocks or even a couple of towns away from your house would make anyone uneasy, in the long run, most likely, where you live is relatively safe.
So we wanted to get the facts straight and dug into the FBI crime data in order to identify the places with the most murders and the highest murder rates per capita in Maryland.
The result is the Murder Capitals of the Old Line State for 2020:
- Baltimore (Photos)
- Hagerstown (Photos)
- Greenbelt (Photos)
- Laurel (Photos)
- Salisbury (Photos)
- Frederick (Photos)
- Cambridge (Photos)
- New Carrollton (Photos)
- Havre de Grace (Photos)
- Easton (Photos)
The city with highest murder rate in Maryland? That would be Baltimore with 51.0 murders per 100,000 people.
While the city with highest number of murders period? Baltimore with 309.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town ranked. There were ‘only’ 12 cities in Maryland where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 24 places had no murder.
For more reading on the Old Line State check out:
- 10 Best Places To Live In Maryland
- 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Maryland
- 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Maryland
How we calculated the murder capitals of Maryland
While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in a state are the most dangerous, we didn’t want to rely on speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from the FBI’s last year of reporting. Specifically, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report which summarizes the number of murders that may happen in each city per year.
We only looked every single city in Maryland for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 12 cities to rank.
Finally, averaged two scores:
- The raw number of murders in each city
- The murders per person
We felt as if a small place with 2,500 people and two murders makes it a lot more dangerous than a city of 25,000 people with three murders.
We must note that this report is not an analysis of the effectiveness of local police departments. It simply states where murders occurred most frequently.
Baltimore is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland, and the 30th-most populous city in the United States.
Hagerstown is a city in Washington County, Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Washington County. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2010 census was 39,662, and the population of the Hagerstown-Martinsburg Metropolitan Area was 269,140. Hagerstown ranks as Maryland’s sixth largest incorporated city.
Greenbelt is a city in Prince George’s County, Maryland, United States. Contained within today’s City of Greenbelt is the historic planned community now known locally as “Old Greenbelt” and designated as the Greenbelt Historic District. Greenbelt’s population was 23,068 at the 2010 U.S. Census.
Laurel is a city in northern Prince George’s County, Maryland, in the United States, located almost midway between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore on the banks of the Patuxent River. Founded as a mill town in the early 19th century, the arrival of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1835 expanded local industry and later enabled the city to become an early commuter town for Washington and Baltimore workers. Largely residential today, the city maintains a historic district centered on its Main Street, highlighting its industrial past.
Salisbury is a city in and the county seat of Wicomico County, Maryland, United States, and the largest city in the state’s Eastern Shore region. The population was 30,343 at the 2010 census. Salisbury is the principal city of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is the commercial hub of the Delmarva Peninsula, which was long devoted to agriculture and had a southern culture. It calls itself “The Comfortable Side of Coastal”.
Frederick is a city and the county seat of Frederick County in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Frederick has long been an important crossroads, located at the intersection of a major north-south Indian trail, and east-west routes to the Chesapeake Bay, both at Baltimore and what became Washington, D.C. and across the Appalachian mountains to the Ohio River watershed. It is a part of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of a greater Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area. The city’s population was 65,239 people at the 2010 United States Census, making it the second-largest incorporated city in Maryland, behind Baltimore. Frederick is home to Frederick Municipal Airport, which primarily accommodates general aviation traffic, and to the county’s largest employer U.S. Army’s Fort Detrick bioscience/communications research installation.
Cambridge is a city in Dorchester County, Maryland, United States. The population was 12,326 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Dorchester County and the county’s largest municipality. Cambridge is the fourth most populous city in Maryland’s Eastern Shore region, after Salisbury, Elkton and Easton.
New Carrollton is a city located in central Prince George’s County, Maryland, in the United States. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the population was 12,135. New Carrollton is located 12 miles east of central Washington, D.C.
Havre de Grace , abbreviated HdG, is a city in Harford County, Maryland, situated at the mouth of the Susquehanna River and the head of Chesapeake Bay. It is named after the port city of Le Havre, France, which in full was once Le Havre de Grce. The population was 12,952 at the 2010 United States Census. The city was honored as one of America’s 20 best small towns to visit in 2014 by Smithsonian magazine.
Easton, Maryland is an incorporated town and the county seat of Talbot County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15,945 at the 2010 census, with an estimated population in 2015 of 16,617. The primary ZIPCode is 21601, and the secondary is 21606. The primary phone exchange is 822, the auxiliary exchanges are 820, 763, and 770, and the area code is 410.
There You Have It – The Places With The Most Murders In Maryland For 2020
If you’re looking at the places in Maryland with the most murders, and where residents have the highest chances of being killed themselves, this is an accurate list. Again, these statistics are an indication of where crimes occur, not a statement about the effectiveness of the law enforcement in the areas they serve.
For more Maryland reading, check out:
- 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Maryland
- These Are The 10 Fastest Growing Cities In Maryland
- 10 Safest Places In Maryland
- 10 Best Cities For Singles In Maryland
- 10 Worst Places To Live In Maryland
Detailed List Of The Places With The Most Murder In Maryland For 2020
| Rank | City | Murders |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baltimore, MD | 309.0 |
| 2 | Hagerstown, MD | 5.0 |
| 3 | Greenbelt, MD | 3.0 |
| 4 | Laurel, MD | 3.0 |
| 5 | Salisbury, MD | 3.0 |
| 6 | Frederick, MD | 3.0 |
| 7 | Cambridge, MD | 1.0 |
| 8 | New Carrollton, MD | 1.0 |
| 9 | Havre de Grace, MD | 1.0 |
| 10 | Easton, MD | 1.0 |
| 11 | Annapolis, MD | 1.0 |
| 12 | Bowie, MD | 1.0 |
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