The Best and Worst Cities for Crime in Arkansas

Out of all 50 states, Arkansas ranks third in the country for violent crime.
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Derek Prall
July 22, 2024 Derek Prall Derek Prall , Home Security Expert | July 22, 2024
Statewide Crime Trends in Arkansas Property Crime in Arkansas Violent Crime in Arkansas

Cities in Arkansas, particularly large metro areas, tend to have even higher crime rates than the state itself — which is among the nation’s highest in terms of crime rates.

Unfortunately, several Arkansas metro areas have crime rates that stand out. For example, the Pine Bluff metro area ranks seventh for its overall violent crime rate among the more than 300 metro areas with available data. That metro area also ranks fourth for murder, fourth for aggravated assault, and 12th for burglary.

The Jonesboro metropolitan area, which includes places like Jonesboro proper, Trumann, and Bono, also has some of the highest crime rates in the country: it ranked  fifth in rape and second in burglary.

But crime is not limited to major metropolitan areas; though, often, when small cities find themselves at the top of lists like these, it has more to do with their small size than their safety. However, it’s probably a bit of both for some communities, like West Memphis, which has the seventh-highest overall violent crime rate of any city when looking at cities proper. This is because West Memphis is part of the larger metro area of Memphis, Tennessee, which includes portions of both Mississippi and Arkansas.

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Property Crime in Arkansas

When determining property crime rates in Arkansas, we looked at larceny-theft, burglary, and motor vehicle theft incidents.

  • Arkansas’s total property crime rate per 100,000 people is 2,452, which is about 25 percent higher than the overall national rate of 1,954. It’s high enough to put the state in sixth place.
  • Larceny continues to be the most common property crime in Arkansas, as it is everywhere else in the country, with about 1,734 incidents per 100,000 people:

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Violent Crime in Arkansas

Violent crimes include murder/non-negligent manslaughter, aggravated assault, rape, and robbery.

  • The violent crime rate in Arkansas is 645 per 100,000 people, about two-thirds higher than the overall national rate of 381 per 100,000.
  • Arkansas ranks third-highest among the states, behind only New Mexico and Alaska.
  • Notably, the only state with a higher rape rate than Arkansas is Alaska.

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Our data

Our data comes from comprehensive reporting compiled by the FBI and accessed via the Crime Data Explorer website. Property and violent crime state figures were drawn from Table 5 of the 2022 Crime in the U.S. Report. Metropolitan figures were found in Table 6, Crime in the U.S. by Metropolitan Statistical Area. City-level figures were drawn from Table 8, Offenses Known to Law Enforcement by State by City. The population figures in that table are U.S. Census Bureau provisional estimates as of July 1, 2020.

Limitations: According to the FBI, the data in the publication tables may differ from those released on the Explorer Pages of the CDE. These variations are due to the difference in methodologies between the publication tables and data displayed on the CDE. Please note that crime statistics are not the sole measure of a city’s safety.

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