The Safest and Most Dangerous Cities in Arkansas

Best and Worst Cities in Arkansas for Property and Violent Crime

2023 FBI data indicate that the cities with the highest rates of violent crime in Arkansas include:

• West Memphis (2,472 incidents per 100,000 people)
• Forrest City (1,868 per 100,000)
• Little Rock (1,801 per 100,000).

Unfortunately, Little Rock is also one of the leading cities for property crime, with 5,427 property crimes per 100,000 people. However, Hot Springs has the most property crime, 6,019 per 100,000. It’s followed by Little Rock, then Flippin, with 5,007 per 100,000.

At the other end of the spectrum, these three cities have the lowest rates of violent crime in the state:

• Cave Springs (32 per 100,000)
• Austin (47 per 100,000)
• Pottsville (61 per 100,000)

The lowest rates of property crime are found in:

• Highfill (40 per 100,000)
• Gentry (250 per 100,000)
• Marshall (298 per 100,000)

Why Do Some Arkansas Cities Have More Crime?

Little Rock is the most populous city in Arkansas, with a population of 203,842 as of 2024. Crime rates are generally higher in larger cities — more people equals more crime — which could help explain why the city has high rates of violent and property crimes.

However, population density doesn’t explain all the numbers. Forrest City has a population of 12,490 while West Memphis has only 23,825 residents, although it is part of a large metro area that may contribute to its crime numbers. Hot Springs has a population of slightly less than 38,000 and Flippin’s is only 1,345.²

Meanwhile, some larger cities like Fayetteville (population of 101,680³) did not make the list of cities with the most violent or property crime.

Overall, Arkansas has a total population of around 3 million yet it ranks higher in violent crime than California, with a total population of over 39 million.

Other socioeconomic factors are often at play. When interviewed about the 2021 crime numbers, Arkansas State University Criminology Professor Angelo Brown, Ph.D., noted that crime is often higher in lower-income areas. “Economic disparity is always a correlating factor to crime and violent crime as well as education levels.”¹

Census data shows that the Arkansas cities with the most crime all have significant poverty rates and often lower median household incomes compared to cities with the least crime.
Tourist destinations may also have higher crime rates because crime numbers will include those committed by visitors and residents. For example, Little Rock and Hot Springs are popular tourist attractions, which may increase crime rates. However, some population tourist destinations, like Eureka Springs, have crime rates below the national average.⁴

Statewide Crime Trends Analysis

What Does Arkansas’s Ranking for Violent and Property Crime Mean?

The FBI’s rankings are based on violent and property crimes per capita — how many violent crimes occur for every 100,000 people in the state. While Arkansas’s ranking indicates a higher per capita rate of violent and property crime, the actual number of violent crimes in 2023 was 18,877 and the number of property crimes was 68,291.

As discussed earlier, crime rates vary depending on the specific area of the state, with some cities seeing relatively low crime rates.

“In these small cities, if you have maybe a murder every week, versus maybe Memphis or one of these big cities, you have a murder every day, you’ve got to really take into account the population and the size of it,” said Professor Angelo Brown.

Some cities may also be experiencing an increase or decline in crime rates faster than the state’s numbers change overall. Little Rock, for example, had only 37 homicides in 2024, a 37% decrease from the 64 homicides reported in 2023. This was also a 40% decrease over the city’s five-year average of 61.6 yearly homicides.⁵

Little Rock’s violent crime numbers for 2024 also include 190 rapes, 438 robberies and 2,764 cases of aggravated assault, adding up to 3,429 violent crimes. While that number is still concerning, it’s also a decrease of 5.9% from 3,646 in 2023.

Understanding Arkansas’s Year-Over-Year Changes in Crime Rates

Statewide, crime rates have gradually decreased since they peaked in 2021. Yet even with decreases of 3.9% for violent crime and 9.1% for property crime, Arkansas’s overall crime rate remains much higher than the national average of 380 violent crimes and 1,954.4 property crimes per 100,000 people.⁶

Additionally, incarceration rates have risen even as crime rates have declined. This is partially attributed to the court system catching up on a backlog of unaddressed criminal cases from the COVID-19 pandemic. Legislation enacted in the last few years, such as the “Truth in Sentencing” law, has also led to longer sentences for some offenders.⁷

Crime in the Natural State Compared to National Averages

Arkansas is well ahead of the national average for many crimes. The following rates are per 100,000 people:

• Murder: Arkansas’s homicide rate is 9.4, which is 64.9% above the national average.
• Rape: The state’s rate of 72.3 is 90.3% above the national average.
• Robbery: Arkansas has a reported rate of 37.6 or 43.5% below the national average.
• Aggravated assault: This is the most common violent crime in Arkansas, with a rate of 500.5 or 89.5% above the national average.

• Burglary: The Natural State’s rate is 408.1 or 62.8% above the national average.
• Larceny theft: Arkansas has a rate of 1,602.7 or 18.9% above the national average. Larceny is the most common property crime in the state.
• Vehicle theft: Arkansas’s rate is 218.2 or 31.5% below the national average.