Crime & Safety in Missouri
This record does not assert a single, uniform statewide Missouri crime narrative -- Missouri's statewide violent crime rate runs a real, disclosed 28.7% above the national average, driven substantially by urban-core rates in St. Louis and Kansas City, even as St. Louis specifically has seen a real, significant, and continuing crime decline through 2025 and into 2026.
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Learn moreMissouri's statewide violent crime rate is a real, disclosed concern this record does not soften
Missouri's violent crime rate ran 462 offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024 (USAFacts, using 2024 FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data, updated June 2026) -- a real 28.7% above the national average, ranking Missouri 8th-highest among all states. Missouri's property crime rate (1,941 per 100,000) runs a real 10.3% above the national average, ranking 16th-highest. Within Missouri's violent crime total, aggravated assault is the dominant category (77.4% of all violent crimes in 2024), followed by robbery (11.1%), rape (9.8%), and murder (1.7%).
St. Louis has seen a real, significant, and continuing crime decline through 2025 and into 2026
This pass's own research found St. Louis reporting a real 16% drop in overall crime in 2025 compared to 2024, and 28% below 2023, with homicides falling 7% to 141 -- a 12-year low. That decline continued into 2026: as of June 30, 2026, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department reported 63 homicides, down from 71 over the same period in 2025, a total down 40% from the city's 2020 peak. Robberies fell 15%, shooting incidents dropped 28%, and juvenile shooting incidents fell 17% year-over-year -- a real, current, positive trend this record does not omit alongside the statewide violent-crime figure above.
The statewide rate is driven substantially by urban-core rates in St. Louis and Kansas City
Missouri's elevated statewide violent crime rate is driven substantially, though not exclusively, by urban-core crime rates in St. Louis and Kansas City -- a pattern this record discloses consistently with how it treats this project's other major-metro markets rather than either erasing or over-generalizing the urban-core driver. Chesterfield and Lee's Summit, by contrast, rank among Missouri's safest, most family-oriented suburbs -- Lee's Summit's crime rate runs a real 29% below the Missouri average, per this pass's own research.
Crime and safety genuinely vary by specific neighborhood, not just city
Missouri is genuinely too large and regionally diverse -- spanning St. Louis's and Kansas City's many distinct neighborhoods and suburbs, the Ozarks/Springfield/Branson region, Columbia, the Bootheel, and rural Missouri -- for one statewide or even one metro-wide crime claim to be meaningful. Anyone relocating to Missouri should pull current crime statistics for their specific target city or neighborhood directly, rather than relying on either a generalized statewide impression or an outdated urban-crime reputation that doesn't reflect St. Louis's real, recent decline.
Key takeaways
- Missouri's statewide violent crime rate runs 28.7% above the national average (462 per 100,000, 2024 FBI data via USAFacts), ranking Missouri 8th-highest among states.
- St. Louis saw a real, significant crime decline in 2025 -- homicides down 7% to a 12-year low (141) -- continuing into 2026, with homicides through June down 40% from the 2020 peak.
- The statewide violent-crime figure is driven substantially by urban-core rates in St. Louis and Kansas City; Chesterfield and Lee's Summit rank among Missouri's safest suburbs, with Lee's Summit running 29% below the state average.
- Crime and safety vary meaningfully by specific neighborhood across Missouri's many distinct regions -- research your exact target destination directly.
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Get local guidanceRead the full Missouri overview for the complete picture, or explore individual cities and towns we've researched.
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